Inside The Star
Jerry Jones pulled the trigger on two trades just before the NFL trade deadline on Tuesday.
Neither trade landed the “big name” players recently linked to Dallas.
Both trades were aimed at shoring up one of many glaring weaknesses on the Cowboys defense. Both Quinnen Williams (Jets) and Logan Wilson (Bengals) have solid numbers against the run.
Dallas had reportedly been pursuing Minkah Fitzpatrick (Dolphins), Trey Hendrickson (Bengals), and Maxx Crosby (Raiders) before settling for Wilson and Williams.
The trades might help turn around the 2025 season. But both seemed to be more aimed at the next two years instead.
At least Jones didn’t overpay for him like he did Jonathan Mingo. Hopefully, he will see more of the field in a Cowboys’ uniform than Mingo has.
The downside to Wilson is that he basically went from being a starter, and a team captain, to losing his job to a rookie.
Wilson did not see much action in his rookie year in 2020. He became a starter for the Bengals in 2021 and had four pretty solid years.
Wilson averaged 115 tackles and had 5.5 sacks from 2021-24.
However, he only played in 11 of 17 games in 2024. In eight games in 2025, he started in seven and had a total of 46 tackles and no sacks before the trade.
At first glance, this looks like a strong trade for the Cowboys. Mainly because they offloaded their 2023 first round bust, Mazi Smith.
The first question will be, assuming that Williams is a starter, who is the odd man out between Osa Odighizuwa and Kenny Clark?
Dallas just shelled out a lot of money to the former in the preseason.
The latter was part of the trade that sent Micah Parsons to Green Bay. Clark was supposed to make the Cowboys’ run defense better.
Williams was the Jets’ first round pick in 2019 with the third overall pick. His best year was 2022 when he had 55 tackles and 12 sacks.
That led to the first of his three straight Pro Bowl selections.
He had a down year in 2024 with 37 tackles but did have six sacks. Williams had 32 tackles and a sack in eight games with the Jets this fall.
The fact that Dallas had to go out and trade for Williams, a noted run-stopping defensive tackle, makes the Parsons trade look all the more suspect.
As the dust settles on the Cowboys trades since late August, it shakes out this way.
Dallas Gets:
Dallas Gives Up:
Being rid of Smith cannot be undervalued. But overall, it looks...
