The Cowboys’ top three defensive ends are out of the picture for the team’s Week 5 matchup against the Steelers. Weeks after Sam Williams was lost for the season, Dallas sustained two more significant setbacks with both Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence going down against the Giants.
While Parsons’ high ankle sprain is less severe than Lawrence’s injury — a Lisfranc ailment — Mike McCarthy said the Cowboys are preparing to sit their All-Pro edge defender in Week 5. Facing a four- to eight-week timetable, Lawrence is expected to land on IR this week. Suddenly, second-round pick Marshawn Kneeland is thrust into the role of Dallas’ top D-end.
Jerry and Stephen Jones are planning to manage this situation with internal solutions or lower-level moves from outside the organization. A notable trade to bolster this reeling position should not be expected. Stephen Jones sounded a bit more open than his father in terms of an outside acquisition, but neither Cowboys bigwig appears overly interested in a significant outside addition.
“I don’t know this time of year that anyone is willing to trade their best players; it’s just a work in progress,” Stephen Jones said during a 105.3 The Fan appearance (via The Athletic’s Jon Machota). “We’ll keep our lines of communication open around the league. If something presents itself then we’ll certainly look at it.”
When asked about this situation Tuesday, Jerry Jones said during a 105.3 The Fan interview (h/t All City DLLS’ Clarence Hill) no trade should be expected. The longtime Dallas owner indicated a practice squad poaching will likely be in play, but no big move should be anticipated. Adding a defensive end off another team’s P-squad would make sense, timeline-wise, since any player involved in such a transaction must spend three weeks on the poaching team’s 53-man roster. The Cowboys are going week-to-week with Parsons, who does not appear an IR candidate.
Lawrence leads the Cowboys with three sacks, benefiting from attention paid to Parsons, who exited Week 4 with one. Only one other Cowboys DE (fourth-year player Chauncey Golston) has recorded a sack; the former third-round pick has tallied one thus far.
Both the Dallas DE starters’ injuries being worse than the team expected is a tough blow given Williams’ earlier setback and the free agency defections of Dorance Armstrong and Dante Fowler (both to the Commanders, following Dan Quinn). Beyond Kneeland, the Cowboys have Golston and second-year UDFA Tyrus Wheat on their roster. The team is planning to elevate Carl Lawson from its practice squad for the Pittsburgh matchup. Any Lawson moves beyond Week 5 would require him to be signed to the active roster, as the team will have used its three-elevation limit with the veteran D-end. Lawson joined the team in the wake of Williams’ ACL tear.
This low-key approach reminds of the Cowboys’ running back situation, which has featured the team resisting outside calls to add a flashier option. The Cowboys stood pat in the backfield this offseason, beyond an Ezekiel Elliott reunion that is not producing much of consequence, and the 2-2 team is largely set to follow suit at D-end. The Cowboys face the Lions in Week 6 before a much-needed bye week.
If you’re a Cowboys fan, you have to hope that this is posturing, right? If not, it’s sort of an acceptance that Dallas is just waiting out McCarthy’s final season. That may have actually been the case all along, but pulling away the veil should feel disheartening for a team that should be trying to contend.
I get that they’re sticking by their approach of not spending in anticipation of the Parsons deal, but I expect these comments to be mostly for show. If Dallas is just expecting to get by without a starting DE after paying out all of that money to Lamb and Prescott, and with Parsons coming up, it sure feels like a disheartening strategy for the team. Perhaps somebody more in tune with the team can enlighten me.