Cowboys' Stephen Jones doesn't close door on trade deadline moves: 'Wouldn't rule it out'

The "D" in "Big D" stands for "disappointing," when it comes to this Cowboys season.

A season that initially began with high hopes might end up resulting in a high draft pick. Sitting at 3-5 through the first nine weeks, Dallas is trending in the wrong direction and isn't showing signs of turning it around anytime soon. To cap off another brutal loss, this time to the Falcons, the Cowboys left Atlanta with some battered troops.

With quarterback Dak Prescott slated to miss time with a hamstring injury and receiver Ceedee Lamb's status up in the air, it's a question how much longer Mike McCarthy's team can stay in a race that they're already fading rapidly in. Add that to a defense that's been without Micah Parsons, DaRon Bland and others, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Despite that reality, there's a chance that reinforcements could be on the way before Tuesday's NFL trade deadline.

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During a radio appearance on 105.3 KRLD-FM in Dallas on Monday, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said that the team could still make some moves.

"Certainly wouldn't rule it out," Jones said. "We look at it in a lot of ways. One, improving your football team, but two, not only improving the football team for this year but for the future. We're always looking for that and how it fits in the big picture."

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While the Cowboys are seemingly always in buyer mode, that doesn't mean it'll be the same at this year's deadline. Jones remained non-committal about any particular moves, but didn't shut down the notion that Dallas could be sellers if the right deal came along.

"Trades are always both ways," Jones said. "You've got to look at it through the lens of how we view our players and how we view other teams players. If something makes sense, then we would certainly look at it."

With Prescott now sidelined for multiple weeks at least, the team is left with Cooper Rush and Trey Lance in the quarterback room. It's unclear whether a signal caller could be on the team's wish list, especially considering Prescott just inked a four-year, $240 million deal before Week 1. However, Dallas could find themselves linked to plenty of options on the market thanks to Jones' comments on Rush.

He declined to say whether the backup is the preferred starter behind Prescott, instead pointing out that Lance could also be an option.

"We'll cross that decision when the time comes," Jones said. "Certainly I thought Cooper did a nice job stepping in yesterday, which he's done before and really done at a high level. Obviously, these guys have a lot of confidence in Cooper, but at the same time we've got a young quarterback there in Trey [Lance] that did some good things in preseason. We feel good that we've got two good backup quarterbacks there if we need to address that."

With the news coming fast and furiously for America's team, it sets up what could be a wild deadline day in Dallas.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cowboys' Stephen Jones hints at trade deadline plans