Cowboys NT Jordan Phillips relieved to be leaving Dallas

After Jerry Jones told reporters the Cowboys wouldn‘t be active ahead of the trade deadline and fans got upset by another lack of effort and refusal to admit issues by the team owner, the Cowboys in fact made a trade before Tuesday’s deadline.

Sadly, I don‘t think it made anyone feel better, as the Cowboys gained an unproven wide receiver, Jonathan Mingo, who’s yet to score a touchdown in the league, and they gave away a fourth-round pick for him.

The Cowboys have made questionable trades in the recent past, so it shouldn‘t come as a huge surprise, but it‘s still baffling nonetheless. One such head-scratcher was the trade the Cowboys made for nose tackle Jordan Phillips, who’s now - as of Tuesday - been released.

The short-lived Jordan Phillips trade

The Cowboys brought Phillips onto the squad during training camp, trading a 2026 sixth-round pick to the New York Giants in exchange for the defensive tackle plus a 2026 seventh-round pick.

The condition for the trade to be effective was that Phillips would have to play in at least two games. Coincidentally, Phillips played in exactly two games before suffering from an apparent wrist injury that led the Cowboys to put him on Injured Reserve. At the time, Phillips openly said that he was not injured badly enough to have been placed on IR and it’s been assumed that defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer had seen all he needed to from Phillips, and that putting him on IR was the easiest way to get him off the starting roster.

Phillips' 21-day practice window was opened on October 25 and although he seemed healthy and attended practice, he never returned to the active roster and was finally released on Tuesday. As he was never placed back on the active roster, Phillips' release did not free up a space for another player.

Since Phillips played in those first two games of the season, the Cowboys will have to give up their sixth-round pick in 2026 for a player who recorded no sacks, no pass break ups, no interceptions, no forced fumbles, and no fumble recoveries. He did have seven combined tackles though...lest we forget.

It seems like breakup between the Cowboys and Phillips was mutual, as Phillips posted to social media with a post which teased he’d be heading back to the Buffalo Bills, where he played from 2018-2019 and again from 2022-23.

Let‘s hope that the Mingo trade doesn’t end up being as much of a waste as the Jordan Phillips trade was.