NFL trade deadline: Despite Jerry, we determine whether Cowboys are buyers or sellers

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Who should the Dallas Cowboys trade for in your opinion?

With the 2024 NFL trade deadline quickly approaching on November 5, we are starting to see more and more teams start to acquire talent hoping to find the missing piece that will help their chances of postseason success. Right or wrong, the Dallas Cowboys don't look as if they will be active participants, whether buying or selling.

In fact, Jerry Jones has already come out and said the Dallas Cowboys won't be active prior to the November 5 trade deadline this year. Knowing what we know about Jerry Jones though, anything he says can be taken with a grain of salt. How many times in the past has the said one thing only to do the complete opposite?

So, with all of that in mind we thought we'd take a closer look at the current trade market around the NFL to see where the Dallas Cowboys stand and whether or not they could be buyers or sellers?

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Buyers?

Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

If the Dallas Cowboys are interested, there is talent out there that could be added via trade. The only problem with being buyers is Dallas doesn't really have the 2025 draft capital needed to pull off any significant trade that would upgrade the roster without sacrificing potential future needs.

As things stand right now they only have one draft pick in each of the first five rounds in the 2025 NFL Draft. They sent their seventh-rounder last year to Detroit as part of the first-round Tyler Guyton trade and sent a sixth-rounder to the Giants for DT Jordan Phillips. They are expected to get the max number of compensatory picks (4) next year, but those do little good right now.

In order to add more talent to the roster via trade Dallas would have to give up one or two of their few remaining 2025 draft picks, further depleting next year's draft capital. That makes them being buyers prior to the trade deadline seem unlikely unless it is a rare player for player trade like the Andrew Booth for Nahshon Wright one earlier this year.

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Sellers?

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The Dallas Cowboys are currently sitting at 3-3 and still have a chance to turn things around to keep their playoff hopes alive. But, if they lose these next two back-to-back road games against the 49ers and Falcons and moved to 3-5 on the season, they could suddenly turn into sellers prior to the November 5 NFL trade deadline.

Despite the way they've played this season, the Cowboys have a talented roster. There are several players other teams could view as significant upgrades or the missing piece to their championship run. If Dallas' season does continue to circle the drain after these next two games they would be wise to listen to any and all calls about trades for their players.

DeMarcus Lawrence, Brandin Cooks, and Zack Martin are three such players teams around the league could potentially be interested in prior to the trade deadline. None of the three likely has a future with the Cowboys beyond this year and Jerry Jones and Company would be wise to sell them off to the highest bidder for more 2025 draft capital.

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The Verdict

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It's difficult to determine right now which way the Dallas Cowboys should go prior to the November 5 NFL trade deadline. Given their current draft capital situation it seems unlikely they will be buyers. On the flipside though, if their season continues to get worse over the next couple weeks it's very reasonable to believe they start trading some of their players that other teams could be interested in. So with that in mind, we are going to predict Dallas will more likely be a seller than a buyer this year.

Cowboys players who could be traded:

• DE DeMarcus Lawrence
• RG Zack Martin
• WR Brandin Cooks
• QB Trey Lance
• S/CB Israel Mukuamu
• S Donovan Wilson
• S Malik Hooker