Entering the 2024 NFL Draft it made all the sense in the world for the Dallas Cowboys to trade down in the first round. Absent a fourth-round pick, and with plenty of holes on their roster (that were exacerbated by the lack of moves in free agency), it was obvious that Dallas needed multiple bites at the apple of talent to restock their roster.
Thankfully the Cowboys found a proper suitor in the Detroit Lions and ultimately moved down from their original spot in the first round while still coming away with a player who they highly valued. The draft is a constant game of phone calls and offers and back and forth, so it was assumed that Detroit was not the only team who Dallas spoke to about moving around.
We now know at least one of the others.
The Arizona Cardinals offer proves how great the haul that Dallas got was
Nowadays there are all sorts of documentaries and productions chronicling and profiling NFL teams. Beyond the likes of Hard Knocksand similar ventures, we now live in a day and age where teams and their own media departments put projects like these together.
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The Arizona Cardinals have a series called “Cardinals Flight Plan” that they are rolling out on their YouTube Channel, and on Wednesday they released an episode that covered a variety of things, including the first round of the draft. You can watch the episode in its entirety here.
In the episode Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort is obviously putting together and executing Arizona’s plan. Their draft began with the selection of Marvin Harrison Jr. at number four overall but they also held the 27th overall pick in the draft as well. Apparently they had a high level of interest in moving it and we can see that they made a call to the Cowboys about it.
The Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys had discussions about a trade during the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Conversation involved Dallas sending picks 24 and 174 in exchange for 27 and 104.
The Cowboys ultimately traded back with the Detroit Lions for 29 (Tyler Guyton)… pic.twitter.com/0RHollasNt
Ossenfort speaks on the phone (presumably to Stephen Jones) and notes that Arizona is willing to offer picks 27 (first round) and 104 (early fourth round). He adds that the offer is contingent upon their guy (being Arizona’s guy) being there at 24 where Dallas is slated to pick at the moment of this conversation.
Earlier in the clip, Ossenfort mentions the Green Bay Packers as the threat for “the big guy.” The Packers wound up taking Arizona offensive lineman Jordan Morgan at number 25 overall, perhaps Ossenfort and his group were big fans of what Morgan did during his time in Tucson.
Operating under the assumption that Morgan was in fact Arizona’s guy, then he was obviously on the board when Dallas was on the clock at 24 overall. Had the Cowboys taken the Cardinals’ offer then Morgan would have stayed at home, Dallas would have moved back three spots and would have also picked up an early fourth-round pick in the process.
But the Cowboys did not take Arizona’s offer and instead took one from the Detroit Lions. Ultimately the Lions gave up picks 29 and 73. Here was the run of picks from 24 through 29.
24 (Detroit Lions): Terrion Arnold, Alabama
25 (Green Bay Packers): Jordan Morgan, Arizona
26 (Tampa Bay Buccaneers): Graham Barton, Duke
27 (Arizona Cardinals): Darius Robinson, Missouri
28 (Kansas City Chiefs): Xavier Worthy, Texas
29 (Dallas Cowboys): Tyler Guyton, Oklahoma
We discussed a lot in the immediate aftermath of the first round how Dallas likely made the trade that they did with Detroit knowing full well that the one of or both Jordan Morgan and Graham Barton would be off the board when they came around to picking at 29. We do not know for sure, but if Dallas knew that Arizona’s guy was Morgan (again, assuming he was) then it stands to reason that the Cowboys were at least comfortable passing on him and prepared to live in a world where Barton went elsewhere.
It goes without saying that the reason for comfortability making the decision was likely how the Lions sweetened the deal. Aside from the obvious swapping of firsts, the Cardinals wanted to offer Dallas pick 104 where the Lions surrendered pick 73. The difference here is massive. Selection 104 was the fourth one of the fourth round where 73 was the ninth of the third. You are talking about the difference of a full round.
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As we all know that pick for Dallas from Detroit became Cooper Beebe, and it is extremely unlikely that he would have been available 31 selections later. That Dallas was able to solve their needs at left tackle and center with one fell swoop makes their decision to take Detroit’s offer a no-brainer, even if that meant sacrificing the opportunity to draft Jordan Morgan or Graham Barton at 24 or 27.
