The Dallas Cowboys came out of last Sunday’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons with a 3-5 record and a Dak Prescott injury that will sideline him for at least a month. Days later, team owner Jerry Jones executed a Jonathan Mingo trade that is widely viewed as the worst deal in the NFL this year.
Following the loss, Jones told reporters that the team was active in the trade market and eyeing a wide receiver they were high on coming out of college. On Tuesday, Dallas traded a fourth-round pick to the Carolina Panthers for Mingo and a seventh-round pick.
*Jonathan Mingo contract (Spotrac): $576,286 cap hit in 2024, $1.555 million cap hit in 2025, $1.957 million cap hit in 2026
Many on social media immediately knocked the Cowboys for the deal. Not only was it seen as an overpay, but the move made even less sense for a team realistically out of contention with its star quarterback headed to injured reserve. Yet, Jones and the Cowboys front office believe they see something in Mingo.
A second-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Mingo stood out as a 6-foot-2 wide receiver with excellent athleticism and the ability to play from the slot or the outside. However, in two seasons, he’s caught just 55 receptions for 539 receiving yards and 0 touchdowns on 111 targets.
Bleacher Report‘s James Palmer touched on how the trade was viewed around the league
“I made enough calls on trade deadline day to teams trying to figure out what they’re doing. The thing came back, multiple times frome xecutives to me, ‘What is Jerry Jones doing?’ I didn’t have an answer, they seem to not have an answer because they’re asking me. But this trade for Jonathan Mingo, is an interesting one…most teams are like ‘you grossly overpaid…you overpaid for a receiver when you have other needs.’
Bleacher Report’s James Palmer on how NFL execs reacted to Dallas Cowboys trading for Jonathan Mingo
*Jonathan Mingo stats (ESPN): 12 receptions, 121 receiving yards, 0 touchdowns in 9 games
Palmer also noted that NFL executives believed following the injury to Prescott that the Cowboys should’ve operated as sellers at the NFL trade deadline. While that sentiment was held, everyone around the league recognized that Jones would never sign off on his team selling at the trade deadline.
Giving up a fourth-round pick is especially costly for a franchise like Dallas. In recent years, some of the Cowboys draft picks in the fourth round include Prescott, starting tight end Jake Ferguson, center Tyler Biadasz, running back Tony Pollard, safety Xavier Woods and tight end Dalton Schultz.
The Mingo deal feels reminiscent of the Trey Lance trade, where Jones overstepped the Cowboys front office and overpaid for a quarterback the San Francisco 49ers were ready to move on from. One year later, Lance couldn’t even beat out Cooper Rush to be the Cowboys’ backup quarterback and he’ll still be riding the bench with Prescott out for the foreseeable future.
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