Can’t please everybody. Even harder? To know what the Cowboys will do with the 4th overall pick on April 28th. After much speculation and table pounding, we’re no closer to finding out who the Cowboys likely to take now than we were when the 2015 season mercifully ended. The Cowboys have needs on the defensive side of the ball, and a solution may be staring them right in the face; trade for the Jets’ Muhammad Wilkerson.

To acquire him, the Cowboys would have to give up the number four pick in the NFL Draft; but they could get plenty back in return.

Wilkerson is a 26 year old defensive lineman who was selected out of Temple by the New York Jets in the first round of the 2011 draft. With the Jets he’s a 3-4 defensive end but in Dallas’ 40-front he’d slide inside to defensive tackle.

He has 36.5 career sacks, 12 of which came during a very productive 2015 season, which was the last year of his contract. He was franchise tagged this offseason, and is currently recovering from a broken leg he suffered in Week 17. Nonetheless, he’s been an integral part of the New York Jet’s roster, and a true force along their defensive line. As such, it’s puzzling why the Jets are shopping him.

New York did draft DE Leonard Williams 6th overall in 2015, and already have a terrifying front seven, so perhaps they are reluctant to hand out the long-term deal that Wilkerson deserves given their more pressing needs.

There’s one team with a world-class pass rusher they might not really want, and another with a dire need for a pass rush combined with a roster and appetite to win now. The “another team” holds the 4th overall pick in the 2016 draft, and might not know who they want to spend it on.

Why not swap 2016 1st round picks with the Jets for Muhammad Wilkerson?

Going from fourth overall to 20th seems a steep drop, but makes sense for a variety of reasons. For starters, the math. It’s widely reported the Jets want a first-rounder in exchange for Wilkerson. The difference, according to the traditional value chart, between the fourth and 20th picks is 950 points, the value of the 17th pick in the draft.

No player drafted 4th overall will be able to provide the immediate impact Wilkerson would have for the Cowboys next season. Wilkerson would solve the pass rush woes, and give defensive coordinatorRod Marinelli a new toy to move around the line, making things easier for everyone else on the defense.

At 26, Wilkerson would fit right into the core of a revamped defensive line featuring younger players such as Tyrone Crawford (26), DeMarcus Lawrence (23), Cedric Thornton (27) and Randy Gregory (23).

Also, 20th overall puts the Cowboys in exactly the range of where Paxton Lynch is expected to be picked, and would also afford the Cowboys an extra year of Lynch’s rookie deal since he’d be drafted in the 1st round.

From the Jets’ perspective, vaulting from 20th to 4th overall allows them to fill the gaping hole at QB on their roster with either Carson Wentz or Jarred Goff, hopefully finding their long-term answer at QB.

While trades rarely occur in the NFL, there is some precedence for a trade similar to this from just a few weeks ago. On March 15th, the New England Patriots traded DE Chandler Jones to the Arizona Cardinals for guard Jonathan Cooper and a 2016 2nd round pick. We can use Chandler Jones as a measuring stick for a hypothetical Wilkerson trade-both players are 26 years old, and accumulated 12.5 sacks in 2015.

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Like Wilkerson, Jones is also playing out the last year of his deal. While Chandler Jones is a very good player, all he brought back was the 61st overall pick worth 292 points, and an underperforming and oft-injured guard the Patriots coveted from the 2013 draft. I would say Wilkerson is the better player between him and Jones, and of more value to the Cowboys, but the swap of firsts for Wilkerson is more than justified based off of the trade value chart alone.

However, if the thought of grabbing their highest-rated QB isn’t tempting enough for the Jets, maybe the Cowboys could also include a Day Three pick, or even to further emulate the Pats-Cardinals swap, and include a guard.

Ron Leary might be able to improve a Jets offensive line that was 26th in the league at run blocking DVOA (alternatively, they ranked 3rd in pass blocking DVOA, giving up only a 4.1% Adjusted Sack Rate).

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It’s difficult to assess Wilkerson’s value given his contract status. Dallas would need to sign Wilkerson to a long-term extension to ensure their new prized pass rusher stays in town. What an extension would look like remains to be seen, given the monster deals signed by pass rushers this offseason like Olivier Vernon.

The Cowboys are in a position they rarely find themselves in. At the near very top of the draft, they should keep every option to possibly improve their team open. A trade down for a very good, impact pass rusher that still lets them select their possible QB of the future could be as close as they get to having it all.