Jonathan Mingo happy for “fresh start” with Cowboys

Wide receiver Jonathan Mingo got a surprising call on Tuesday.

Mingo told reporters that he was waiting for a food delivery when Panthers General Manager Dan Morgan called him to say that he was now a member of the Dallas Cowboys. The Panthers, who picked Mingo in the second round last year, shipped the wideout and a seventh-round pick to the Cowboys for a fourth-rounder.

Mingo caught 55 passes for 539 yards with the Panthers and said on Thursday that there are “things I felt like I could’ve done better” during his time in Carolina, but he wasn’t expecting the team to move on from him at this point. Now that they have, he appreciates the chance to “prove to people what I can do.”

“It kind of blindsided me, because my agent told me he didn’t think anything was going to happen, slim chance,” Mingo said, via the team’s website. “So that slim chance happened. I’m happy to be a Cowboy, fresh start for me, new beginnings, God put me here for a reason.”

Mingo is under the terms of his rookie contract for two more years and that was likely a big part of why the Cowboys moved to acquire him at this point in a season that has not gone well for them. That lessens the need for an immediate impact and allows more space for Mingo to find his way in Dallas.