{"id":472800,"date":"2026-10-22T00:32:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T00:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/472800\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T00:32:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T00:32:21","slug":"this-cowboys-cardinals-trade-proposal-gives-dallas-a-lifeline-on-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/472800\/","title":{"rendered":"This Cowboys-Cardinals trade proposal gives Dallas a lifeline on defense"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"ev\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/fansided.com\/nfl\/dallas-cowboys\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dallas Cowboys<\/a> have to find a solution to their defensive problems. This season, their defensive deficiencies have been magnified as they\u2019re 2-4 and scrambling in one of the worst divisions in the NFL. There was a lot of hype around this Cowboys team and even more so that the defensive problems were finally solved. Instead, we have more questions, especially about whether this season is a wash. A lot of the Cowboys&#8217; problems on defense stem from another year of subpar pass rush. But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/50228657\/week-7-buzz-fantasy-predictions-graziano-fowler-2026#nfceast\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ESPN\u2019s Jeremy Fowler<\/a> has a solution: Josh Sweat<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"f0\">Sweat is a <a href=\"https:\/\/fansided.com\/nfl\/nfl-trade-deadline-big-board-10-players-likeliest-to-move-by-the-deadline\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">name that\u2019s been floated<\/a>, essentially since the 2025 season ended, as a trade candidate. Now more than ever, the Cowboys need to pounce. They <a href=\"https:\/\/fansided.com\/nfl\/joey-porter-jr-trade-grades-projected-cowboys-depth-chart-after-deal-with-steelers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">traded for Joey Porter Jr., <\/a>and it ultimately was a smoke screen solution for this defense. This move has to work, and truthfully, this move probably solves their ultimate problem, which is generating pressure up front.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cowboys trade proposal swaps Rashan Gary for Josh Sweat<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"ff\">In this deal, the Cowboys have to give up a player to land Josh Sweat. They have three picks right now in 2027 and none of them are theirs. Trading Rashan Gary makes sense because it gives Arizona a player who could give them some production. Gary has been underwhelming this season, and because Dallas likes its young players, it feels like Donovan Ezeiruaku has more time to prove he\u2019s worth building around. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"fk\">Sweat hasn\u2019t had as good of a season as he did last year, which is also why his value could be lower. This could be a steep price to pay, but Arizona doesn\u2019t need to trade Sweat, and deadline deals always force teams to spend more than they would in the offseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"fp\">The bottom line: Dallas can\u2019t tiptoe around how bad their defense is. Adding Sweat gives them a player who opposing offenses fear. The Cowboys don\u2019t have that right now, which is partly why their defense isn\u2019t as good. It\u2019s hard to say that adding Sweat instantly makes their defense elite. But they can\u2019t judge this move based on the potential. They have to blindly hope it saves their season.<\/p>\n<p>Why Dallas can\u2019t be complacent at the NFL trade deadline<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/01m5g0xyzvcxd2ehrgra.jpg\" alt=\"Brian Schottenheimer\" title=\"Brian Schottenheimer\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"g6\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer  | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"gc\">More than any other year, the Cowboys have to be all in. They\u2019ve already depleted their draft picks, so at this point, holding on to them just doesn\u2019t make sense. Dallas has a youthful squad and all the important positions locked down for the future. They have to look at this deadline as a make-or-break option for the season. The NFC East is wide open with the Philadelphia Eagles all but done, the Washington Commanders feel like a lost cause and the New York Giants are now on their third quarterback this season. Dallas has every reason to go all in and landing Sweat does just that. They already added to their secondary and now they need to bolster their defensive line.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"gh\">Refusing to be aggressive at this trade deadline will keep them outside of the playoff bubble. The NFC is wide open now with the Los Angeles Rams struggling, Seattle middling and half the conference having at least four losses. Sweat gives the Cowboys one final piece to go on a playoff run. It\u2019s either this year or it may be another three decades for Jerry Jones and his Cowboys.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow fansided.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=fansided.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" preventdefault:click=\"\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\" on:click=\"q-DpBNIde8.js#s_lDqay9E5m5g[0]\" q:id=\"gs\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Cowboys have to find a solution to their defensive problems. This season, their defensive deficiencies have&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-472800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472800","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=472800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}