Steelers won the Broderick Jones trade on price; Dallas paid for a need

Is a trade good because it fills a hole, or because the price was right? Those are two different questions, and the Broderick Jones deal between Pittsburgh and Dallas is a clean example of what happens when a team answers the first and ignores the second.

Here is what we know. The deal was done on August 29, per USA Today's For The Win, with Pittsburgh moving on from the 2023 first-round tackle. As reported, Dallas sent 2027 third- and sixth-round picks to the Steelers, and Pittsburgh attached its own 2027 fourth-rounder to Jones. Pittsburgh had also declined his fifth-year option and used a first-round pick on Max Ihenachor, according to Greg's Insight. In other words, the Steelers had already moved on.

We should be upfront about what we don't have: any snap-by-snap evidence of how Jones has played for Dallas. So "the Steelers are winning" is a claim about the deal's structure, not a scouting report. We think that's the more important part anyway.

Pittsburgh sold a declining asset and improved its draft position

Look at the ledger. The Steelers gave up a player whose option they had already declined, so his long-term cost was not a number they were planning around. In return they swapped a fourth-round pick for a third and picked up a sixth. That is a small but real gain in draft capital.

That is what a sell-high, or at least a sell-before-it-gets-worse, looks like. Pittsburgh turned a sunk cost into a better pick, and it did so before the season began. Whether Jones blossoms in Dallas matters less than people think. A team that cuts its losses at a fair price has done its job, even if the player later has a good year somewhere else.

Dallas shopped by position, not by value

For the Cowboys, the logic looks like need. Dallas wanted offensive line help, and a former 14th overall pick was available. That's a reasonable instinct. It's also how teams overpay: when you start from "we need a tackle," the asking price feels like a detail.

Dallas gave up a third-round pick for a player Pittsburgh had stopped planning around, and the pick swap handed Pittsburgh the better end of the draft ledger. Maybe Jones turns out fine. We can't say. But a trade has to clear a higher bar than "he plays a position we're short at." Every team is short somewhere. The question is whether this was the best use of a third-round pick, and we doubt it.

The Cowboys' real problem right now isn't obviously on the line, either. Dallas is 3-4, and it is last in the NFL in third-down defense, allowing a 52.9% conversion rate. Even in Monday's 38-21 win over Philadelphia, the defense let the Eagles go 84 yards on 17 plays for a go-ahead touchdown. Picks spent on one hole are picks not available for the one that's bleeding.

The Porter deal is the counterexample, and the test

To be fair to Dallas, not every trade with Pittsburgh looks shaky. The Cowboys also acquired cornerback Joey Porter Jr. from the Steelers in late September, and owner Jerry Jones, per Yardbarker, called him "a shutdown corner" and said that's "everybody's dream." That is a team buying a player it believes can change a matchup, not just a depth chart. We don't have the compensation figures for that deal, so we won't grade it. But the contrast is useful. Porter is playing on the last year of his contract, and Dallas will probably have to pay him real money to keep him. That is exactly why price discipline matters.

The owner also said he'd add to the defense before the Nov. 10 deadline if he could, though he called it "unlikely." Our read: another need-driven purchase would repeat the mistake. If a price doesn't work, standing pat beats filling a slot.

Our verdict

Pittsburgh wins this one on the math alone, and nothing Jones does in Dallas changes that unless he becomes a star, which would be a surprise to us. Dallas should take the lesson into the deadline: judge every deal by what you give up, not by the hole you want to plug. The Cowboys' best argument that they didn't overpay would be an offensive line that keeps Javonte Williams running for 150 yards a week. Until we see Jones making that kind of difference, we're calling this deal a warning, not a win.