America’s Team has turned into a third world organization. In spite of their 3-5 record and their quarterback Dak Prescott going on IR with a hamstring injury, the Dallas Cowboys are buying, not selling, at the trade deadline, orchestrating a deal for Carolina Panthers wide receiver Jonathan Mingo.
The Cowboys are sending a 2025 fourth-round pick to the Panthers in exchange for Mingo and a 2025 seventh-rounder, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported on Tuesday, according to sources.
Mingo, 23 years-of-age, was a second-round pick, 39th overall, of the Panthers in the 2023 NFL Draft out of Ole Miss. He started 14 of 15 games as a rookie, catching 43 balls on 85 targets for 418 yards, but Mingo has seen a steady decline in his role and production in 2024, playing roughly half the offensive snaps and catching 12 passes for 121 yards in nine games including five starts.
The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Mingo has not found the end zone yet 24 NFL games. In his one game against the Cowboys, Mingo was a non-factor, catching a single pass for 6 yards on six targets in Week 11 last season.
Just prior to the trade being reported on Tuesday, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones hinted about the move on his weekly radio spot on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas that they planned to trade for a receiver they liked prior to the draft but could not get, presumably Mingo. Dallas later selected tight end Luke Schoonmaker in Round 2 in 2023.
Embed from Getty Images“We’re not selling. We will make that case,” Jones said ahead of Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline. “We’re buying, not selling.”
Mingo played four years at Ole Miss, catching 112 passes for 1,758 yards (15.7-yard average) and 12 touchdowns in 41 career games. He climbed the draft boards with a strong workout at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, running a 4.46-second 40-yard dash, putting up 22 bench-press reps and jumping 10-foot-9 in the broad jump and 39.5 inches in the vertical jump.
