Best and Worst Trades in Cowboys History

UncleOscar

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The David Lafleur trade up, although not one of the worst trades certainly ranks high on the humiliating trades.

Leading up to the 1997 draft, GM and President of Player Personnel Jerry Jones issued a black out of info about their interest in college players. No leaks of any kind! Except he flew a big contingent of personnel, which included Aikman, to work out LSU TE David Lafleur. The Cowboys were desperate to find a replacement for Jay Novacek. The contingent obviously attracted the news media and everyone knew the Cowboys were interested in drafting Lafleur.

And Philadelphia coach and GM new it too. So during the draft Philly was up and Lafleur was available. He knew Jerry wanted him so he called Jerry and bluffed him by saying he had an offer to trade down so that team could draft Lafleur.

Jerry bit on the bait and made a trade.
The Cowboys traded up with the Philadelphia Eagles moving from the 25th to the 22nd position, in exchange for third (#70-Brian Alford) and fifth round (#155-Luther Broughton) draft choices, to select LaFleur in the first round (22nd overall).

After the draft Rhodes went public with how he played Jerry and fleeced him.

Then Jerry replied, "He doesn't know how much more he could've gotten!"
 

Bobhaze

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The David Lafleur trade up, although not one of the worst trades certainly ranks high on the humiliating trades.

Leading up to the 1997 draft, GM and President of Player Personnel Jerry Jones issued a black out of info about their interest in college players. No leaks of any kind! Except he flew a big contingent of personnel, which included Aikman, to work out LSU TE David Lafleur. The Cowboys were desperate to find a replacement for Jay Novacek. The contingent obviously attracted the news media and everyone knew the Cowboys were interested in drafting Lafleur.

And Philadelphia coach and GM new it too. So during the draft Philly was up and Lafleur was available. He knew Jerry wanted him so he called Jerry and bluffed him by saying he had an offer to trade down so that team could draft Lafleur.

Jerry bit on the bait and made a trade.
The Cowboys traded up with the Philadelphia Eagles moving from the 25th to the 22nd position, in exchange for third (#70-Brian Alford) and fifth round (#155-Luther Broughton) draft choices, to select LaFleur in the first round (22nd overall).

After the draft Rhodes went public with how he played Jerry and fleeced him.

Then Jerry replied, "He doesn't know how much more he could've gotten!"
Jerry’s lucky he never worked for another owner. He would have been fired so many times for bone headed trades, moves and drafts. Those early “Jerry-centric” days were crazy. He’s learned a few things but he has the same accountability structure he’s always had- which is nothing.
 

Beaker42

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In their 60+ years of storied history, the Dallas Cowboys have made some great trades that helped win some championships. And they also had some trade bummers too.

Here’s a look at the best and worst trades in our history:
BEST
  • 1989- The Hershel Walker Trade- In arguably one of the most one sided trades in NFL history, the Cowboys traded HW for 4 number one draft picks over a three year period, and the Cowboys turned those picks into guys like Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland, and Darren Woodson. We also received some spare part players like Ike Holt and Jesse Solomon. That trade became the foundation for the 90s championship run of 3 SB wins in 4 years. It’s was Jimmy Johnson’s greatest move.
  • 1977- The Seattle Trade to get Tony Dorsett- on draft day, 1977, everyone knew the Cowboys were looking for a RB. At the last minute it was announced that the Cowboys acquired Seattle’s first round pick (second overall) in exchange for the Cowboys first round pick in 77 plus 3 future 2nd round picks. The Cowboys picked Heisman winner Tony Dorsett. That trade translated into winning the SB that year for the Cowboys and also winning NFC in 77 and 78.
  • 1974- The Trade with the Oilers for Too Tall and Danny- the Oilers traded the #1 overall pick in the 1974 NFL draft along with their 3rd round pick to the Cowboys for WR Billy Parks and DE Toadie Smith (Bubba Smith’s little bro) The Cowboys selected Ed “Too Tall” Jones with the first pick. One of the most underrated DL in Cowboys history. Jones played 15 seasons and half of his career, sacks weren’t even kept. He probably had over 100. With the 3rd round pick, the Cowboys acquired QB/P Danny White, who backed up Roger Staubach for 5 seasons before taking over in 1980, leading the team to 3 straight NFC Championships.
  • 1990- The Steve Walsh Trade- I think this is an underrated trade. The Cowboys traded Steve Walsh to New Orleans for a first, second and a third round pick. The Cowboys eventually acquired LB Dixon Edwards and more importantly T Erik Williams with that trade capital.
WORST
  • 2000- The Joey Galloway Trade- Having lost Michael Irvin to injury in ‘99, Jerry was feeling desperate with the clock ticking on Troy Aikman’s career. Jerry worked a deal with Seattle to acquire WR Joey Galloway in exchange for two Cowboys #1 draft picks- in 2000 and 2001. Galloway suffered a serious knee injury in his first game with Dallas in 2000 and was lost for the entire 2000 season, and Troy ended up retiring at the end of the season. Galloway never turned into much in Dallas.

