With an offense that was firing on all cylinders, the Dallas Cowboys should have been a legitimate threat in the NFC. But their defense, which was ransacked by Micah Parsons’s departure, couldn’t muster any resistance against the opposition.
As a result, they missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season and entered an offseason where they needed more pieces. So far, they’ve made a few shrewd moves to improve on that side of the football, but a blockbuster trade could swing the pendulum in their favor.
Dallas Cowboys Could Rectify Their Mistake
The Cowboys were a top-10 offense by any reasonable metric, but were dead last on PFSN’s Defense Impact Metric. The loss of Parsons played a huge role in that mark, but the overall roster needed a major uplift.
Trading for Quinnen Williams gave them a slight uptick, but Dallas needs a lot more to emerge as a net-positive on that side. As a result, Fox Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano wants them to move into the Maxx Crosby business.
In his breakdown of potential trades for all 32 teams in the NFC, he believed this year’s first-round and third-round pick, alongside an additional third-rounder from 2027, could get the job done for the Cowboys, especially after the Baltimore Ravens mess.
Right before free agency, the Ravens made a trade for the superstar edge rusher that cost them two first-round picks. However, they went back on the move after Crosby failed to pass his physical, instead signing Trey Hendrickson off the free agent market.
Vacchiano may be operating under the belief that the failed physical and rescinded trade could have dropped Crosby’s value from two first-round picks. But he still acknowledges that the move would be pretty shocking coming from the Cowboys.
“This is probably a very un-Jerry Jones-like move, but the Cowboys’ defense is a mess, and they desperately need help with their pass rush,” Vacchiano wrote. “It would be costly, though not as costly as the two first-round picks the Ravens initially agreed to send to Vegas for Crosby before that trade fell apart.”
However, there is one obvious elephant in the room. “Assuming Crosby’s knee isn’t ravaged, it’s worth the risk for a team desperate to make a Super Bowl run, because adding Crosby would give the Cowboys one of the best defensive fronts in the league,” Vacchiano added.
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Giving up on an extension for Parsons and then offering almost the same amount to Crosby, who is currently on a three-year, $106.5 million contract, would be a shocking choice for Dallas, especially given the injury concerns and the age factor with the Las Vegas Raiders superstar.
However, given the state of the defense last season, the Cowboys may just have to take the punches and make moves to become a legitimate threat in the NFC.
