Cowboys to acquire Bengals LB Logan Wilson in trade

Jerry Jones teased a trade on Monday, and the Cowboys made a move on Tuesday. Dallas acquired linebacker Logan Wilson from the Cincinnati Bengals, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Todd Archer.

This isn’t a rental for the Cowboys, as Wilson signed a four-year, $36 million extension in July 2023 that still has two years remaining on it after this season. NFL Network’s Albert Breer noted that Dallas is sending a 2026 seventh-round pick to Cincinnati for the linebacker.

Alas, it’s not a seismic shift, but it seems like good value for the Cowboys, at least. Schefter added some more insight into the move, “Wilson was the Bengals’ leading tackler from 2021-2023 before missing the last six games of 2024, and still finished with 104 tackles in 11 games,” he said. “His 11 interceptions over the past 5.5 seasons are tops amongst MLBs.”

Perhaps Wilson can give Dallas a spark moving forward. They certainly need it, as for the second time in as many weeks, the Cowboys put together a flat performance on a big stage. 

Their record fell to 3-5-1, sitting well behind multiple teams in the NFC. While some inside the building appeared to be hopeful about this team’s future, Cowboys legend Troy Aikman took the opposite approach after the Monday Night Football loss.

“It’s not a good football team,” Aikman told Scott Van Pelt. “Bill Parcells once said ‘You are what your record says you are.’ And their record says they’re not a very good football team — average at best. Brian Schottenheimer even alluded to that this week.”

As for the aforementioned trade, Aikman didn’t see much of a point in making it after the loss. Most assumed the move would be to help on the defensive end, given the team’s struggles. Aikman went on to say one person is not going to change how the unit looks.

“This is a big blow to this franchise and this team because they really felt, coming into tonight, playing Arizona at home, they’ve played well at home, that they would win this game, they’ve got the bye coming up, then they travel to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders, that they could, kind of, dig out of the hole they had dug themselves,” Aikman said.

“I don’t know what the trade announcement’s going to be tomorrow that Jerry Jones has announced that they’ve made one. But it’s hard to imagine that that guy, whoever it might be is going to make a difference for this team. They’re much further away than that. But that was kind of predictated on being able to win this game and feel good about things as they go into the bye. But right now, there’s not a lot to feel good about.”

We’ll see if Wilson can make a big enough difference for the Cowboys putrid defense. Dallas is certainly hoping he’s one of the missing pieces, as the defensive unit is letting down their team immensely in 2025.

— On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this article.