Kavontae Turpin #9 of the Dallas Cowboys
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For Dallas Cowboys fans, the hours before this year’s NFL trade deadline might come off as bit strange. That’s because, after making pretty major moves at the last two deadlines, including last season, which saw the blockbuster addition of Quinnen Williams, there is a chance that team owner Jerry Jones is going to let the deadline pass quietly without a major new acquisition. Jones has argued in recent days that the Cowboys’ addition of Joey Porter Jr. last month from the Steelers is, essentially, this year’s trade deadline move, it just came a bit early.
Still, Jones likes to tinker. There are only four draft picks in the 2027 cupboard remaining in Dallas, but two of them are first- and second-rounders, so the Cowboys could conceivably make a major addition by shopping those picks. Or, though it is rare, the Cowboys could see–and Jones has mentioned this–if there is the rare player-for-player trade to be had. One bit of bait that could be used there is receiver and kick returner KaVontae Turpin.
KaVontae Turpin Has Value Around the NFL
That’s the thought from Cowboys insider Bobby Belt of 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, who points out that Turpin–who has been an All-Pro twice as a return man in his five-year career–has value around the NFL and the Cowboys could be in position to cash in on that value and let Jonathan Mingo and Tyler Goodson pick up the return-game slack.
105.3 The FAN·
Turpin has been out for the past two weeks with a rib injury, but the Cowboys’ return game has not collapsed.
Said Belt on Monday morning: “Around the rest of the league, he does have value and the last few weeks, you have been shown, you can survive in that third part of the game with another guy back there doing it—it’s KaVontae Turpin. Like, Turpin, now again, you’re not going to get the same value you would for (Donovan) Ezeiruaku and a pick but the league does value Turpin as a weapon. I think what you’ve seen the last couple of weeks, Goodson has done a decent job running back kicks, Mingo hasn’t been a disaster, other than the one bobble he had on that punt.”
Cowboys Could Package Return Man and a Draft Pick at the NFL Trade Deadline
Belt pointed out that the Cowboys had a lengthy contract standoff with running back Ezekiel Elliott seven years ago, but one lesson from that was that if the Cowboys had just let Elliott go, they could have easily replaced him with Tony Pollard. There’s a lesson there that could be used at this NFL trade deadline.
He said: “I think they’re finding out, it’s almost like what they didn’t find out by just letting Zeke sit out and letting Pollard play in 2019—oh, we don’t need to do this. I kind of think they could look at it and say, we don’t need Turpin anymore in this part of our game, he is expendable.
“Let’s couple him with a draft pick and see if we can get somebody who is, swap for swap, two teams trying to compete, give us your resource.”
Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including "Fun City," "Before Wrigley became Wrigley," and "Facing Michael Jordan." More about Sean Deveney