In spite of their 3-5 record, the Dallas Cowboys are buying -- not selling -- at the trade deadline, swinging a deal for Panthers wide receiver Jonathan Mingo.
Dallas is sending a 2025 fourth-round pick to Carolina in exchange for Mingo and a 2025 seventh-rounder, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported on Tuesday, per sources. The Cowboys subsequently announced the trade.
Mingo, 23, was a second-round pick (39th overall) of the Panthers in the 2023 NFL Draft. He started 14 of 15 games as a rookie, catching 43 passes (on 85 targets) for 418 yards, but Mingo has seen a reduced role in 2024, playing roughly half the offensive snaps and catching 12 passes for 121 yards in nine games (five starts).
The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Mingo has yet to catch a touchdown pass in 24 NFL games. In his one game against the Cowboys, Mingo caught one pass for 6 yards on six targets in Week 11 last season.
Just prior to the trade being reported on Tuesday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones foretold the move on his weekly radio spot on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas that the team planned to trade for a receiver the Cowboys liked prior to the draft but couldn’t get -- presumably Mingo. Dallas later selected tight end Luke Schoonmaker in Round 2 in 2023.
“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 TDs in 41 career games. He boosted his stock with a strong workout at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine, 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.