The Dallas Cowboys weren’t sellers at Tuesday’s NFL Trade Deadline, but that’s hardly any consolation for a 2-7 team that envisioned itself as a contender entering the season, according to former NFL backup quarterback Chase Daniel.
‘The Dallas Cowboys, in my opinion, are one of the laughingstocks of the league,’ Daniel, a journeyman ex-NFL player and Missouri star, said on FS1’s ‘The Facility.’
‘It’s crazy to think that this is how the Dallas Cowboys, how far they have fallen from a 12-win, a 12-win, a 12-win season. I just don’t see how there’s any chance Mike McCarthy is back next year.’
The term, ‘laughingstock,’ would have seemed far fetched only a few months ago.
But, thanks to a three-game losing streak and owner Jerry Jones’ public feuding with local media, the perception around the team has changed considerably.
Dak Prescott is seen warming up prior to Sunday’s game in Atlanta, where he left injured
Unlike other owners, Jones is also Dallas’ GM, making him more culpable for their struggles
The optimistic Cowboys began the season by extending quarterback Dak Prescott (four years, $240million) and receiver CeeDee Lamb (four years, $136 million), but have seen little return on that investment thus far. Dallas has won only two of nine games in 2024, and Prescott is now likely sidelined for a month due to a strained hamstring.
Despite this, Jones refused to concede defeat by unloading veteran players for cap flexibility and future draft picks at Tuesday’s deadline.
‘We’re not selling,’ Jones said after acquiring Carolina receiver Jonathan Mingo for a 2025 fourth-round draft pick and a seventh-rounder. ‘We will make that case. We’re buying and not selling.’
Prescott sustained the injury in the second half of a 27-21 loss to Atlanta. The Cowboys (3-5) play NFC East rival Philadelphia (6-2) on Sunday, the second of four consecutive games against winning teams.
‘It’s an extended period of time here,’ Jones said. ‘I wouldn’t dare make a prediction when it could be. We’ll see kind of how his rehab goes.’
Cooper Rush will replace Prescott, just as he did when the Cowboys went 4-1 in 2022 after Prescott broke his thumb in a season-opening loss. Rush also won a game in 2021 filling in for the 2016 AP Offensive Rookie of the Year and three-time Pro Bowl.
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy looks on during the first quarter against the Atlanta Falcons
Prescott’s absence is another setback in a season full of them for the Cowboys, who are on their first three-game losing streak since 2020. Dallas played the last 11 games of that 6-10 season without Prescott after he broke an ankle.
‘There’s no question that Dak’s injury is a setback,’ Jones said. ‘But we’ve seen Cooper do it. We know what we need to do, the strategies on the offense. We just need to come together game by game, use all of our players to the extent that it helps us.’
The defending NFC East champions are already three games behind Washington and Philadelphia in the division. The Commanders (7-2) are part of the four-game stretch against winning teams.
The meeting with Washington is the only road game in the next five for Dallas, which is 0-3 at home. Assuming he ends up on IR, Prescott won’t be available until the end of that five-game stretch December 9 against Cincinnati.
Jones said he expected two-time All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons to return against the Eagles after missing four games with a high ankle sprain. Coach Mike McCarthy expects Parsons to practice Wednesday for the first time since the injury.
Prescott (left) and Lamb (right) are both hurting, but the receiver is expected back soon
The season debut should be close for All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland, who set an NFL record with five interception returns for touchdowns last season. He had surgery for a stress fracture in his foot late in the preseason.
‘We’re going to have to have it from within to get where we all want to go,’ Jones said. ‘We’re going to have to do something that’s a storybook type of scenario. I’ve been a part of a couple of those. And it can happen.’
Mingo was a 2023 second-round pick by the Panthers, who are tied for the worst record in the NFL. He has been outplayed in his second season by a pair of rookies in first-round pick Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker, who was undrafted. Carolina also traded receiver Diontae Johnson last week.
The move for Mingo was probably about more than just this season for Dallas. Brandin Cooks, the No. 2 receiver behind Lamb, will be a free agent in 2025. Mingo’s contract goes through 2026.
Lamb sprained his right shoulder against the Falcons but is expected to play Sunday. Cooks, who has a knee issue, can come off IR this week, but the Cowboys have been deliberate with their return-to-play designations.
To make room on the roster for Mingo, the Cowboys released cornerback Andrew Booth, who was acquired in a trade with Minnesota during training camp.