Cowboys Acquire Broderick Jones In Trade With Steelers

FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys are trading for Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Broderick Jones, Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported Saturday. Adam Schefter of ESPN reported the trade separately.

Dallas is sending a third-round and sixth-round pick to Pittsburgh for a fourth-round pick and Jones, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported. The Cowboys move down one round instead of surrendering the third outright, sending a sixth-rounder with it. Fowler did not specify the draft years, and neither club had announced the deal Saturday evening.

The trade arrived a day before every NFL club has to be at 53 players. That deadline is 5 p.m. CT Sunday. Waiver claims are awarded at noon CT Monday, and practice squads have to be reported to the league by 5 p.m. CT Monday.

“I’d give up future to add substantive to where we are today,” Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said in Oxnard on July 28.

What The Dallas Cowboys Are Getting In Broderick Jones

Jones was the first draft pick Omar Khan made as Pittsburgh’s general manager. The Steelers moved up three spots with the New England Patriots in 2023 to take him 14th overall, sending the 17th and 120th picks to New England.

He started 11 games as a rookie and 16 in 2024, most of that work at right tackle. Jones played 767 offensive snaps in 2023, 71.6% of Pittsburgh’s total. He played 1,073 in 2024, or 95.0%. Through three seasons he has played 45 games and started 38, on both sides of the line.

Pro Football Focus graded Jones 59.0 in pass blocking last season, 68th among 89 qualified tackles. His run-blocking grade was 50.6.

Broderick Jones’ Neck Injury And Contract Status

Jones moved to left tackle in 2025 and started all 11 games he played. A neck injury in a Week 12 loss at Chicago on Nov. 23 ended his season, and Pittsburgh placed him on injured reserve six days later. He had spinal fusion surgery in March and told ESPN he feared at the outset that the injury might end his career. The Steelers cleared him to practice on July 30, the eighth month of his rehab.

Pittsburgh declined his fifth-year option ahead of the May 1 deadline, a decision Fowler reported. The option would have paid $19.07 million fully guaranteed in 2027.

His rookie contract runs four years and $16,626,352, fully guaranteed, with a $9,091,892 signing bonus. The average is $4.16 million a year, and this is the final season. Jones is due a $1,517,232 base salary and a $1.5 million roster bonus. That is a cash payout of $3,017,232 against a $5,290,207 cap charge, per Spotrac and Over the Cap. He becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2027.

In April, the Steelers used the 21st pick on Arizona State tackle Max Iheanachor. Pittsburgh already had Troy Fautanu, the 20th pick in 2024.

“It’s a business,” Jones told ESPN in late July of the Iheanachor pick.

Steelers.com editor Bob Labriola wrote in his Aug. 25 reader mailbag that he could not imagine Pittsburgh cutting or trading Jones before the season. Four days later the Steelers traded him.

Tyler Guyton And Terence Steele At The Dallas Cowboys’ Starting Spots

Tyler Guyton has started 21 games at left tackle across two seasons. He fractured a bone in his knee at training camp in 2025, an injury the team initially feared was an ACL tear. A concussion cost him time in October. He started 10 of Dallas’ first 11 games, did not play after Nov. 23 because of a high ankle sprain, and went on injured reserve on Dec. 24.

Guyton played 650 offensive snaps last season, mostly at left tackle. Pro Football Focus graded him 50.0 in pass blocking.

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer named Guyton the starter after four padded practices in Oxnard and said the competition was not formally closed. After Friday’s preseason finale, Schottenheimer said he is excited to see how Guyton plays.

“There’s a reason for that. Tyler Guyton’s playing as good a football as I’ve seen him play since he’s been a Dallas Cowboy, and he deserves to be praised for that,” Schottenheimer said. “I’m really excited to see how he does. I think he’s playing at a very, very, very high level.”

Terence Steele took a pay cut in March, restructuring into a three-year deal worth $33 million, with $22 million fully guaranteed and a maximum value of $36 million. His contract carries $34.1 million in dead money, per Spotrac.

Steele has started 91 of his 96 games since arriving undrafted out of Texas Tech in 2020. He played 1,162 offensive snaps last season, 98% of the total. His 54.9 pass-blocking grade ranked 76th among 89 qualified tackles.

Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams said on Aug. 19 that he and Steele had talked that morning about finding consistency.

“I would say it’s been up and down,” Adams said. “He and I had a good conversation about that this morning of how we continue to try to find consistency. And he’s a guy that’s going into year seven, and he’s never going to ask for a day off, and he’s never going to ask for a break. And so we’re just searching for ways to help him and help him play at his best and most consistent.”

The Dallas Cowboys’ Tackle Depth Behind The Starters

Nate Thomas went into camp as the projected swing tackle. He graded 31.6 in pass blocking and 52.9 in run blocking last season. Thomas, a seventh-round pick in 2024, appeared in all 17 games and made four starts, filling in for Guyton.

Drew Shelton was the 112th pick in April out of Penn State. He played right tackle for three weeks before moving to the left side days before the Arizona game on Aug. 22.

Schottenheimer said both tackles have fundamental things to improve.

“Both incredibly talented, but they need to continue to grow and some of it’s fundamental,” Schottenheimer explained on Aug. 24 at The Star. “Both of them think the game very well, but there’s fundamental things that we’re talking about with Klayton and Conor Riley that both guys can improve on, and some of it’s your hand usage and replacing your hands and things like that, and how you set versus a wide technique and a tight technique. Very technical things that both those guys are still learning.”

Ajani Cornelius, the 204th pick in 2025, is next on the depth chart. He has played one NFL game.

Schottenheimer said Friday that all options remain open on the line.

“I don’t like to move two people, Todd, if that makes sense. You’d rather not move two people, meaning you bump him out and you have to bump somebody in,” Schottenheimer added. “So I’d rather not do that, but all options are open. But that wouldn’t be the first choice.”

Schottenheimer said he wanted to see the film on Thomas.

“I think we feel good about our tackle group,” Schottenheimer noted after Friday’s game. “Nate and Drew have been competing, but I want to see the film. But I thought we had a couple really good days.”

Recent Dallas Cowboys And Pittsburgh Steelers Trade History

The two clubs traded in May 2025, when Pittsburgh sent wide receiver George Pickens and a 2027 sixth-round pick to Dallas for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick.

Dallas placed the franchise tag on Pickens in March at a fully guaranteed $29 million. He caught 93 passes for 1,429 yards and 9 touchdowns in his first season with the Cowboys and made his first Pro Bowl.

Dallas closed the preseason on Friday night at AT&T Stadium with a 27-24 loss to the New Orleans Saints, finishing 2-1. The Cowboys open at the New York Giants on Sept. 13. Kickoff is 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC.