'Wildcattin' Jerry's Back? Cowboys Trades For Brandin Cooks & Stephon Gilmore: Jones New Front Office Approach?

The Dallas Cowboys have been quiet with regard to "outside'' free agency, but two trades in five days have quietly changed the landscape of this team.

FRISCO - On numerous occasions, Jerry Jones had reminded our own Mike Fisher that "Wildcattin' Jerry'' still lives inside the Dallas Cowboys owner ... ready to strike at just the right moment.

This wasn't quite a Deion Sanders signing, but ... It's been an eventful offseason to this point for the Cowboys. And now this season feels different, in more ways than one.

Dallas has been quiet with regard to "outside'' free agency, but two trades in the last five days have quietly changed the landscape of this team. ... and maybe the opinion of a front office using what we might call "calculated aggressiveness.''

The Cowboys added cornerback Stephon Gilmore in a trade with the Colts on Tuesday and on Sunday, the team announced a deal with the Texans that will bring wideout Brandin Cooks to town.

Of course, the Cowboys have been linked for what feels like years to Odell Beckham, Jr., as well as more recently, DeAndre Hopkins, who may be on the move from Arizona. And maybe some critics are still howling for moves like that.

But Cooks "checks all the boxes'' as a weapon for quarterback Dak Prescott; Cooks has been nothing short of reliable in his previous four stops. Yes, four stops. That sounds like a lot for a guy who's 29. But since his rookie season in New Orleans in 2014, he's played fewer than 16 games just three, with 14 games played in 2019, 15 in 2020, and 13 games last season.

He's also hit the 1,000-yard mark in every season he's played in at least 15 games. That shows consistency, something Lamb would like to have opposite him on the field.

Gilmore, meanwhile, has even grander credentials as a five-time All-Pro ready to force opposing QB who "gotta throw it somewhere'' into interceptions by him or Trevon Diggs or coordinator Dan Quinn's other ballhawks.

Dallas making moves in March? Thumbs-up. Are they crazy, risky moves of the sort that "Wildcattin' Jerry'' (and especially COO son Stephen) have avoided in the last decade? No, but that can be a "thumbs-up,'' too, as these seem to be the right moves.

The Cowboys have every reason to be in a "win-now" mode, and Gilmore and Cooks represent strides in that direction - and "Wildcattin' Jerry'' "strikes'' in that direction as well.

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