Brooks to the Cowboys? Broadly Speaking……No!

Brooks to the Cowboys? Broadly Speaking……No!

I will caveat everything I’m about to write here with the following: this is one of those columns where you’re either going to look really smart or really dumb, and there’s absolutely and unequivocally no middle ground.

It all started around 3 p.m. EST yesterday afternoon when the renowned Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan tweeted a portion of an interview with analyst and former scout Bryan Broaddus discussing a potential trade for the linebacker-needy Cowboys. Broaddus interrupted the hosts to say it was his belief that the Men of Jerry were looking for “a bigger fish” than some of the middle-tier names that the show had proffered, including future Hall of Famer Bobby Wagner.

Those hosts, Gavin Dawson and Eric Chiofalo, seemed surprised when Broaddus told them that they should keep the word “fish” in mind and then began laying the table for a trade involving newly minted Dolphins All-Pro linebacker Jordyn Brooks.

“I’m kinda getting some whispers about Miami. That maybe Miami realizes they’re not going to be very good. And through the blessing of Stephen Ross that maybe they’re going to go ahead and absorb a bunch of cap, and they’re in some serious cap problems, and Ross is going to give them a blessing to, ‘Hey, if we have to take more of those hits, but we can add draft picks and draft capital’… I would keep an eye on Brooks there.”

At no point during the clip was it mentioned that, less than a week before, the Dolphins – and Stephen Ross – had just handed the aforementioned All-Pro a three-year, $51.3 million extension, with $35 million of that guaranteed and a signing bonus of $12 million. It’s also important to note that Brooks still had a year to run on his previous deal, so this was an extension, not a restructure. Now, in defense of the excellent Dawson and Chiofalo, they may well have done that straight afterward, and the clip simply didn’t show that. But even so…..

In the hours after that video was released, Cowboys fans – and indeed some analysts – have been doing some remarkable mental gymnastics, pointing first to Stephen Jones discussing solutions at the linebacker spot and mentioning the words “possible trades”; secondly, highlighting that Brooks’ cap hit for 2026 is just $1.215 million and the Cowboys have just under $5.5 million in cap space; and thirdly, as Dave Helman from The Athletic tweeted: “Extending him in July to make him easier to acquire and improve his trade value (in August)? It’s so inspired, so devious, yet so simple.”

Except, as my good friend Kyle Crabbs wrote yesterday, it’s NOT as simple as that. “As far as guarantees go, Brooks received a $5 million pay raise for the 2026 season,” wrote Crabbs. “The maximum amount of his pre-existing salary for 2026, plus his $5 million raise (a total of $12.31 million), was paid out to Brooks already in the form of a signing bonus. That money was, obviously, guaranteed at signing. Brooks will receive an additional $1.215 million in 2026 compensation in the form of base salary this season, fully guaranteed. In total, Brooks’ compensation for 2026 is $13.575 million.” (All this is important for later.)

Now, perhaps my biggest issue with what Broaddus said is that none of this actually takes into account anything from the Miami side of things, notably that new contract and all its detail.

Look, this isn’t my first rodeo. The maths on a potential Brooks trade to Dallas is solid: the cheap-as-chips first-year cap hit, the very manageable next three years. And let’s not act like Jon-Eric Sullivan hasn’t talked about the importance of both future cap space and draft picks. Because believe me, Miami would have to get a Day 2 pick for any trade here, and I don’t mean a third-rounder.

But none of this takes into consideration a few key factors.

1) The assumption from Broaddus that “maybe Miami realizes they’re not going to be very good” is astounding. As if the Dolphins have literally just discovered this in a sort of “Eureka!” moment in August, in which Sullivan, playing the Archimedes role, suddenly understands that, after six months of being in charge, his team isn’t nearly as good as he thought. If that’s the case, then I have a bridge in Arizona to sell you.

2) Sullivan has repeatedly told fans and the media exactly what he’s going to do and then followed it up by doing exactly what he’s said he’s going to do. I don’t, for a second, believe that the man who called Brooks one of the three pillars of the team is suddenly going to deviate from that course.

3) The Dolphins believe they’re going to be competing at the top of the NFL tree in two seasons’ time. That would be halfway through the four years Brooks has on his deal. I’m going to suggest that having one of the best linebackers in the game, whose talent level is actually going up, would be vital to that.

4) Brooks is, at worst, the defensive leader of the Dolphins and, very probably, the leader of the entire team. You can’t have your head coach on the podium twice in three days talking about the fact that Miami isn’t tanking and isn’t rebuilding, then trade away one of your cornerstone pieces. That makes you and your head coach look stupid and out of step when everything this new regime has done has been the opposite of that.

5) The idea that Steve Ross would want to continue the dead-cap game seems, at best, tenuous and, at worst, laughable. It all feels like that has been carefully constructed to somehow fit a narrative that ownership would be happy with that.

6) The finances themselves. The Dolphins would have turned $8 million in dead money into $20 million in dead money with a trade. Coupled with the $12.31 million signing bonus that was already paid to Brooks, Steve Ross would have had to agree to essentially give up $30 million for absolutely nothing. In fact, he would have been just as well served going out into his backyard, taking out $30 million in cash, and setting fire to it next to his swimming pool so as to cook some burgers on it, as if he were the third member of The KLF. (Google it.)

7) What about Brooks himself? Is he really signing off on an elaborate plan to be sent to Dallas when the Cowboys themselves have some pretty significant financial deals to do over the next couple of seasons, including key starters George Pickens, Quinnen Williams, and Cooper Beebe, which could place his position – and earning potential – in doubt?

Maybe I’m wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time. But this all seems extremely unlikely and is only being given serious credence because it’s the Cowboys. The sum of the parts simply doesn’t make enough sense for it to be real.