Cowboys Fix Financial Woes in Blockbuster Projected Trade
The Dallas Cowboys have been a major talking point since their season ended in January. Even though they went 12-5 and notched the second seed in the NFC, they were sent packing in the first round at the hands of the Green Bay Packers.
Since then the Cowboys have been consistently discussed but for the wrong reasons. Jerry Jones said the team was going to be aggressive in building a Super Bowl-caliber roster but that wasn’t the case with their lack of moves.
In addition to that, the Cowboys haven’t extended any of their star players Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, or Micah Parsons this offseason. That has led to constant drama around the team.
With teams taking a break until training camp next month, the news around the league has been slow. Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox dropped an article on some hypothetical three-team trades that would shake up the league.
The Dallas Cowboys were included on the list and the deal goes down as follows:
Arizona Cardinals: WR Brandin Cooks, Detroit Lions 2025 fifth-round pick, Dallas Cowboys’ 2025 third-round pick
Dallas Cowboys: WR Donovan Peoples-Jones, RB Craig Reynolds, QB Hendon Hooker, Lions 2026 third-round pick
Detroit Lions: S Budda Baker
In this proposed deal, the Cowboys free up $8 million in cap space by dishing out Brandin Cooks. In exchange, they got Donovan Peoples-Jones, Craig Reynolds, and Hendon Hooker who combined for a total of $4 million against the cap in 2024.
As for Cooks, he was solid for the Cowboys in 2023, logging 657 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. Despite those stats, he isn’t untouchable, especially with Dallas’ cap limitations ($10.1 million available).
If they did make this move, they would have around $14-15 million to work with as they are actively negotiating extensions for either Lamb, Prescott, or Parsons.
Lamb is the most likely one to be extended first so this extra cash would give Dallas more wiggle room at the negotiating table.
In addition, they would add low-cost playmakers to positions of need. Peoples-Jones was dealing with injuries over the past two years but when he’s healthy, he can be productive. He’s logged 122 catches for 1,895 receiving yards, and eight touchdowns across five seasons.
