The Dallas Cowboys’ defense has been nothing short of horrendous this season.
After years of hanging their hat on a fast, turnover-driven unit, this year’s version has been slow to react, poor in tackling, and utterly incapable of creating big plays.
If there was ever a time for Dallas to be aggressive before the trade deadline, it’s now. Conveniently, there’s a potential opportunity brewing in Miami.
The Dolphins and longtime general manager Chris Grier recently decided to part ways, signaling a possible transition period in South Beach.
When a team parts ways with its GM, it often leads to a “fire sale” of veteran talent to clear salary and stockpile draft picks for the incoming regime.
Two players in particular stand out as ideal targets for Dallas: DE Jaelan Phillips and S Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Both could immediately inject life into a Cowboys defense that desperately needs playmakers, and both could potentially be had for reasonable compensation given Miami’s current front-office situation.
Jaelen Phillips: The Missing EDGE
When Micah Parsons was traded to Green Bay, the Cowboys lost not just their best defender, but the motor that made their pass rush thrive.
The ripple effects have been glaring. Dallas has struggled to generate consistent pressure, which in turn has left its secondary exposed.
Enter Jaelan Phillips.
At just 25 years old, Phillips is one of the league’s most explosive young edge rushers.
When healthy, he combines elite burst off the line with an array of pass-rush moves that make him a nightmare for opposing tackles.
He has the power to set the edge against the run and the speed to close in on quarterbacks in a flash, exactly the kind of two-way edge player Dallas lacks right now.
According to OverTheCap.com, Phillips would carry a $13.2 million cap hit this season, but with Dallas sitting comfortably under the cap thanks to some early-season restructures, the financials are workable.
The best part? Reports suggest the Dolphins are seeking no more than a third-round pick in return.
For a team like the Cowboys, that’s a bargain price for a player of Phillips’ caliber, a move that could immediately stabilize their pass rush and energize a defense that’s been searching for an identity.
Minkah Fitzpatrick: The Missing Back-End Playmaker
If Phillips would help fix the Cowboys’ problems up front, S Minkah Fitzpatrick could be the answer to their troubles in the secondary.
Fitzpatrick, who began his career in Miami before being traded to Pittsburgh and later reacquired by the Dolphins, is one of the NFL’s premier safeties when healthy.
He’s a ballhawk with elite range, capable of covering ground sideline-to-sideline and disguising coverages in a way that would fit perfectly in Matt Eberflus’ scheme.
For Dallas, Fitzpatrick could provide what this defense has sorely lacked all year: leadership and stability on the back end.
He’d also bring the kind of playmaking instincts that once defined the Cowboys’ secondary.
From a financial standpoint, Fitzpatrick would count $4.504 million against the cap this season according to OverTheCap.com, a manageable figure for Dallas.
His contract, however, spikes to over $18 million next season before a void year in 2027, which could make Miami more inclined to move him while offloading salary.
While it’s unclear if he’s officially available, if the Dolphins do open the door to offers, the Cowboys should be among the first to call.
Final Thoughts
With the trade deadline looming, the Cowboys have a golden opportunity to strengthen their defense and reignite their season.
Both Jaelan Phillips and Minkah Fitzpatrick would fill glaring needs and bring the kind of energy and production this defense has been missing.
If Miami truly begins a roster reset under a new front office, Dallas should waste no time trying to poach both before another contender beats them to it.
Apparently you don’t realize that the players on our defense aren’t the problem!! We don’t need more pass rushers, we have plenty of good ones!! The problem is Eberflus’scheme!! He puts our secondary in too much zone coverage, which means the corners are always 6, 7, 8 yards off of the receiver, which means the opposing QB can get the ball out fast, which means our pass rushers don’t have the time to get to the QB!! But with our starting safeties injured right now, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to trade for Minkah Fitzpatrick!! But if we’re in need of trading for anything, we need to trade for a LB that’s good in coverage!! We don’t have any LBs that are good in coverage, and they’re getting beat every time!! So that’s what we should be trading for!! I think we should call Cincinnati and see if we can get Logan Wilson at a good price!! And they don’t see him as a starter anymore, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get him for cheap!! So we can get Wilson and Fitzpatrick and we’ll be good, but we’ll still need Eberflus to change his scheme or getting these players won’t do a bit of good!! Those 2 players mite be good in zone coverage, but the rest of the players we have on our team right now aren’t good in zone coverage, and they need to be playing more man coverage!! Doing that will give our edge rushers more time to get to the QB too!! And it wouldn’t hurt to have more blitzes added to the scheme too!! Adding blitzes will give us an extra rusher, which means our pass rushers won’t be out numbered 4 to 5 every time they rush the passer!! So Eberflus changing his scheme is what will help our defense, not adding more players at positions we don’t need!!
I’m starting to wonder if it’s that easy, just changing the scheme to fix this defense, then why wouldn’t it be done by now? As far as the opposition making quick throws b/c the d-backs are playing off, I remember a lot of deep balls going for TDs. Example: Russell Wilson destroyed Diggs and the whole d-backfield with deep balls.
I agree with doing more blitzing, and I also think adding an elite pass rusher like JP and that safety can only help. But unfortunately, it won’t happen b/c Jones overestimates his players he has now.
They will probably beat up the Cards with Murray out and things will look up a bit, the waters will calm down, but the big waves are still ahead.
Not sure what to do with this team, add a couple of players or do the complete overhaul. As it is right now, they have maybe a 10% chance of making the playoffs. Now if they manage to lose to the Cards, that goes down to 0%. Just the reality.