Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE
The Dallas Cowboys have been very busy after making their final cuts to get their active roster to the 53-man limit. In three days, Jerry Jones made just as many trades and word on the street is he might not be done. We’ll get into that a little bit here as well as how these trades will affect Dallas going forward.
On Saturday, the Cowboys sent their 2014 seventh-round pick to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for defensive end Edgar Jones and a sixth-round pick in next May’s draft. Jones fits the Cowboys’ 4-3 defensive scheme and Dallas is pretty thin on the defensive line, so this move made sense.
On Sunday, the Cowboys traded defensive tackle Sean Lissemore to the San Diego Chargers for a 2015 seventh-round pick. Lissemore was a rising star in Dallas until the switch to the 4-3; he’s a 3-4 player who struggled with the change, so the smart thing for the Cowboys was to rid themselves of his contract and roster spot, but it seems like they didn’t get enough in return.
Finally, Jerry sent tight end Dante Rosario to the Chicago Bears on Monday in exchange for a conditional 2014 seventh-round pick. After the Cowboys drafted Gavin Escobar and saw the emergence of Andre Smith during training camp, they apparently think keeping only four tight ends is sufficient.
Getting Jones from Kansas City was a solid move because the Cowboys need help on the defensive line and Jones fits Monte Kiffin‘s scheme. However, Jerry should have gotten more in exchange for Lissemore, who was a hot commodity this time last year. Sure, a seventh-round draft pick is nothing at which to scoff, but a fifth-round selection would have made a lot of Dallas fans feel better about the deal.
Finally, Rosario clearly wasn’t going to garner more than he did in a trade, but giving him up so easily doesn’t make sense. While utilizing the 12-personnel this year on offense, the Cowboys need as much tight end depth as possible, especially considering this new partial scheme change doesn’t require a fullback. Now Dallas has four tight ends on its roster with no fullback, which doesn’t seem like a big deal except for the fact only two of those tight ends are proven players.
Sure, Escobar was a second-round pick, but he hasn’t shown much promise through training camp and the preseason. In addition, his blocking problems have been mostly swept under the rug to this point, but they’ll be exploited once the real games start. And even though Smith was impressive in camp, nobody knows what he can do against a real NFL defense. Put simply, Jason Witten and James Hanna have to get a break every once in a while and right now, it’s not a sure thing they’ll ever get a breather during the regular season.
As several members of the media have pointed out, Trader Jerry is back and that might not be a good thing. However, there’s an open spot on the Cowboys’ active roster after all the wheeling and dealing and the initial rumor regarding Anthony Armstrong being re-signed can’t be valid at this point because he can’t be brought back until after Week 1 unless Jerry wants to pay him a guaranteed salary for the 2013 season. At this point, Cowboys fans just need to hope that final roster spot will be used wisely…and that any additional trades will be beneficial instead of hindering.
Jeric Griffin is the Director of Content for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JericGriffin, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
