Cowboys make confusing deal at NFL trade deadline: Why Dallas apparently overpaid for Panthers receiver

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones promised that his team would be active during Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline, and while he kept that promise, the Cowboys might have been better off if he hadn’t.

The Cowboys pulled off what was almost certainly the most bizarre trade of the day when they acquired Jonathan Mingo from the Carolina Panthers. One could argue that adding a receiver makes sense for the Cowboys, but the problem is that they significantly overpaid for him.

Let’s take a look at the deal:

• Cowboys get: Jonathan Mingo, 2025 seventh-round pick
• Panthers get: 2025 fourth-round pick

That’s right, the Cowboys gave up a fourth-round pick to acquire a guy who has scored exactly zero touchdowns in his career.

There was no reason for the Cowboys to pay that price for an inexperienced receiver, especially when a fourth-round pick could have potentially gotten them much more. In the last month alone, we’ve seen Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins, and Diontae Johnson all traded for a third-round pick or worse.

This was the deal that sent Adams from the Raiders to the Jets.

• Jets received: Davante Adams
• Raiders receive: 2025 Conditional Third-Round Pick (Could become a second-round pick if Adams makes the All-Pro team or if he is on the Jets’ roster if they reach the AFC Championship or Super Bowl)

Now let’s take a look at the deal that sent Johnson from the Panthers to the Ravens.

• Get ravens: Diontae Johnson, 2025 sixth-round pick
• Panthers get: 2025 fifth-round pick

Now let’s take a look at the deal that sent Hopkins from Tennessee to Kansas City.

• Chieftains receive: DeAndre Hopkins
• Titans get: Conditional 2025 fifth-round pick (Could become a fourth-round pick if certain conditions are met)

The Chiefs got a much better receiver in Hopkins, who could end up being a fourth-round pick. The Jets’ trade for Adams will likely end in the third round unless New York somehow manages to get to the AFC title game. And then there’s Johnson, who was also a fifth-round pick.

In current market conditions, a fourth-round pick can get you a productive player, but the Cowboys decided to overpay Mingo, a former second-round pick who caught 55 passes for 539 yards in 1.5 seasons with the Panthers. That’s a big reason why we gave them a D+ for the trade (you You can read our grades here).

The only argument for Mingo is that he’s on a rookie deal, so he’s a lot cheaper than the other players we’ve mentioned, but the Cowboys have the sixth-most available cap space in the NFL (via OverTheCap), so that would have shouldn’t be a huge problem.

The Cowboys also have an injured quarterback in Dak Prescott, who will likely go on injured reserve, meaning Mingo will be intercepting passes from Cooper Rush. It’s hard to imagine the Cowboys getting their money’s worth with Rush at quarterback in this trade.

It’s been a bizarre year for the Cowboys and the confusing decisions continue. Not only did they pass up Derrick Henry as a free agent, but they also waited until the last minute to make a deal with Prescott and therefore had to break the bank to make it happen by paying him an NFL-record $60 million per year.