Who really won the Dallas Cowboys/Green Bay Packers trade?

July 6, 2026 - 00:20

It has been a full year since the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers pulled off a rare in-season trade, sending veteran wide receiver Amari Cooper to Cleveland and shaking up the NFC landscape. But the deal that truly turned heads was the one that sent a former first-round pick packing for a late-round swap. Now, with the dust settled, the question of who actually won that transaction is finally getting a clear answer.

The trade in question involved the Cowboys sending defensive back Kelvin Joseph to Green Bay in exchange for a seventh-round pick. At the time, it looked like a salary dump for Dallas, a move to clear a roster spot and cut ties with a player who had failed to live up to his 2021 second-round draft status. Joseph, a talented but raw cornerback, had struggled with consistency and off-field issues in Dallas. The Packers, desperate for secondary help, took a flier on his potential.

A year later, the results are lopsided. Joseph played sparingly in Green Bay, appearing in just a handful of games and failing to make a significant impact. He was eventually released and has since bounced around practice squads. The Cowboys, meanwhile, used that seventh-round pick as part of a package to move up in the 2024 draft, selecting a player who has already contributed on special teams. In the cold calculus of the NFL, Dallas turned a failed project into a useful asset, while Green Bay got nearly nothing in return. The Cowboys clearly won this one, but it is a victory born more from cutting their losses than from any brilliant foresight.