The Dallas Cowboys are probably the funniest team in the NFL this season. Just pure chaos and deeply entertaining to watch. It helps when Jerry Jones is your owner and your GM, because he brings a certain soap opera quality that's unique to America's team. The Cowboys simply cannot do things the easy way. Any success will be achieved through the most convoluted and inexplicable plotting possible.
Rather than extending Micah Parsons, the best edge rusher in the NFL and the bleeding heart of the Cowboys locker room, Dallas decided he cost too much and dealt him to the Green Bay Packers. Now, with roughly two weeks until the trade deadline, Jones is out here teasing all this extra trade ammo and financial flexibility. The Cowboys might make a trade, maybe even to upgrade their pass rush! What a concept!
"What’s realistic is that if we do see an opportunity, we are in as good a shape as we’ve been in in years with (draft) picks, with financial with our (salary) cap, we’re in as good of shape as we’ve ever been if we see a way to improve our team with a player that makes sense today, this year, next year to entertain it and look at it," Jones told reporters (h/t The Athletic).
The Cowboys will probably attempt to plug the supermassive void left by Parsons with the trade chips acquired from the Parsons deal. It doesn't make sense if you think about it too hard, so don't. Just know Jones is looking to get the last laugh and put Dallas in the playoffs after all the noise this from summer.
Here are a few trades that could get the job done.
LB Demario Davis, New Orleans Saints
If the Cowboys want to keep it on the cheap side — and you know that's how Jerry Jones likes to operate — it shouldn't take an arm and a leg to get Demario Davis out of New Orleans. The 36-year-old is on an expiring contract and he doesn't really fit the Saints' long-term vision. And yet, Davis is still productive, with 61 tackles (five for a loss) and a forced fumble through seven starts this season.
Davis made back-to-back Pro Bowls in 2022 and 2023, and earned five straight All-Pro nods from 2019 on. He took a step back last season, which is hardly a surprise given his age, but Davis' longevity remains something of a marvel. He's no longer elite, but he's still ranked at the 15th-best linebacker at PFF (h/t The Athletic), with 14 years of experience to lean on. He has never missed more than a single game in a season either. The durability factor with Davis is almost impossible given the nature of that position.
He won't replicate the unbridled, quick-twitch athleticism of Micah Parsons, but Davis can get the job done as a middle linebacker with smarts and physicality. He also deserves to be on a winning team. He won't have too much left in the tank after this season, and there's no use wasting one of his last productive campaigns on an actively tanking Saints team. The Cowboys aren't exactly upper-echelon contenders right now, but Davis could swing the pendulum for a Dallas team right in the thick of Wild Card contention.
DE Bradley Chubb, Miami Dolphins
Bradley Chubb, the 29-year-old edge rusher from Miami, figures to be one of the hottest names on the trade market in the weeks ahead. He missed the entire 2024 season due to injury, but he looks solid through seven weeks in 2025. Chubb has 4.0 sacks (more than any Cowboy currently) and seven QB hits, with a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. In 2023, his last healthy campaign, Chubb put up 11.0 sacks and 22 QB hits with an NFL-best six forced fumbles.
Injuries and aging will temper expectations with Chubb, but his ceiling is higher than most trade candidates connected to Dallas right now. The Dolphins are 1-6 with a fractured locker room, a checked-out coach and very little hope to salvage the season, so Miami shouldn't cling too tightly to its ex-Pro Bowler. Chubb's contract situation is a mild complicating factor — he is owed $19 million this year and next — but the Cowboys are set with $31 million in cap space. The Parsons trade opened the door for Dallas to not only trade for Chubb, but potentially to extend him next summer if the money is right.
Chubb is a seven-year vet with meaningful postseason experience between his stops in Denver and Miami. The Cowboys crave both stability and leadership on the defensive front, so Chubb should work wonders. It remains to be seen how well he holds up physically over the course of an entire 18-week season, but it's a risk worth taking for a Dallas team in need of athleticism and pressure off the edge.
