Just when you thought the Dallas Cowboys were going to sit by idly during their bye week, they shocked the NFL on Thursday evening by trading a conditional seventh-round draft pick to the New England Patriots for defensive lineman Michael Bennett.

While the Cowboys are well acquainted with Bennett from his time with the Philadelphia Eagles last season, Dallas defensive backs coach Kris Richard has a great deal of personal experience with him from their time spent together with the Seattle Seahawks. Bennett was with the Seahawks from 2013-17, crossing over with Richard, who was Seattle’s defensive backs coach from 2012-14 and its defensive coordinator from 2015-17.

Although Bennett was suspended for a game by the Patriots for conduct detrimental to the team, the fact that Richard signed off on this deal, given his history with Bennett, should quell any locker room concerns fans may have. Bennett should fit in nicely with the mix of personalities in the Cowboys’ locker room.

On the field, Bennett just wasn’t a good fit in Bill Belichick’s ever-changing defense. Bennett is excellent at what he does, but what he does only jibes with a specific type of scheme. He thrives when he has the freedom to play upfield and attack the backfield, but when he’s asked to two-gap or occupy blocks, he’s less effective.

Bennett fits in Rod Marinelli’s penetrating one-gap defense like a glove, though. Bennett is an upfield disruptor who wins with an elite get-off and outstanding hand usage. He also possesses the position flexibility to align at defensive end or under tackle (three-technique) and maintain his effectiveness.

Bennett’s best trait is his ability to get after and apply pressure on opposing quarterbacks. He has long been one of the best pass rushers in the NFL, posting 70-plus quarterback pressures in six of his last seven seasons (48 in 2016), according to Pro Football Focus. To put that into perspective: DeMarcus Lawrence led the Cowboys with 66 pressures last season -- Bennett had 78.

While he doesn’t possess great speed or power, Bennett is able to be effective because he’s a black belt-caliber hand fighter. He’s seriously lethal.

The cross chop crew just added a new member. Michael Bennett is going to add a lot of juice to the #Cowboys' interior pass rush. pic.twitter.com/WJka6sL3yA — John Owning (@JohnOwning) October 24, 2019

Bennett’s best move is the cross chop (adding to Dallas’ crew of cross choppers, including Lawrence and Robert Quinn) that he uses with impressive timing and fluidity. He can also set it up in a myriad of ways with a variety of movement patterns, making it tough for blockers to predict when it’s coming.

Just like any pass rusher who is a technician with his hands, Bennett can also counter/sequence to other moves in his repertoire when his cross chop fails. Here’s a great example:

This is filthy. Michael Bennett misses with the cross chop, but the footwork and set up still causes Zack Martin to open the gate. So Bennett transitions into a rip, sinks his weight to carve a really tight corner for the sack and forced fumble. pic.twitter.com/tlnkcxrd15 — John Owning (@JohnOwning) October 24, 2019

On this play, Bennett is aligned with an outside shade over Zack Martin. Once the ball is snapped, Bennett attacks vertically before taking a hard jab step inside and expanding back out with the next step -- referred to as a euro step -- in an attempt to get Martin to react inside, which he does here.

At the moment, everything is going according to plan, but as is the case with most potent pass rushers, Bennett has no problem switching to Plan B if something goes awry, which he showcases here.

Even though Bennett elicited the exact response he wanted from Martin with his euro step, he still misses with his cross chop. While most pass rushers would hesitate or gear down after missing with their hands, Bennett transitions fluidly to a rip move to carve the corner.

Bennett noticed that, despite missing with the cross chop, his footwork and movement pattern caused Martin to turn his shoulders perpendicular to the line of scrimmage to defend it, opening the ability to dip and rip around the soft corner to bring Dak Prescott down for the sack while also forcing a fumble.

Here’s another example of Bennett sequencing to a second move after a cross chop:

Well this was mighty impressive. Michael Bennett cross chops the RG then bull rushes the RT in the QBs lap, disengages and makes the sack. Love how he sinks into the bull to re-establish leverage. #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/K069NiFNts — John Owning (@JohnOwning) October 24, 2019

On this play, Bennett transitions from cross-chopping the right guard to executing a powerful bull rush on the right tackle before sacking Josh Rosen. Bennett did an excellent job of sinking his hips to gain the leverage advantage, enabling him to walk the right tackle into the pocket before he disengaged and brought Rosen down.

