Jerry Jones says Cowboys' 'door is open' before trade deadline, and there's reason to believe him

Rewind back roughly 18 months and the Dallas Cowboys' building strategy was straightforward.

Draft and develop homegrown talent. Extend the success stories like quarterback Dak Prescott, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and cornerback DaRon Bland. Draft and develop more to offset the cost of such contract extensions. Cost-effective holes might be bandaged via free agency and trade, but little else.

As of early 2025, Cowboys team owner and general manager Jerry Jones' talk was mostly just that: talk. His "all-in" assertion drew scrutiny for how little it seemed to align with his actions. He wasn't living up to the risk-taking reputation he'd developed in the 1990s during the Cowboys' Super Bowl run. He wasn't seeking and striking black gold the way he'd done in the oil business in which he made some of his money. The Cowboys were surprisingly methodical, if slow and late on extensions relative to their counterparts.

A Cowboys team chock full of talent but repeatedly underachieving seemed passive in chasing those final upgrades.

Back then, comments like Jones made Wednesday morning would have sounded hollow.

"The door is always open to get better," he said during an appearance on Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan. "I know that's almost a cliché. I'm never shut down from trying to get something that would really advance the needle. Especially one that could do it now and into the future.

"Again, I said at the start of training camp: I'm willing to put some things out there that lean more today than they would be three years from now."

Jones' actions since May 2025 give reason to believe him.

It was then that the Cowboys dealt a third-round draft pick (and swapped a fifth and six) to the Pittsburgh Steelers to acquire talented but volatile receiver George Pickens.

By late August 2025, one week before the Cowboys' season opener, Jones had dealt three-time first-team All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers rather than extend Parsons. The Packers sent the Cowboys defensive tackle Kenny Clark and first-round picks in 2026 and 2027 as compensation.

At the trade deadline last year, Jones made arguably as stunning a trade: In the most dramatic move since their 2018 trade-deadline deal for wide receiver Amari Cooper, the Cowboys were sending a 2027 first-round pick, plus a 2026 second and defensive tackle Mazi Smith, to the New York Jets for defensive tackle Quinnen Williams.

The Cowboys would later trade up to select safety Caleb Downs in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft. In August, they'd trade a third and sixth to the Steelers for offensive tackle Broderick Jones and a fourth.

And last week, after the Steelers and cornerback Joey Porter Jr.'s negotiation stalemate reached a point of no return, Dallas acted to improve its defense . The Cowboys sent a 2028 second-round pick and 2027 sixth to acquire Porter. Porter played 25 defensive snaps (45%) in the Cowboys' 34-30 win at the Houston Texans.

Will the Cowboys chase still another piece before the Nov. 10 trade deadline? At 2-2, with a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team led by a backup quarterback visiting on Thursday, there's reason to believe the Cowboys will seriously explore an addition.

Dallas' schedule is highly manageable between now and the trade deadline, with .500 and below teams in the Bucs, Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles, Arizona Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts. The division is wide open, especially as quarterback injuries slow the New York Giants and Washington Commanders, while an Eagles team adjusting to a new offensive scheme reckons with the abrupt retirement of six-time Pro Bowl right tackle Lane Johnson and the trade of center Cam Jurgens .

The Cowboys' offense is potent while its defense hopes to improve. And Jones knows that a deep list of his starters is up for contracts in the spring, so this core may be his best chance to contend in the next few years.

"We've got a trade deadline coming up where you can do some things," Jones said. "Let's see what happens. You obviously see that we're in a transition to some degree in the club, but the transition is so that we can win now as opposed to the transition addressing totally two to three years for now. …