NFL trade deadline report card: How did pundits grade Dallas Cowboys’ big move?
The Dallas Cowboys made two acquisitions at the NFL trade deadline to improve the team as it tries to make a playoff push.
The big deal netted defensive tackle Quinnen Williams from the New York Jets in exchange for a 2027 first-round pick, 2026 second-round pick and defensive tackle Mazi Smith. The Cowboys also acquired linebacker Logan Wilson from the Cincinnati Bengals for a 2026 seventh-round pick.
Here’s how pundits graded the moves, particularly the Williams trade:
Ben Solak, ESPN
I’m glad that Jerry Jones has recently become obsessed with solving Dallas’ run defense. It’s a worthy pursuit. This was not a good way to go about it, though.
The Cowboys sent a 2026 second-round pick and a 2027 first-round pick, along with defensive tackle Mazi Smith, to the Jets in return for Quinnen Williams. Williams is 27 years old and still a quality player, but it’s worth being detailed here. Williams has one All-Pro nod in six seasons as a pro, as well as three consecutive Pro Bowl appearances. He’s a great player who at his best has been an absolute game-wrecker. His 2023 season, in which he had a pressure rate of 16.3%, remains the most disruptive pass-rush season for a defensive tackle in the Next Gen Stats database (since 2016).
But ... Williams’ play has tailed off in recent years.
Grade: Picked Cowboys as a trade deadline loser
John Breech, CBS Sports
Through the first nine weeks of the season, the Cowboys have had one of the worst defenses in the NFL: They’ve given up the second-most points per game (30.8), the second-most total yards per game (397.4) and the third-most passing yards per game (254.4). If the Cowboys are going to turn things around, they had to do something and Jones attempted to do that by swinging for the fences in a deal for Williams, who is one of the best defensive linemen in the NFL.
Greg Auman, Fox Sports
Why are the Cowboys buying? They’re 3-5-1 and have a 4% chance to make the playoffs, per The Athletic’s playoff simulator. The net of this and the Micah Parsons trade is to add two older, expensive defensive tackles to avoid paying a younger, elite edge rusher, and to move up one round in 2026. Their defense will still be a limiting factor with Williams up front, and they’re setting themselves up to be 7-9-1, but still not a playoff team, with fewer draft assets to show for it than they did before Tuesday.
James Dator, SB Nation
It’s a down year for Dallas, and should the team miss the playoffs it will land somewhere in the teens [in the draft]. This way the Cowboys gamble on themselves to improve in 2027 when the payment comes due, and really gave up what’s tantamount to two second round picks when you factor in that teams typically view future picks a round behind their position.
The Cowboys got a brilliant player and slightly won this deal because of how they finessed their picks. The Jets are likely happy to move on from Williams and this gives them freedom to rework the roster.
Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News
The Cowboys solved two problems with their defensive line by getting stronger vs. the run and more versatile with their pass rush while giving up on disappointing Mazi Smith. The cost in draft picks wasn’t bad to lock up a linchpin up front.
Staff, Yahoo Sports
Jerry Jones made good on the hints he’d been dropping about an active deadline. Quinnen Williams instantly beefs up the interior of the defense, and Logan Wilson is a potential upgrade, however marginally, at linebacker at a low cost to boot. The price to land Williams was steep, but the Cowboys still have both first-rounders next spring, and instantly improve the defense, with more resources to pour into it and capitalize on a great season from Dak Prescott and the offense (Monday night excluded).
Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz, USA Today
The Williams deal will no doubt be evaluated in tandem with the Parsons swap. Regardless of whether Dallas is actually better off this way, it’s clear that this was Jones’ preferred route. He lands one of the league’s best defensive tackles in Williams, who meets the owner’s marks as both an elite run stuffer and pass rusher, while putting him alongside another stout interior figure in Kenny Clark.
Gilberto Manzano, Sports Illustrated
Even if the Cowboys make the playoffs, they don’t appear good enough to win the Super Bowl, especially with an offense that has struggled in recent weeks after a strong start to the season. But the Cowboys protected themselves by not trading the first-round pick they own for next year. And the addition of Williams could help this team contend next year, especially if the Cowboys hit on their draft picks in 2026.
Landing Williams is more about contending next year without sacrificing all of the flexibility the team gained in trading Parsons. But Jones doesn’t get a complete pass for essentially sacrificing this season for a shot at glory in 2026.
This story was originally published November 5, 2025 at 1:50 PM.