Bennett is also extremely adept at attacking wrists with forklift moves to manipulate leverage and create soft corners. Here’s an example:

On this play, Bennett is aligned with a wide outside shade over Chicago’s right tackle. He rushes vertically off the snap before attacking first with an inside stab with his right arm.

This point of contact gives Bennett a better ability to gauge the distance, making it easier for him to locate the right tackle’s outside wrist with his left hand. By controlling that outside wrist, Bennett is able to break the right tackle’s grip before guiding across his body, thus creating a soft corner.

From there, Bennett is able to flatten and wrangle Mitchell Trubisky, who abandons his step up in the pocket.

Bennett is a true mismatch when rushing from the interior, as his quickness is tough for the slower-footed guards to deal with. This is why you see a lot of his production as a pass rusher come on the inside.

That’s not to say Bennett is ineffective when rushing off the edge -- he just more productive when rushing from interior alignments.

While he incorporates a lot of finesse into his interior rushing, Bennett mixes in a good deal of power into his pass-rush repertoire off the edge. His power rushes are effective when he sinks his pad level to establish leverage advantage and has the space to generate momentum.

Against the run, Bennett should be much more effective from the shaded alignments in Dallas’ front rather than the (at times) head-up alignment in New England. This gives Bennett a better opportunity to leverage his quickness and hand-fighting ability rather than play strength and length, aiding his effectiveness.

When aligned at defensive tackle, Bennett leverages his hair-trigger get-off to quickly penetrate the backfield or knock an offensive lineman back. He doesn’t possess a ton of play strength, which is why he’s not great at holding his ground against single blocking or double-teams.

This is why, despite being a better pass rusher from a defensive tackle alignment, he’s actually better against the run when aligned on the edge at defensive end.

Bennett’s play strength translates better on the edge against tight ends and offensive tackles, which is why you’ll see him stack and shed blocks there more frequently than when he’s in the interior. He utilizes good leverage and active hands when he’s successful at the point of attack against the run.

When he’s on the front side of a run, Bennett will still look to penetrate and make a tackle for loss even when aligned at defensive end. That can get him into trouble at times, but it’s manageable given the amount splash plays it can create.

Given his play style, Bennett will jump offside on occasion while trying to time the snap. Moreover, his motor can wane at times, but luckily for the Cowboys, Marinelli is one of the best coaches in the league at getting his players to play as hard as possible. Even with the motor issues, Bennett provides many more benefits than detractions with his skill set and style.

At 33 years old, Bennett is certainly on the “downside” of his career, but that doesn’t mean he still can’t be an effective member of the Cowboys’ defensive line for the rest of the season -- he still has a good amount of juice left in the tank.

Bennett can immediately slide into the defensive end rotation on neutral down-and-distances while moving inside to the under tackle spot in pass situations. Put simply, he will fill the role vacated by Tyrone Crawford, but with more of a pass-rush slant.

Bennett’s presence should help Dallas employ one of the most venomous rush packages in the league with Quinn and Lawrence at right and left defensive end while Bennett and Maliek Collins are at defensive tackle.

Lawrence’s skill set, in particular, should mesh well with Bennett’s, as the duo should be a potent combination on the variety of stunts Marinelli likes to run up front.

Usually, it’s the Patriots who save a still effective but aging veteran from a dysfunctional situation for pennies on the dollar, but this time, they were on the other end of the situation. The Cowboys should be able to benefit from grabbing a still disruptive and position-flexible defensive lineman who can make an immediate impact -- all just for a conditional seventh-round pick.

Trading for Bennett is exactly the kind of move that a team in contention should do before the trade deadline. This addition doesn’t guarantee the Cowboys will go off on a deep playoff run, but it does help their chances.

The best-case scenario is that Bennett becomes a consistent backfield disruptor who improves the quality of the entire defense for this season and the next. If he is ineffective, the Cowboys can simply rid themselves of the veteran without much of a cap hit.

There’s little (if anything) to lose, but there’s a ton to gain by adding the three-time Pro Bowler.

The Cowboys’ front office deserves to be applauded because it hit this one out of the park.

Enjoy this post? More film studies:

-- 3 changes the Cowboys need to make during the bye week, including CB Jourdan Lewis’ spot on the depth chart

-- 3 takeaways from the Cowboys’ domination of the Eagles, including how Kellen Moore got the offense back on track

-- Why DeMarcus Lawrence isn’t playing as poorly as his sack total suggests