The Dallas Cowboys have made the move that Jerry Jones seemingly spent the afternoon teasing before his franchise was embarrassed by the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night. Unfortunately, it isn't the boom of a deal that fans were hoping for after Jerry's ambiguous sell job to the media.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, the Cowboys have agreed to acquire veteran linebacker Logan Wilson from the Cincinnati Bengals. The compensation going back to the Bengals in exchange for the veteran is relatively minor; Dallas will be shipping a seventh-round pick back to Cincinnati, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.
The addition of Wilson, in and of itself, is a fine one for a struggling Cowboys defense. However, this isn't the type of addition that won't have any great impact on the fortunes of this team moving forward. The issues facing Dallas go far deeper than anything Wilson, alone, can provide.
Cowboys Missed the Mark With Logan Wilson Trade After MNF Blowout
The fact of the matter is that Jones was exaggerating the imminent nature of a move once cameras were in front of him. If trading for Wilson was the move he was referencing, and there is little reason to think it wasn't, it's just another slap in the face to Cowboys fans from this ownership group.
The 2020 third-round pick was available for a reason. He hasn't been overly dependable this season, and his downward turn in snap counts on a week-to-week basis only reinforce that.
There is also the matter of Wilson's play itself. The advanced stats really tell the story here in terms of just how flat this move feels after the build up. While his pass-rush numbers are actually strong with a grade of 87.2 in that area from Pro Football Focus; the rest of his statistics aren't very pretty. Outside of his pass-rushing grade, Wilson is arguably having his worst year since the 2021 campaign concerning his tackling, coverage, run defense, and overall defensive PFF grades. That 2021 season also happened to be Wilson's second year in the NFL, so it's not the type of progression fans would be hoping for out of their newest defensive weapon.
It isn't just the on-the-field numbers or advanced statistics that make this trade a letdown for Cowboys fans. It was Jones building up anticipation for some moment, only to not deliver, yet again. If you are going to tease a trade to the media, follow through on a deal with the Bengals, and it is not Trey Hendrickson joining your franchise in return, you're giving your fan base a real-life version of clickbait.
Whether or not Dallas makes any other moves before Tuesday afternoon's trade deadline, Jones just continues to shoot himself in the foot with the comments he makes to his fan base through the media. The buildup and subsequent letdown from the Wilson trade on Tuesday morning is the latest indicator of that.