  • 2008 The Roy Williams Trade- Apparently not learning from the Galloway debacle, Jerry pulled another disaster WR trade out of the hat just before the mid-#season trade deadline in 2008. The Cowboys gave up their 2009 first round pick and a third round pick also in 2009 to the lions in exchange for Williams. And he just never fit in. He dropped passes constantly, ran poor routes and was considered lazy. To top it off, in 2009, Williams was given a $54 million contract extension. Probably the worst trade in Cowboys history.
  • 2012- The Mo Claiborne “trade up”- in the 2012 draft, we traded up 8 spots- giving our 14th and 45th pick in that year’s draft to acquire Morris Claiborne with the 6th pick in that draft. Claiborne spent the next 5 years constantly nursing injuries, blowing coverages and basically sparing us all to death. In 2017-18 he played with the jets, then had a one year stint with the chiefs in 2019. He was out of the league at 29.
There are certainly more trades- good and bad that could be mentioned. Any thoughts?
Get out of my head.


:laugh:
 

Beaker42

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As bad as the Galloway trade was on its face, I can give JJ a slight pass on it because many thought it was a way to give Aikman another weapon, thinking Troy had 3-4 more years left. The Williams trade is complete moronic stupidity. They did little homework on Williams who was a great athlete and a stud in college at UT. But he was lazy and had very little drive to improve himself as a pro. Bad, bad trade.
I still have nightmares about the Thanksgiving Saints game. I despise RW.
 

tyke1doe

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Yours were good, though. I almost feel pity for the Seahawks when I think of that Dorsett trade. Like, what in the world were they thinking?

I would have either continued to be a Washington Commanders fan or a Seattle Seahawks fan if Dallas hadn't pulled off that trade.
I personally don't think the Seahawks thought Dorsett was big enough to play NFL football, or at least not big enough to be drafted within the top 5.
Their misfortune our gain. And my inauguration as a Dallas Cowboys fan. :grin:
 

tyke1doe

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[QUOTE="Bobhaze, post: 11017587, member: 40028"
  • 1990- The Steve Walsh Trade- I think this is an underrated trade. The Cowboys traded Steve Walsh to New Orleans for a first, second and a third round pick. The Cowboys eventually acquired LB Dixon Edwards and more importantly T Erik Williams with that trade capital.
Interestingly enough, if Walsh isn't drafted, chances are Hurricane and future HOF Cortez Kennedy get drafted by the Cowboys with the #1 overall pick in the 90 draft.

Either he or Junior Seau. I remember reading that the Cowboys liked both. Either would have been great.
 

tyke1doe

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How about trading up to get Emmitt jumping ahead of the NYG as they ended up with Rodney Hampton.
It was not a blockbuster trade, but it was very important in hindsight.
Actually, we jumped Atlanta and Green Bay because they were looking to take a running back. NY Giants picked #24. Had we not traded with the Steelers, we would have picked #21. So the Giants were of little consequence to us. Apparently, Atlanta and Green Bay were because both took running backs - Steve Broussard and Darrell Thompson, respectively.
 

garyo1954

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How does anyone feel about the trade for Amari Cooper? I think it saved Dak's career.

