When it comes to Jerry Jones’ stewardship of the Dallas Cowboys, somebody please make it make sense.
The owner of the Cowboys brought his clown show stewardship of the franchise to the annual NFL meetings this week. Needless to say, nothing good came of it.
With the NFL Draft just three weeks away, and most of the fireworks in free agency fading into memory, Jones managed to step into a Home Depot of Rakes in Florida.
There are so many, it’s hard to figure out where to start. Maybe we’ll go with the rather large elephant, or rather, a lion that isn’t currently in the room.
Micah Parsons and his looming contract extension.
It Is Called The CBA, Jerry
The Collective Bargaining Agreement, whether you like it or not, is in full force in the NFL.
Which means that the teams and the players, and everyone else associated with the NFL, have to abide by the rule laid out within. Someone needs to remind Jones of this fact.
While the other 31 NFL general managers negotiate contracts with the players’ agents, Jones has been trying to cut Parsons’ agent out of the loop.
Needless to say, Parsons’ agent, David Mulugheta, is not amused. Neither is Parsons for that matter.
The Cowboys’ leading pass rusher has even directed Jones Inc. to call his agent and make their offers.
Reportedly, no such call has been made.
Given that Jones has publicly said he doesn’t know who Parsons’ agent is, one suspects that said call is not coming anytime soon.
Especially when you add this report about Jones saying Parsons’ extension is “not urgent at all” to him. Mulugheta has been relegated to discussing the issue with Adam Praifka, Dallas’ director of salary cap/player contracts.
I sincerely doubt any other NFL team negotiates contracts like this.
Only the ones that look like a clown show do.
Neither Have You, Mr. Jones
This may come as something of a surprise to you.
The Dallas Cowboys haven’t won a Super Bowl in 29 years.
They haven’t even played in one for 29 years. They haven’t even played in an NFC Championship game, or won a divisional round playoff game, in the same time span.
They are just 5-13 in the playoffs since winning Super Bowl XXX at the end of the 1995 season.
The man who has been the owner and general manager all of those 29 years wants you to know something about that.
“I don’t wake up in the morning saying it’s been that long since we’ve played in an NFC Championship game,” Jones said in an interview earlier this week at the NFL meetings.
And that’s not the most infuriating thing he had to say on the subject.
“…no one has shown me the answer on how to get to a Super Bowl,” Jones added in the same interview with The Athletic’s Jon Machota.
Jimmy Johnson has entered the chat.
Not to mention one slight detail, Mr. Jones. In the 29 years when it has been your players and the team you built, instead of Johnson’s, you haven’t shown that you have that answer either.
Among the current 32 NFL teams, only the Texans have never made it to a conference title game, while the Browns last made it in 1989 and the Dolphins in 1992.
Those are the three teams with longer championship game droughts than the Cowboys (1995).
The other 28 teams have all made it that far at least once this century.
As for the Super Bowl, only 10 teams have longer droughts, or have never made it, to the title contest. That makes 21 teams that have.
Looks like there are at least 21 general managers who know how to get there and none of them are named Jerry Jones.
Plenty of people have been shouting the answer at you for years. You’re just too stubborn to listen.
The Never-Ending Nightmare
As long as Jerry Jones holds the reins, he’ll bask in the spotlight. And as long as the Cowboys are the “wealthiest” franchise and the bank accounts are full, nothing will change.
A sixth Lombardi Trophy will not come to The Star as long as the men behind the wheel of this clown car are the Jones boys.
And I haven’t even touched base on who Jones thinks should be the next man up on the Ring of Honor. The disrespect for past greats of the franchise is epic.
We’ll touch on that later.
In the meantime, get ready for several more months of this nonsense and probably a few more years of the title drought to continue.