DT Jeffery Simmons, Tennessee Titans
Jeffery Simmons, 28, is putting together an incredible season on the D-line for the Titans. It's a shame the team around him is a complete mess. The firing of Brian Callahan was step one toward progress, but Simmons only has two years left on his contract. Point blank, Tennessee is not going to compete before that contract expires.
Dallas needs edge rushers after the Parsons trade, but their interior linemen aren't much better. Simmons, a three-time Pro Bowler, has 4.5 sacks and 11 QB hits through seven weeks. He's on track to shatter his career-best numbers in both categories (8.5 sacks and 16 QB hits in 2021). The Titans are not a good defensive team, but Simmons is tearing it up. He's doing his job, with or without support. He won't find much help from his defensive compatriots in Dallas either, but at least the offense will put up 30 every Sunday.
Simmons is due $22.7 million this season with two more non-guaranteed years afterward. Dallas is in a good position to rework his contract and make this a long-term arrangement, although that is typically easier said than done when Jerry Jones is running negotiations.
DE Trey Hendrickson, Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals entertained Trey Hendrickson trade offers in the summer months, but ultimately found common ground on a short-term contract to bring the All-Pro edge rusher back to Cincy. Well, the Bengals are 3-4 and Joe Burrow is hurt. Last Thursday's win over Pittsburgh was galvanizing to a certain extent, but trusting Joe Flacco to keep your team competitive in 2025 is like trusting a 2003 Honda Accord to win the Indy 500.
Hendrickson is an incredible talent. He led the NFL in sacks last season (17.5) and has 35 over the past two seasons combined. He's up to 4.0 sacks and eight QB hits already in 2025, with a fumble forced and 15 tackles. Parsons is the "best" edge rusher in the NFL, but Hendrickson doesn't lag far behind. This would cost Dallas a heck of a lot more than other names on this list, but Hendrickson is worth the gamble. Especially if Jerry Jones likes him more than Parsons and is thus willing to entertain a contract extension.
Durability has been a calling card for Hendrickson since arriving in Cincinnati back in 2021. He has appeared on four straight Pro Bowl rosters, with a first team All-Pro nod last season, when he finished second in DPOY voting, ahead of Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt and Zack Baun. Seems like a guy who would make the Cowboys better.
EDGE Maxx Crosby, Las Vegas Raiders
Maxx Crosby isn't quite Micah Parsons, but he's damn sure close enough for Cowboys fans. The 28-year-old edge rusher inked a three-year, $106.5 million extension this past summer and appeared all-in on the new-look Raiders. He spoke glowingly of the culture Pete Carroll was installing in Las Vegas. It seemed like the perfect marriage of sicko coach and sicko player. But the Raiders are 2-5. The roster is a mess. Whatever the defense accomplishes feels moot since the offense is a dumpster fire.
Dallas has already come up in unconfirmed Crosby trade rumors. It would take a significant offer, but Crosby is under contract through at least 2027, so Dallas needn't worry about flubbing another round of extension talks. Crosby is guaranteed $80.5 million over that span, which is a lot. But it's a lot because Crosby has earned every penny, and it fits cleanly into the open salary space Dallas created with the Parsons trade.
Crosby is not only an incredible athlete, but an absolutely deranged human (complimentary). He gets after it on every possession and would bring a vocal leadership style this Cowboys defense desperately needs. Jones has told Dallas fans that he is "all-in" on winning. Well, Crosby is easily the least likely acquisition on this list, but possibly the most impactful if Jones can deliver. Dallas has the trade ammo, the financial flexibility, the gumption to flaunt it all to the media. Now's the time to do something bold.
A four-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro, Crosby has 4.0 sacks, 10 QB hits and a forced fumble this season. He can also perform in pass coverage. He's a gifted Swiss Army Knife and potentially the missing piece in Dallas.