When Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made the controversial decision to trade elite pass rusher Micah Parsons, he made it seem like it was more about improving the run defense than his spat with the player over contract negotiations. Dallas received DT Kenny Clark in the deal, but still, no one was buying that line from Jones.
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At the time, Jones claimed that Parsons wasn’t a great run defender and that Clark would strengthen them in that area. But through nine games, that has not come to pass at all. Put as much stock as you will into PFF grades, but Clark, who is certainly a solid player, has just a 49.4 run defense grade so far this season. That ranks 54th among DTs. And the Cowboys are giving up 143.0 rushing yards per game this season, fourth-most in the NFL.
Well, the 83-year-old owner has now doubled down. He just traded a second- and a first-round pick to the New York Jets for All-Pro DT Quinnen Williams at the trade deadline. With the Cowboys sitting at 3-5-1 this season and unlikely to make a deep run, it was an interesting move.
However, as Steelers DT Cam Heyward, the No. 4 run-stopping defensive lineman in football (per PFF), said… no matter what you think about the timing or the cost of the trade, it’s definitely going to make the defense better.
“Putting Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams together, also add a Logan Wilson, they’ve really redone that defense down in Dallas. And they needed it, because their defense has had some concerns. Q’s gonna light it up. You can’t just block Kenny Clark, you can’t just block Quinnen Williams, so it’s gonna give a lot of people fits in the NFC,” said Heyward on Not Just Football.
Williams is the No. 1 DT on PFF’s run defense grading system (90.8). Pairing him with Clark in the middle creates about as stout a defensive interior as you’ll find. Adding do-it-all middle linebacker Logan Wilson from the Bengals further bolstered the defense. And they needed it: Dallas is second-worst in the league by both scoring (30.8 points allowed per game) and total defense (397.4 yards allowed per game).
The thing is, the Cowboys have a lot more problems within their defense than just the run-stopping. Their pass defense is arguably worse than their run defense. They’re giving up the third-most yards per game (254.4) through the air so far this season.
They’re also middle of the pack with just 20 sacks this year. That’s certainly something that the departed Micah Parsons (who already has 6.5 of his own) could have helped with. How quickly Williams and Wilson can adapt to Dallas’ playbook will also be key to the success of this trade from a Dallas perspective.
However, with Dak Prescott and the high-powered offense putting up about 30 points per game, the Cowboys don’t need their defense to be an elite, top 10 unit. They just need them to be serviceable enough to hold opponents under 30 points. If they do, Prescott and company have shown that they can score enough to win the game more often than not.
