When you trade for a linebacker mid-season, the expectation is simple: he plays. Logan Wilson was supposed to be a fix for the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive chaos: a proven tackle machine who reads plays fast and reacts faster. But when he didn’t play a single snap in Week 17 against the Washington Commanders, questions arose. Then, Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones finally gave an update that felt more like damage control than clarity.

“That was unfortunate with Logan,” Stephen Jones said on 105.3 The Fan. “They didn’t have many snaps throughout the game, much less obviously in the first half. I wouldn’t call it a mistake, but some confusion in terms of how that rotation was supposed to go with [linebackers coach Dave] Borgonzi. It certainly wasn’t the intent for him to not play a snap, but sometimes the game with not many snaps on one particular side of the ball, things can not go according to plan.”

The Cowboys’ defense faced just 44 snaps against Washington. Kenneth Murray played all 44 snaps. Rookie Shemar James logged 36 defensive snaps, and Wilson got zero. For a player who posted over 100 tackles annually with the Cincinnati Bengals, getting completely frozen out wasn’t just strange; it felt like an organizational failure. But he was at least part of the plan.

Since landing in Dallas on the trade deadline, Logan Wilson has managed just 17 tackles across six games. Back in Cincy this season, he had already logged 46. Last season? He logged 104 tackles through just 11 games, forced two fumbles, and recovered two more. The talent didn’t disappear; just the opportunities did. And Week 17 just highlighted that even more.

Dallas built a 24-10 halftime lead before nearly blowing it. Washington’s Jacory Croskey-Merritt torched them with a 72-yard touchdown run, cutting it to 24-17. Brandon Aubrey nailed field goals for Dallas from 52 and 51 yards to seal the 30-23 win, but the defensive cracks stayed visible. And the linebacker they traded for to patch those cracks never touched the field.

But Stephen Jones’ explanation feels like a band-aid now, an internal dysfunction dressed up in corporate speak. This explanation comes a little too late, especially since Jerry Jones himself expressed pure confusion on the matter.

Jerry Jones had no answer for the Wilson benching

Jerry Jones has made it a trademark move to talk about Dallas’ progress, roster moves, and game analysis on 105.3 The Fan every week. But before Stephen offered his version, Jerry had already been asked the same question. And Jerry’s response raised more questions than it answered.

“I don’t have an explanation for you for why Wilson wasn’t in there,” Jerry Jones had admitted. “We planned to have him in there. He needs to be in there. He had good instincts. The reason we got him was because he reads the play quick, and can basically be in his lane of responsibility and react quickly. It’s critical that a linebacker have quick reacting [ability]. He’s able to do that. That’s why we got him.”

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The owner and general manager’s frustration came through loud. This didn’t seem like a personnel decision. It was more like confusion manifesting as game-day chaos. And when pressed about the defensive coaching staff, Jones delivered the real verdict: he wasn’t happy.

“We have a lot of work to do over there,” he admitted.

That’s the owner publicly torching his defensive coordinator without naming him. Matt Eberflus arrived after his disastrous Chicago Bears tenure ended, and he’s been on the hot seat for weeks. So when Logan was stuck on the bench, all fingers naturally pointed towards him.

But Logan Wilson’s absence has finally been explained now. Whether he sees the field in Week 18 against the New York Giants is something we’ll have to wait and see. Beyond that, a defensive rebuild is coming to Dallas. Is Eberflus staying part of that plan? Seems less likely by the day.