It wasn't a bad deal looking back on it.
In 2016 and 2017, Elliott was the only player to contribute more than 1000 yards a season to the offense.
Dez finished around 750 in 2016 and 850 in 2017.
Elliott was 35% of the offense in 2016 producing 33.08% of the yards from scrimmage.
After setting 6 games, he was 26.67% of the offense producing 23.57% of the yards from scrimmage.

In 2018 he was still the only player to produce over 1000 yards (Amari had 736).
But something strange happened. Elliot touched the ball 381 times that year of the 1005 plays we had (37.28%) and accounted for 36.38% of the yards from scrimmage.
If you take a closer look you'll find when running the ball it was in Elliott's hands 69.25% of the time accounting for 73.05% of all rushing yards.
He also accounted for 16.03% of the passing yards that year.

Its up to you to decide what all that means in your view, but IMO it clearly shows the weapon we have in Elliot if we keep him involved.
And I don't think he could have done that without Amari and Gallup on the outside.
Its been his best year.
 

plasticman

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Wow, who the heck are Billy Parks and Toadie Smith and what were the Oilers thinking?!
Tody Smith was the brother of Colt legend and 1967, #1 overall draft pick, DE Bubba Smith. Tody turned out to be a total bust.

Billy Parks was a reserve WR drafted by the Chargers in the 6th round.
 

Creeper

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I'll be honest: I thought the Galloway trade was a good idea. Clearly, I was wrong.

But I was screaming from the heavens to NOT do the Williams trade, and taking a lot of heat on another forum for opposing it. I nailed that one.

I hated the trade. Galloway was an okay WR but not worth 2 first round picks.
 

Established1971

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In their 60+ years of storied history, the Dallas Cowboys have made some great trades that helped win some championships. And they also had some trade bummers too.

Here’s a look at the best and worst trades in our history:
BEST
  • 1989- The Hershel Walker Trade- In arguably one of the most one sided trades in NFL history, the Cowboys traded HW for 4 number one draft picks over a three year period, and the Cowboys turned those picks into guys like Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland, and Darren Woodson. We also received some spare part players like Ike Holt and Jesse Solomon. That trade became the foundation for the 90s championship run of 3 SB wins in 4 years. It’s was Jimmy Johnson’s greatest move.
They did not chose Emmit Smith on a slot the Vikings had, they packaged a Viking pick with their own #1 to move up, this is misinformation that gets repeated ad nauseum
 

Chuck 54

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What I hated about the Walsh situation was our using a conditional first round pick on him when we already had Troy. As it turned out, we would have had the first overall pick in that following draft thanks to the 1-15 season. So basically we got a 1,2,3 for the #1 overall pick and a season of nothing from Steve Walsh.

Glad we got something for him, but I think he was one of the worst draft picks Jimmy ever made.
 

garyo1954

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Good article popped up this morning on the worst trades.....

Fox Sports labeled the Cowboys' trade for Roy Williams in 2008 as the worst ever for the team:

"Back in 2008, [Jerry] Jones tried to take advantage of a terrible Detroit Lions team that was in the midst of an 0-16 season. Instead, he was the one that got the short end of a horrendous deal for the Cowboys.

Dallas sent three picks to the Lions — first-, third- and sixth-round selections — in exchange for Williams and a seventh-rounder, which they traded to the Falcons to move up in the fifth round. Needless to say, it’s a move Jones wishes he didn’t make.

“I’d love to have that trade back,” he said in 2011."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/dallas-cowboys-two-worst-trades-ever-analysis/ar-AALuesZ
 

Big_D

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Good article popped up this morning on the worst trades.....

