With two first-round draft picks — No. 12 and No. 20 — the Cowboys could be a popular trade partner for teams looking to trade up. There’s also a possibility they try to trade up to get a top defender for a unit that allowed a franchise-record 511 points last season.
Jerry Jones confirmed on Wednesday that the Cowboys have already started getting calls from other teams.
“We look at both [trading up or trading down],” Jones said, via K.D. Drummond of USA Today. “There’s every type of trade possible. Players on other rosters, draft picks, all of that is in play.”
Executive vice president Stephen Jones said there is “nothing concrete” right now, which is as expected. The phones in the Cowboys’ draft room are sure to ring on Thursday night as the 12th overall pick approaches.
“You could imagine making a call right now and making a trade. Picks or players,” Jerry Jones said. “That hasn’t usually been our experience. . . . [But] the nature of having extra picks in that first round gives more credence to some options. And one that would be up or down.”
Jerry Jones added that receiving calls is better than making calls because “the results are better.”
The Cowboys were prepared to have Brandon Aubrey play on the second-round tender of $5.76 million for 2026. The kicker, though, made it clear to his agent, Todd France, that he wanted to get an extension completed in an “expedited manner.”
Aubrey, 31, signed a four-year, $28 million deal, with $20 million guaranteed this week, which makes him the highest-paid player at his position.
“I never really thought about it like that,” Aubrey said Tuesday, via Garrett Podell of CBS Sports. “I just wanted to fight my way on to a roster and hold on to it. . . . My goal was always just to get on an NFL roster. Then, take it kick by kick.”
Aubrey is 112-of-127 on field goals (88.2 percent) over his three years with the Cowboys, including a 35-of-44 mark on kicks of at least 50 yards. He’s also tied for the fourth-longest field goal in league history at 65 yards.
He went from signing with the Cowboys in 2023 after a prove-it spring season in the UFL to three Pro Bowls and now a record contract.
“Man, I’ve been reflecting on it quite a bit the last 24 hours,” Aubrey said, via Todd Archer of ESPN. “Yeah, it’s not sunk in just yet. I do feel like a weight or stress deep down is gone. I’m able to enjoy day to day life a little more again.”
In 2019, quarterback Will Grier arrived in Carolina as a third-round drdaft pick. Now he’s returning to the Panthers as a free agent signing.
Grier will sign with the Panthers, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. It will be Grier’s second stint in Carolina, where he spent two seasons but didn’t do much. His only regular-season action came in the last two games of his rookie year, both of which were ugly performances in blowout losses.
Those are still the only two regular-season games Grier has played, but he has managed to stick around in the NFL as a backup. He has spent time mostly with the Cowboys but also had brief stays on the Bengals, Patriots, Chargers and Eagles.
Grier is the third quarterback on the Panthers’ roster, and he’ll join a quarterback room that also features starter Bryce Young and backup Kenny Pickett.
The 31-year-old Grier was born and raised in the Charlotte suburbs, and after a journey that has seen him hold clipboards around the NFL, now he’s getting a homecoming.
Kicker Brandon Aubrey and the Cowboys have struck a deal.
According to multiple reports, Aubrey has agreed to a four-year extension in Dallas. The $28 million pact includes $20 million in guaranteed money.
Reports earlier in the offseason indicated that Aubrey was looking for $10 million a year. The deal with the Cowboys falls short of that number, but he did not sign an offer sheet with another club after being tendered in free agency and the new contract will still make him the highest-paid kicker in the league.
Aubrey is 112-of-127 on field goals over his three years with the Cowboys, including a 35-of-44 mark on kicks of at least 50 yards. He’s also tied for the fourth-longest field goal in league history at 65 yards.
The World Cup is coming soon. And it’s quickly becoming a pain in the posterior for the 13 teams playing in stadiums that will be commandeered for intercontinental soccer.
Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal recently reviewed some of the practical impacts of FIFA bigfooting the various venues where fútbol will be played. This week, for example, the Jets and Giants will move their annual draft parties away from MetLife Stadium to Manhattan.
In all, 13 teams are impacted by the World Cup: the Cowboys, Jets, Giants, Falcons, Chiefs, Texans, 49ers, Chargers, Rams, Eagles, Seahawks, Patriots, and Dolphins.
For the teams that have employees at the stadiums hosting World Cup games, many will be moved. Those who are staying put will be subject to FIFA credentialing to get into their workplaces. And the Giants will start training camp in West Virginia, since MetLife Stadium will be hosting the final match on July 19 on a grass field that will need to be removed and replaced with one of the worst artificial surfaces in the entire league.
That last part still has to be the most galling for NFL players. Owners with stadiums that don’t have grass have bent over backwards to do whatever had to be done to placate FIFA. Their regular employees, however, will still be stuck with a lesser (and far cheaper) playing surface.
The various sacrifices involuntarily made by the players and other team employees should prompt FIFA to give them all a phony, made-up award. Especially since FIFA has already done that, for far less.
