Why the Cowboys shouldn’t trade for Stephon Gilmore even though the idea won’t die

In seven days, the Dallas Cowboys roster will look a whole lot different than it does right now. With just under a week standing between them and final cut day, the Cowboys have lots of decisions to make.

One decision Dallas will have to make is will they look to the trade market to potentially acquire some outside talent? If they do, could three-time All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore be a potential target? At least one outlet seems to believe so.

Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon listed Gilmore as the one player the Cowboys should trade for before the start of the regular season. Gagnon’s mock Gilmore-to-Dallas trade featured the Cowboys sending a second-round pick to New England in return for the stud cornerback.

Here’s what Gagnon had to say about the mock trade.

The Dallas Cowboys have lost top cornerbacks Byron Jones and Chidobe Awuzie in back-to-back offseasons. And while there’s hope for youngsters Trevon Diggs and Kelvin Joseph alongside veteran Jourdan Lewis, they lack an established No. 1 cover man.

Gilmore could change everything for a Dallas team that must be in win-now mode considering the state of the offense. He’s affordable, too, ahead of a walk year in which his cap hit to an acquiring team would be less than $8 million.

The Pats might not budge, especially without a premium draft pick coming their way, but it’s clear Gilmore is disgruntled, and New England might decide to cut bait for a solid return now, especially with plenty of depth at that position.

Despite how good of a player Gilmore has shown he can be, there are a few things that make this trade highly unlikely. The first would be that Gilmore is not currently healthy. The 30-year-old cornerback has been on the Patriots’ physically unable to perform list (PUP) since the start of training camp with a quad injury.

Bill Belichick spoke on Monday and stated that Gilmore is currently day-to-day, so his availability for the season opener is anything but certain.

“The things he hasn’t been able to do, he hasn’t been able to do. I’d say it’s day-to-day. We just keep trying to put days together and stack them together. When he’s ready to be out there, then he’ll be out there. If he’s not ready to be out there, then he’ll work on the things that he can work on to try to get ready to be out there. We’ll just take it day-to-day.”

Trading for an injured player is a huge risk, and the Cowboys would be giving up some pretty good capital just hoping that Gilmore could be back to play at an elite level at some point this season.

Two other reasons this trade seems highly unlikely is A) Gilmore is in the final year of his contract, meaning the Cowboys could give up a pick and potentially lose him after just one season. And B) Dallas has seen some encouraging things from their rookie cornerbacks this preseason. If they acquired Gilmore, it would greatly decrease the chances Kelvin Joseph or Nahshon Wright see the field much in their rookie year.

There’s no doubt Stephon Gilmore would make the Cowboys’ defense better. But it’s just hard to see a realistic scenario that has him ending up in Dallas this season. If the Cowboys really want to target the All-Pro corner, it likely won’t happen until he hits the open market next March.