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Cody Barton #50 of the Tennessee Titans could be a Cowboys trade target.<\/p>\n
As we have seen early on in this Dallas Cowboys<\/a> offseason, sometimes very good players can become trade bait in a sort amount of time, especially when there is a scheme change afoot. That was the case for star defensive lineman Osa Odighizuwa<\/a> in Dallas, as the Cowboys sent off one of the more popular players in the locker room to San Francisco for a third-round pick because the defense is transitioning to a 3-4 base that does not really fit Odighizuwa\u2019s size and skillset.<\/p>\n As the Cowboys continue to try to find answers at the middle linebacker position, it would be wise for them to seek out other teams where the defense is being overhauled\u2013which means players can be had at a good value. Few would argue that the 49ers<\/a> got a very good deal by sending a late third for a guy of Odighizuwa\u2019s caliber.<\/p>\n One team that figures to have their own defensive rebuild this offseason is the Titans<\/a>, who have hired new coach Robert Saleh, a long-respected defensive coordinator who had a rocky tenure as the Jets\u2019 head coach. In Saleh\u2019s system, one player who could potentially get lost is linebacker Cody Barton<\/a>\u2013and the Cowboys are in position to scoop him up on\u00a0 value trade.<\/p>\n Cowboys an \u2018Ideal Fit\u2019 for Cody Barton<\/p>\n That\u2019s the view from Fox Sports\u2019 Ben Arthur, who writes that the Cowboys biggest need remains linebacker, which has been obvious since about 2023.<\/p>\n Notes Arthur<\/a>: \u201cThe Cowboys have prioritized adding veteran starters to what was a bad defense last season, trading for edge rusher\u00a0Rashan Gary\u00a0and signing safety\u00a0Jalen Thompson in free agency. An experienced MIKE linebacker who\u2019s comfortable with green dot responsibilities would further support first-time defensive coordinator Christian Parker. \u201d<\/p>\n He then goes on to name Cody Barton as the ideal experienced MIKE linebacker to fill in for the Cowboys.<\/p>\n Cowboys Have Been Burned by Veteran LBs<\/p>\n Barton, it should be pointed out, is on a three-year, $21 million contract. That\u2019s not out of the Cowboys\u2019 range at all\u2013they offered more for linebackers like Quay Walker and Nakobe Dean in free agency two weeks ago, but were beaten out by the Raiders<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, Barton is not Lee Roy Jordan by any stretch. He did get the big contract from the Titans a year ago, but the Titans marked his fourth team in the past four years. If he gets traded, he wil have changed addresses five straight offseasons.<\/p>\n That sounds suspiciously like Eric Kendricks, Kenneth Murray, Logan Wilson and the rest of the downtrodden linebackers the Cowboys have trotted out in recent year. Pro Football Focus is not really a Barton fan, either\u2013linebackers are hard to size up, but his 52.5 grade was 68th out of 88 at his position last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n GettyKenneth Murray Jr. #59 of the Dallas Cowboys<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Cody Barton Plus a Draft Pick at LB?<\/p>\n But he is a veteran starter, one of a few the Cowboys could potentially try to find via trade. There were rumors about an interest in the Steelers<\/a>\u2018 Patrick Queen, and Forth Worth Star-Telegram reporter Nick Harris added Jordyn Brooks of the Dolphins and Azeez Al-Shaair of the Texans as trade candidates.<\/p>\n Those would probably require premium pick packages. Barton could like be had for, perhaps, two of the Cowboys\u2019 three fifth-round picks.<\/p>\n And while the team\u2019s recent failures at linebacker ring loud, it\u2019s a position they will address in the draft, too, meaning there should be a long-term option to go alongside someone like Barton. That, at least, is the hope.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSean Deveney<\/a> is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Cowboys\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Cody Barton #50 of the Tennessee Titans could be a Cowboys trade target. As we have seen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-216562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Kenneth](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2242075711-e1765375370950.jpg\")
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