One of the most tangible benefits, it seemed, of the Cowboys making a deadline-day trade with the Bengals for Logan Wilson was not necessarily that the team would be plugging a star into the starting lineup. The benefit was more modest than that, but still significant. It was mostly just that the team would not need to keep trotting Kenneth Murray into the middle of its defense.
Murray is a sixth-year player the Cowboys acquired in a minor trade (sixth/seventh-round pick swaps) with the Titans last offseason, as the team sought depth at a position of weakness. Tennessee signed Murray to a two-year deal in 2024 but after 14 games, decided he would be better off elsewhere. Many Cowboys backers had the same opinion of Murray after just a few games this year.
That’s why the trade for Wilson was welcomed in Dallas. Wilson is about a league-average linebacker, but considering what the Cowboys were getting from Murray, league-average would be a boon.
Logan Wilson an ‘Alternative’ to Kenneth Murray
The only issue is that after bringing in Wilson, the Cowboys have not inserted him into the starting lineup. Murray’s snap counts have gone down but he is still the starter, and still playing more than 50% of the Cowboys snaps (58.1% in Week 14). Wilson has played 45.4% of the snaps since arriving with the Cowboys, leaving open the question: Why trade for Wilson but still keep playing Murray so much?
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was asked that this week during his appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. His answer was eye-opening–Jones indicated that Wilson is up for a bigger role going forward.
“Well, we brought in Logan. I am sure you will see more of Logan than you might have seen the other day, that’s natural because this is Logan’s fourth game coming up,” Jones said. “But the main thing is that we do have some alternatives (to Murray) there, we can do some things that will give him some better keys. The big thing is he has some competition there and that’s as much as you can ask for to correct something at this time of year.”
GettyHollywood Brown #5 of the Kansas City Chiefs catches a pass for a touchdown in front of Logan Wilson #55 of the Dallas Cowboys .
Cowboys Lacking Alternatives at Linebacker
The good news for the Cowboys is that their top linebacker, DeMarvion Overshown, is back on the field after a lengthy recovery from another knee surgery. Overshown is a rarity in the linebackers room for the Cowboys, in that he can do a little bit of everything and do it well.
Wilson is a good run-stopper and tackler, but he does not handle coverage over the middle well. According to Pro Football Focus, he has allowed 10 completions on 13 attempts thrown his way in four games. Murray has been slightly worse, allowing 34 of 44 passes to be completed when going his way.
In general, Wilson clocks in with a PFF grade of 51.2, which is 67th out of 88 linebackers in the NFL. But Murray is at the bottom of the barrel this season, rating a grade of just 36.8. That ranks 86th out of 88 linebackers on the season.
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