Fox Sports labeled the Cowboys' trade for Roy Williams in 2008 as the worst ever for the team:

"Back in 2008, [Jerry] Jones tried to take advantage of a terrible Detroit Lions team that was in the midst of an 0-16 season. Instead, he was the one that got the short end of a horrendous deal for the Cowboys.

Dallas sent three picks to the Lions — first-, third- and sixth-round selections — in exchange for Williams and a seventh-rounder, which they traded to the Falcons to move up in the fifth round. Needless to say, it’s a move Jones wishes he didn’t make.

“I’d love to have that trade back,” he said in 2011."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/dallas-cowboys-two-worst-trades-ever-analysis/ar-AALuesZ


There's really too many moves to list that should be taken back. There's no shortage of poor decisions. Roy Williams was just one of many. Specially at the time. After Parcells, It was one dumazz move after the next for Jerry.
 

Cattle_Rancher

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I didn't like the trade for Joey felt 2 first was expensive but I feel it would of been a lot better had Troy played longer and been throwing to Joey. The trade for Williams was horrible just wasn't a good player. When I heard that trade on the radio I started beating the steering wheel I was so pissed. The trade up for Mo was bad and I think I was even more pissed than when heard about RW trade seeing guys I had rated a lot higher like Luke K, and Cox or if had stayed put DeCastro would of been a great piece to add to the line. When there pick rolled around in the second and Wagner and Lavonte David was there just pissed me off all over again. I wasn't high on the CBs but to rub salt in it Gilmore turned out to be pretty good.
 

noshame

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Jimmy and earlier trades vs. Jerry solo trades. No wonder I've been beating my head against the wall for 25 years:flagwave:
 

Bobhaze

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Jimmy and earlier trades vs. Jerry solo trades. No wonder I've been beating my head against the wall for 25 years:flagwave:
Jerry just believes he’s been “unlucky”. Instead of seeing he’s been a roadblock.
 

Silver Surfer

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Slightly different spin on the question.


Best Trade in Cowboys History: (Tie)

2016 - Denver trades up to pick Paxton Lynch.
2016 - Oakland trades up to pick Conner Cook.

Worst Trade:

1985 - San Francisco trades up to pick Jerry Rice.
 

irishline

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They did not chose Emmit Smith on a slot the Vikings had, they packaged a Viking pick with their own #1 to move up, this is misinformation that gets repeated ad nauseum

Dallas did not have a #1 that year. They lost it picking Steve Walsh in the 1989 supplemental draft. The 21st pick, which they traded (with a 3rd rounder) to the Steelers for their 17th, indeed was a pick they got from the Vikings Hershel Walker trade. Their own pick in the 1990 draft would have been first overall so kinda hard to move up with that one.

You are correct that it wasn't the slot of the Vikings pick, but it was the first rounder they got from the Hershel Walker trade used to move up. Unless of course I am not understanding your post (highly possible).


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_Walker_trade
  • Used as part of a deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers to move up from #21 to #17 overall in the first round in 1990
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_NFL_Draft

"The Dallas Cowboys would have had the #1 overall pick in the draft for the second consecutive year by virtue of their league-worst 1–15 record in 1989. However, the Cowboys forfeited their first-round pick by selecting quarterback Steve Walsh in the first round of the previous year's supplemental draft."

"21 Pittsburgh Steelers(from Minnesota Vikings via Dallas Cowboys)"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmitt_Smith
 
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tyke1doe

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They did not chose Emmit Smith on a slot the Vikings had, they packaged a Viking pick with their own #1 to move up, this is misinformation that gets repeated ad nauseum

Actually, you're wrong. They traded the pick they received from the Vikings in the Herschel Walker trade, which was No. 21 of the first round, and another pick (don't remember which) to move up to No. 17 (where the Steelers were sitting) to take Emmitt Smith. The Steelers moved back and picked Eric Green from Liberty with the Vikings No. 1 pick that the Cowboys formerly owned.

The Cowboys had used their own No. 1 pick in the previous year's supplemental draft to take Steve Walsh. Therefore, they didn't own their own 1990 first round draft pick.
 
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