Three decades of Cowboys schadenfreude continue on after the way Jerry Jones and co. laughably handled the NFL trade deadline on Tuesday. Following an Eagles bye week that saw every other NFC East team lose and the Birds jump to the No. 1 seed in the conference, Dallas’ deadline deal for former Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Williams hammers home how directionless and incompetent Jones’ franchise has been since the late 1990s and will be as long as he’s running the show.
Before the deadline, the Cowboys parted with a 2026 second-round pick and 2027 first-round pick, which will be the better of the two picks Dallas owns in that draft class, plus 2023 first-round defensive tackle Mazi Smith for Williams. Williams has been an excellent player in his career, but turns 28 next month. The Cowboys are in the midst of a 3-5-1 campaign during a strong season for the NFC with little shot of making the postseason. Again, Williams is good, but is not moving the needle for this roster and this overall disastrous defense enough for the Cowboys to reach the playoffs.
Jones and Dallas gave up multiple prime picks for Williams seemingly to make a splash for the sake of making a slash after losing by double digits on Monday Night Football the evening prior. It’s the type of move, particularly in the aftermath of August’s all-time blunder of a trade that sent Micah Parsons to Green Bay, that showcases the Cowboys to be a rudderless ship. This organization is adrift at sea, waiting to reach an island that has the treasures of the ‘90s golden era, but that’s ultimately a mirage.
They are not getting there in 2025 and they are not reaching those heights again as long as Jones wields power. Giving up a package for Williams akin to what they received for Parsons, who’s younger, better and on a Hall of Fame trajectory already, would infuriate me if I was a Dallas fan. Since I’m not from Texas and have some semblance of self-respect though, thankfully, I am not one.
I keep repeating a similar train of thought, but I can’t get it out of my mind because it’s so bizarre. The Cowboys are going all in after already sending out their best defensive player in decades. It all points to Jones’ lust for fame. It’s about Netflix documentaries and national headlines, not pure wins and losses for the man.
It pains me to think about all the Eagles fans in the generations before me that saw Dallas become the team of the ‘90s as they got the best of the Birds time and time again. I was just a year old the last time Jones hoisted the Lombardi Trophy though and, as long as I’ve had concrete memories, it has been the Eagles who’ve been the class of the division, not Dallas nor New York nor Washington. I take solace in that even during the moments the Eagles inevitably frustrate me.
It could always be worse in life: you favorite football team could be beholden to the ego of Jerry Jones.
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