With the NFL trade deadline looming on Tuesday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Eastern, the Dallas Cowboys—as they ALWAYS are—have been the subject of countless rumors over the last several weeks, with the vast majority of those conversations involving the defensive side of the football.
The Dallas defense, of course, was always going to be weaker once Jerry Jones made the unfathomable decision to trade all-world edge rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers just ahead of the season. But even with the loss of Parsons, it's hard to believe that anyone could have imagined things would be this bad, as this unit is on pace to be one of the worst in franchise history.
Thankfully for fans of America's Team, the Cowboys' offense has easily been one of the best in the league during the first half of the season, thus keeping Dallas at least somewhat alive for a spot in the postseason.
But something obviously has to change on defense, and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported early Sunday morning that the Cowboys will indeed look to add a pass rusher ahead of Tuesday's deadline, which is undoubtedly a necessity, as Dallas ranks in the bottom 10 in the NFL in sacks, with just 15 on the year heading into Monday night's matchup with the Arizona Cardinals.
Cowboys reportedly want a pass rusher, willing to trade Mazi Smith
Rapaport specifically named Tennessee Titans linebacker Arden Key, linebacker Jaelan Phillips and defensive end Bradley Chubb of the Miami Dolphins, and Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Malcolm Koonce as possible targets, all of whom would certainly be upgrades at this point.
Cowboys fans everywhere have been clamoring for Jones to make a move to acquire Koonce's Raiders teammate, Maxx Crosby, but that's simply not going to happen.
But Rapaport says the Cowboys may not only be looking to be buyers at the deadline but sellers as well, as he reports that the team is open to parting ways with defensive tackle Mazi Smith, the 2023 first-round pick who has come nowhere close to living up with that draft status and was sliding down the depth chart even before Kenny Clark came to town as part of the Parsons trade.
Smith has been a healthy scratch several times this season and has ultimately appeared in just five of the Cowboys' eight games thus far. But even in those five appearances, it's not as if he's played a big role, with his highest defensive snap-count percentage being a 31.3 percent clip in Dallas' blowout win over the Washington Commanders in Week 7.
One can only assume that the Cowboys wouldn't get much for Smith in a standalone trade, so there's certainly a chance he could simply be included in any trade Dallas makes for a pass rusher. We now just wait and see how things will play out between now and Tuesday afternoon.