Kudos to the Cowboys. They played this really well and capitalized on how desperate the Lions were for their guy. That is the way you play the NFL draft.
Every other year, the Aurora Biennial transforms Dallas into a dazzling display of lights, video and music. This year was special because it was the first time the event took play in-person since 2018. The free public event turned the Dallas Public Library, Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, Dallas City Hall and other buildings into art installations with the theme “FuturePresentPast.”
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Joe Mixon ran for three touchdowns to extend his TD streak to six games since coming back from injury, Derek Barnett returned a fumble 28 yards for a score, and the Texans beat the Cowboys 34-10 on Monday night.
The Texans (7-4) stopped just the second two-game losing streak of CJ Stroud’s young career while maintaining a two-game lead in the AFC South.
Houston pulled away in the second-half a week after a 26-23 last-play loss to Detroit at home, when the Texans let a 23-7 half-time lead get away from them.
“It’s not as bad as it ever seems, and it’s never as good as it ever seems,” Stroud said. “Those type of games, you have to come out with a win, especially going up like that at the half [against the Lions]. But what are we going to do about it?”
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Amid a woeful season for the Cowboys (3-7) on the field, debris fell from their stadium’s retractable roof as it was opening a few hours before the game. There was no delay and no injuries were reported, just another mishap to foreshadow a fifth consecutive defeat for a team that lost five games total in each of the past three seasons.
Cooper Rush threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to KaVontae Turpin but lost his second start since Dak Prescott’s season-ending hamstring injury.
The Dallas losing streak is their longest since a seven-game skid in 2015, and the Cowboys dropped to 0-5 at home. Dallas are the first team in NFL history to trail by at least 20 points in six consecutive home games, including last season’s wildcard playoff loss to Green Bay, according to Sportradar. The Cowboys had reached the playoffs in each of their previous three seasons, but that run is all but over.
“Well, they better be frustrated,” Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy said. “I mean, we’re all frustrated. I think there’d be something wrong if they weren’t frustrated. So just very honest with everything and stay in tune with what’s right in front of us. And that’s the only way I’ve ever done it.”
The Cowboys were down 20-10 early in the fourth quarter when Barnett knocked the ball out of Rush’s hand. Dallas rookie left tackle Tyler Guyton caught it and was trying to run when Jalen Pitre knocked the ball loose again. Barnett scooped up the ball and scored, although he almost stepped out of bounds.
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“The play he made really changed for game for us,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “It flipped the momentum. It got everybody juiced up on the sideline. It was just a huge play.”
Earlier, the Cowboys appeared to have pulled within a touchdown on a 64-yard field goal from Brandon Aubrey, but Barnett was penalized for slapping Terence Steele on the rush. Dallas erased the points by taking the penalty, but Rush’s fourth-down pass from the Houston eight-yard line was incomplete on the only good scoring chance of the second half for the the Cowboys.
“The defense played with elite energy,” Ryans said. “One big play that we gave up. Like to have that one back, but overall I think our guys played really well.”
Texans receiver Nico Collins returned after missing five games with a hamstring injury and took a screen pass 77 yards to the end zone on the first play of the game, only to have it called back because of an ineligible receiver downfield.
That possession ended with a touchdown anyway on Mixon’s 45-yard sprint up the middle, and he ran wide for a one-yard score and a 14-0 lead. Mixon had 109 yards rushing on the day and set up a field goal with a 37-yard catch-and-run on a screen.
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“I really love that first play because it showed what we could do in this game,” Ryans said. “Even though it got called back, I just told all our guys, ‘We can go score on these guys again. Just get it in your mind we’re going to score again.’”
Already without Prescott, the Cowboys lost tight end Jake Ferguson to a concussion and perennial All-Pro right guard Zack Martin and left guard Tyler Smith to ankle injuries. Rush was sacked five times, three on the same possession when Martin and Smith were injured.
Stroud, who has been in a mini-slump, threw for 257 yards while avoiding any mistakes after an early interception on fourth down. It was the third time in five games he has gone without a touchdown pass, and he has two TDs and three picks in that stretch.
Rush was 32 of 55 for 354 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Turpin had three catches for 86 yards.
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