Jerry Jones is just as cheap during season as he is during offseason

The Dallas Cowboys were hit with extreme misfortune in their Week 4 victory over the New York Giants. In the fourth quarter, All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons went to the ground with a nasty-looking ankle injury. The latest update isn't great. After Parsons was taken to the blue tent and subsequently carted off the field, speculation began about how much time he might miss. Now we have a timeline.

A source told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler that Parsons is "week-to-week" with a high ankle sprain. He is expected back sooner than later, but ankle sprains are tricky and we can realistically expect at least a handful of games without Parsons. If nothing else, this is a strong motivator for Dallas' front office to go out and beef up the linebacker depth chart.

With Parsons (as well as DeMarcus Russell) out of commission, rookie Marshawn Kneeland is thrust into the spotlight. Dallas is "high" on Kneeland, per ESPN, but overextending rookies in the NFL tends to, uh, not work well. The Cowboys' defense has already been a mess through most of this season and losing their most dominant force won't help.

One might imagine that Jerry Jones is eager to reinforce his depth chart and improve the Cowboys' defensive front. And sure, yeah, he is, but only to a certain extent. Dallas is still being stingy, which rules out the obvious high-upside target most fans gravitated toward when the Parsons news broke.

Jerry Jones is too cheap to trade for Jets malcontent Haason Reddick

New York Jets malcontent and purveyor of the NFL's longest contract holdout, Haason Reddick, remains... available. He has not reported to the Jets facility since the trade and there is no end in sight. So antsy is Reddick that he is reportedly open to the idea of returning to the Eagles, whom he requested a trade from before the season in order to seek more money.

You know what they say. The grass ain't always greener.

This just seems like the perfect opportunity for Jerry and the Cowboys. Swoop in, steal a productive former Eagle, and get back into the NFC East hunt. This season has been a real roller coaster ride through four weeks, largely due to the moves Jones did (or didn't) make this summer. He has left Dallas' depth chart unusually lopsided, opting to pinch pennies on the margins so that he can "afford" Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb. Parsons, of course, is due for his own mega-extension next summer, so we aren't close to done with this financially "responsible" version of Jones.

That means Reddick is off the table "due to cost," as Fowler writes. New York would obviously demand an asset or two in return (the original going price for Reddick was a conditional third-round pick), then Dallas would need to pay Reddick to guarantee his attendance, as New York is learning the hard way.

Dallas doesn't exactly have a soft schedule coming up here — Pittsburgh, Detroit, San Francisco, Atlanta, Philadelphia is a sneaky brutal five-week gauntlet — so Parsons' absence, however long it lasts, will be deeply felt. Rather than doing something about it, though, expect Jones to sit on his 15.3 billion USD net worth and claim bankruptcy.