Grade the trades: Would you rather have Michael Bennett to Dallas or Leonard Williams to Giants deal?

The NFL trade deadline is quickly approaching which means teams are feeling the pressure of the eleventh hour.

Perhaps that was the case with the Dallas Cowboys, who struck a deal with the New England Patriots last Thursday in order to acquire defensive end Michael Bennett. The move immediately gives the Cowboys some much-needed depth along the defensive line.

Plenty of Cowboys fans were making their peace with this trade over the weekend when matters become a little bit more complicated. On Sunday morning, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the Cowboys called the New York Jets about defensive lineman Leonard Williams before they ultimately made the Bennett deal.

In a vacuum it’s easy to say that you would prefer Leonard Williams to Michael Bennett. Who wouldn’t prefer the younger player with a future that seems brighter at this point? The reality though is that Bennett is on the first year of a two-year deal and that Williams is on his 2015 fifth-year option, meaning he will have to get paid in the offseason and the Cowboys already have their fair share of responsibilities in that department.

What’s more is that Williams would have cost the Cowboys more than the seventh-round pick (likely a sixth) that they gave up to acquire Bennett. We now know the price for Leonard Williams as Schefter also reported that he’s headed to the New York Giants. It took a 2020 third-round pick and a 2021 fifth-round pick that will probably become a fourth.

Cowboys trade price for Michael Bennett

• 2021 seventh-round pick (becomes a sixth if Bennett is on the Cowboys roster for four games over the rest of the 2019 season)

Giants trade price for Leonard Williams

• 2020 third-round pick
• 2021 fifth-round pick (becomes a fourth if Williams agrees to a long-term deal with the Giants before the first day of the league year in 2020)

It’s important to note beyond the fact that Williams is also due a huge deal (not to mention that the Giants just drafted a defensive tackle in the first round) in the offseason that the Giants are bad this season. That means that 2020 third-round pick is going to be a premium one, much closer to the second round than the fourth.

There’s no question that Michael Bennett is a bridge player, hopefully to the future that is Trysten Hill. This is a weird trade overall for the Giants as it’s not like they’re a player away from legitimate depth and challenging this season like the Cowboys are, but hey, Dave Gettleman hasn’t done something in a while.

Grade the trade. Which one is better?