Could Dallas Cowboys Trade Miles Austin Mid-Season?

Miles Austin finally decided to sign his restricted free agent tender recently, but that doesn’t mean he was happy about having to do it. Over 200 players are upset over the current situation with the uncapped season, but a guy like Austin has to be especially upset.

He’s gone his whole career as an afterthought, then once he has a break-out season and finally looks to get paid, the CBA is torn up and thrown out and he’s left making a little over $3 million — pennies for a starting receiver these days.

Austin wants a long-term deal, but it’s easy to understand why the Cowboys aren’t ready to hand over a lot of guaranteed money to a guy who has one good season under his belt.

In fact, in his first three seasons in the league (2006-2008), Austin had a combined 18 catches for 354 yards, three touchdowns, and not a single start. He was mainly a special teams guy who returned kicks but rarely saw the field as a receiver.

So now he’s got to answer the fluke questions. He’s got to show everyone, especially Jerry Jones, that he can do it at least one more time before he’s going to see any real money.

But, if he can’t put together a few solid games during the first five weeks of the season, is it possible that Jones decides to trade Austin before the Week Six trade deadline?

It’s unheard of in the NFL, but it has certainly happened before. As I said earlier, Jones traded for Roy Williams from the Detroit Lions before the Week Six deadline, and the Eagles traded for Will Witherspoon right before the deadline last season.

Look at it from Jones’ angle; He’s not going to pay Austin what he wants if he can’t put together a decent season, and there are definitely teams out there who would give up a third or possibly even second-round pick based solely off what Austin accomplished in 2009, so why not get something for him rather than letting him walk?

This is, of course, working under the assumption that Austin won’t be able to duplicate his numbers from last season. If he can, then it’s pretty easy to keep him. That would, however, interfere with Jones’ plan to make his failed pickup (Williams) into a Hall of Fame receiver so he doesn’t look like an idiot for pulling one of the most lopsided trades the NFL has ever seen.

Add in the recently-drafted Dez Bryant and it’s a crowded receiving corps. Williams and Bryant probably aren’t going anywhere, so that means Austin would be the guy to get moved.

It’s impossible to know how Austin will perform (even though my personal opinion is that it won’t be half the receiver we saw last season), but if he is struggling in the first month of the season, don’t be surprised if Jones pulls the trigger and sends the quietly disgruntled receiver elsewhere — something he could very well welcome.