The 2022 NFL Trade Deadline has come and gone, and it was truly unlike any other NFL trade deadline before it. There is never a shortage of rumors leading up to the NFL trade deadline in a given year, but typically it’s a lot more talk than actual substance and movement. That was not the case here in 2022.
There were a ton of moves made before the 2022 deadline and substantial moves at that. We saw players like Christian McCaffrey get traded away, Bradley Chubb, Roquan Smith, and plenty of other notable names that found new homes at the midway point of the NFL season. Which teams could be considered the trade deadline’s biggest “losers” though? Unfortunately for these franchises, picking the top three biggest losers from the 2022 trade deadline was rather easy.
Top 3 biggest losers of the otherwise thrilling 2022 NFL Trade Deadline
1. Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys had an opportunity to make a bold move at the 2022 NFL trade deadline, and they failed to do so. The Cowboys could have gone after a player like Brandin Cooks of the Houston Texans to help fortify their championship run hopes in 2022, but they didn’t pull the trigger.
It’s so odd for Jerry Jones and company because they’ve been in this position a number of times before. You had the Roy Williams trade once upon a time, then of course the Amari Cooper trade more recently than that. Cooks would have cost a fraction of the price of those guys, and he’s been one of the NFL’s most reliable receivers since he came into the league in 2014.
Sure, Dallas has CeeDee Lamb in place and Michael Gallup working his way back to full strength. Outside of that, they certainly don’t have anyone who comes close to being as good or reliable as Brandin Cooks. This team is in a competitive window and even though they’re not even in first place in the NFC East right now, they have a chance to be the best team in the NFC this year.
It just seems odd that the Cowboys wouldn’t make a trade for someone like Cooks, who was made available by the Texans and obviously wanted to be elsewhere, especially because we’ve seen the Cowboys make bolder (that’s the word, right?) moves in the past.