Cowboys Trade Needed 'Desperately'; Is Dallas Slipping into 'The Do-Something Club' for Losers?

Cowboys Trade Needed 'Desperately'; Is Dallas Slipping into 'The Do-Something Club' for Losers?

FRISCO - Inside The Star, employees are reportedly harboring a sour feeling about a Dallas Cowboys front office that "lacks commitment.'' Maybe that's why the local newspaper is pushing the idea of the team "needing a trade'' in part to buoy the spirits of those involved, not to mention a huge segment of Cowboys Nation that is either angry, or worse, apathetic.

"A positive message desperately needs to be sent,'' writes colleague David Moore. "In the coming days and weeks, Jerry and Stephen Jones need to engineer a trade ...''

I've been down this road many times. And almost always, my response to this concept is a sarcastic one ... with my reference to "The Do-Something Club.''

"The Do-Something Club'' is, frankly, for idiots. No team ever needs to "make a trade just to make a trade.'' And no team ever needs to make a trade to pacify its fans. Those are two awful ways to run a franchise. Those are two ways to be a loser of a franchise.

But ... the Cowboys situation might be a bit different.

First, the Dallas News story regarding that "lack of commitment'' thing is extremely bothersome. Are there disgruntled employees in every organization? Sure. In a Jerry Jones-run organization? Of course. Do they go whispering about their unhappiness on the record to the local newspaper a few weeks after a 12-5 campaign and many months in advance of the next season?

Rarely. ... which means this particular problem is an acute one.

Furthermore, Moore is semi-specific when he calls for a trade "that approaches or exceeds what (Dallas) did with (Stephon) Gilmore and (Brandin) Cooks last season.'' Indeed, those were sharp trades. Good guys. Good players. Good value. The Cowboys weren't just shuffling deck chairs; they won those trades.

So the DMN is on to something here. Adding linebacker Eric Kendricks while saying goodbye in one form or another to Tyron Smith, Tyler Biadasz, Dorance Armstrong, Dante Fowler, Neville Gallimore, Noah Igbinoghene, Michael Gallup and Leighton Vander Esch is more than just a mathematical deficit.

It's a downer. (See The Cowboys Free Agency Scorecard.)

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And so is "The Big Fib'' about owner Jerry Jones' team being "all in.'' One team source even admitted - probably accidentally - that Dallas is happy to be taking calls from any free agent who might want in ... in a sense indicating that it's not Dallas that is the initiator of such calls.

The Cowboys roster is substantially worse than it was a week ago. It seems worse, too, than the roster of NFC foes in Philadelphia and San Francisco and maybe Detroit. Green Bay has a playoff win to suggest its better than Dallas. The Rams, Bucs, Falcons and Seahawks are all feeling pretty good about themselves.

And if new Washington coach Dan Quinn's raid of his old Dallas roster is topped off by the right QB picked with the No. 2 selection in the upcoming NFL Draft?

That's a lot of NFC teams who are not feeling a "lack of commitment'' from ownership.

Said COO Stephen Jones last week while he was promoting a Kid Rock Rodeo event (yes, really) on the subject of patience even as NFL free agency roars: “That’s where we think you can be efficient and do good things. I think we have in the past. Trades, or like did with Kendricks. I’m sure there’ll be more [players] released as move forward.

“You never know what you might see that you don’t see today.’’

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What people involved with the Cowboys - team employees, media and fans - is an effort to stay atop the NFC heap. In my dealings with folks, the "Blow It Up!'' rebuild concept that I've floated isn't very satisfying ... especially because it was just a few weeks ago when Stephen proclaimed his roster to be "almost'' Super Bowl-worthy.

Does Dallas need a move now for the sake of "symbolism''? My rules about "The Do-Something Club'' laugh at such a thing. But right now? A good roster is morphing into a lesser one. The audience is distrusting of the Joneses and apparently so are some of the Joneses' own lieutenants. And the only people laughing are doing it at the expense of "America's Team.''

"Do Something''? Nah, that's still not enough. "Do Something'' to make the roster at least incrementally better? That's easy to do. And given the dark cloud hanging over The Star, it cannot come soon enough.