Jerry Jones takes a big swing at the deadline

Dallas had reportedly been pursuing Minkah Fitzpatrick (Dolphins), Trey Hendrickson (Bengals), and Maxx Crosby (Raiders) before settling for Wilson and Williams.

The trades might help turn around the 2025 season. But both seemed to be more aimed at the next two years instead.

Logan Wilson

At least Jones didn’t overpay for him like he did Jonathan Mingo. Hopefully, he will see more of the field in a Cowboys’ uniform than Mingo has.

The downside to Wilson is that he basically went from being a starter, and a team captain, to losing his job to a rookie.

Wilson did not see much action in his rookie year in 2020. He became a starter for the Bengals in 2021 and had four pretty solid years.

Wilson averaged 115 tackles and had 5.5 sacks from 2021-24.

However, he only played in 11 of 17 games in 2024. In eight games in 2025, he started in seven and had a total of 46 tackles and no sacks before the trade.

Quinnen Williams

At first glance, this looks like a strong trade for the Cowboys. Mainly because they offloaded their 2023 first round bust, Mazi Smith.

The first question will be, assuming that Williams is a starter, who is the odd man out between Osa Odighizuwa and Kenny Clark?

Dallas just shelled out a lot of money to the former in the preseason.

The latter was part of the trade that sent Micah Parsons to Green Bay. Clark was supposed to make the Cowboys’ run defense better.

Williams was the Jets’ first round pick in 2019 with the third overall pick. His best year was 2022 when he had 55 tackles and 12 sacks.

That led to the first of his three straight Pro Bowl selections.

He had a down year in 2024 with 37 tackles but did have six sacks. Williams had 32 tackles and a sack in eight games with the Jets this fall.

Tale Of The Trade Tape

The fact that Dallas had to go out and trade for Williams, a noted run-stopping defensive tackle, makes the Parsons trade look all the more suspect.

As the dust settles on the Cowboys trades since late August, it shakes out this way.

Dallas Gets:

• DT Kenny Clark
• DT Quinnen Williams
• LB Logan Wilson
• Green Bay’s 2026 1^st Round pick (likely 24-32)
• Green Bay’s 2027 1^st Round pick (likely 24-32)

Dallas Gives Up:

• DE/LB Micah Parsons
• DT Mazi Smith
• 2026 2^nd Round Pick
• 2027 1^st Round Pick (Likely Dallas’ pick)
• 2026 7^th Round Pick

Being rid of Smith cannot be undervalued. But overall, it looks like Dallas might have given up more than they got back.

Especially if they go on to miss the playoffs this season.

Because they now have three defensive tackles that will be owed over $60 million in 2026. Which means Clark’s days are likely numbered after the end of this season.

The Final Verdict

The addition of Wilson and Williams overall is a good thing. Both will improve the Cowboys’ defense.

However, that was a pretty low bar to clear given what we’ve seen from this defense this season.

Will it be enough to turn the season around and get the Cowboys to the playoffs in January?

Probably not since Dallas is at a 7% chance of making the playoffs after Monday’s loss to Arizona. Still, the NFL is known for being “On Any Given Sunday” for a reason.

We’ll have to see how the last eight games of the year play out before rendering a final verdict on these two trades.

Right now, I don’t think that these two players move the needle enough this season.

But they could pay off in the longer term. We’ll have to see how the Cowboys free agency and draft plays out next spring before we’ll know.

For now, it looks like Jones reverted to form. He did something just to make it look like he did something.

Usually, that ends up just making things worse in Dallas.