Dallas Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones at training camp at the River Ridge Fields. Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Stephen Jones drops major hint on Cowboys’ trade deadline plans

Originally posted on Dallas Cowboys on SI
By Randy Gurzi | Last updated Oct 24, 2025 6:37 AM ET

The 2025 NFL trade deadline is Tuesday, November 4 and the Dallas Cowboys are rumored to be in the market for help.

At 3-3-1, they're still in the NFC race, but they know they haven't been good enough to make a run. At least not on defense.

Their offense is playing at an elite level, but defensively, they're one of the worst in the league. That's why the front office is said to be "on the hunt" for an impact player.

Stephen Jones recently expanded on that, saying there won't be many teams looking to trade players away since the league is tight right now. He did, however, say they need a "front-line" guy and would be open to the right trade.

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

“With the way this league is, I mean, there's only two teams with one loss and one of 'em has a loss and a tie, and so everybody's going to think they're in it. So if you're in it, you don't just want to move on from a guy like you're saying, ‘Hey, I'm going to trade a few guys off, take picks and get ready for next year.’ You don't find many teams like that. And we don't really feel like we need down-the-line guys. I mean, we need a guy who’d be a front-line guy who'd make a difference," Jones said via Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports.

“There's a lot of things we're going to watch. The right deal comes up, we'll look at it.”

Entering Week 7, the biggest name linked to the Cowboys has been Maxx Crosby, the Las Vegas Raiders All-Pro defensive end. The Raiders have said they're not interested in trading Crosby, and there were conflicting reports coming out of Dallas on whether they've contacted Las Vegas.

Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

For what it's worth, Cowboys insider Bryan Broaddus believes the possibility "isn't dead." Outside of Crosby, names such as Trey Hendrickson, Bradley Chubb, Jermaine Johnson II, and Jaelan Phillips have all been floated as front-line players who could be moved.