We stand 197 days away from the kickoff of the 2024 NFL season and offseason activities are in full swing.
The Dallas Cowboys have many questions following another shocking exit from the NFL playoffs.
A series of fortunate events (namely the Philadelphia Eagles’ epic collapse) at the tail end of the regular season set up the Cowboys as the NFC’s 2nd seed.
Many were looking past the 7th-seed Green Bay Packers to a home Divisional round game, already envisioning an NFC Championship Game appearance for the first time since the 1995 season.
In an appalling turn of events, the Packers took a 27-0 lead before Cowboys Nation could get their drinks and settle in their seats.
The loss didn’t sit well with many Cowboys’ greats, including Hall of Fame WR Michael Irvin, who had some choice words for current players.
In a video posted to X/Twitter, Irvin had the following to say:
“When I got here (Dallas), I understood the men before me. They built the Dallas Cowboys. They made America’s Team. They put a championship on the table before I got here. My job while I was here was to match what they have done because they built it.”
“They” refers to the teams of the 1970s who won two Super Bowl Championships with Tom Landry on the sidelines and Roger Staubach under center.
Another large part of the 1990s turnaround Irvin was part of is now on Jerry Jones’ advisory board for 2024.
Ladies & gentlemen, the legendary Jimmy Johnson is back with the Cowboys, at least in some capacity.
Let’s take a look at what Jimmy brought to the Dallas Cowboys and the timeline of events that brought us to this point.
Rich History
Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones are long-time friends, dating back to college at the University of Arkansas where they played football together.
That friendship would last decades even though their lives would take different paths.
After a handful of unsuccessful ventures, Jerry began a successful business in the oil & gas industry before setting his sights on buying the Dallas Cowboys in 1989 from then-owner Bum Bright.
Jimmy’s life path took him to coaching immediately after graduating from Arkansas and he coached until retirement following the 1999 season.
Though they remained in touch between graduation at Arkansas and reuniting in 1989, Jimmy taking Jerry’s offer to coach the Dallas Cowboys would be the first time the two would be in business together.
Jimmy Brings Glory Back to Dallas
Johnson took just a couple of short rebuilding seasons before seeing the fruits of his labor as Cowboys’ head coach.
By 1991, the Cowboys were back to playoff success, defeating the Chicago Bears in Soldier Field for their first playoff win since 1981.
Two years later they were back-to-back Super Bowl Champions, thanks to Johnson’s savvy and his eye for finding talent in the draft.
Johnson engineered what is still considered one of the greatest NFL trades of all time by dealing star RB Herschel Walker to the Vikings for a litany of players and picks.
The trick was that Johnson added a clause in the trade that would reward him with Vikings’ draft picks for any player involved in the trade that didn’t make the final Cowboys’ roster.
Jimmy himself was in charge of the Cowboys’ roster at the time and released nearly every player involved in the trade to load up on draft picks.
That trade was the catalyst for the Cowboys winning three Super Bowls in four years and cemented Johnson as one of the greatest coaches and team-builders of all time.
Here is a list of the players drafted by Johnson with All-Pro or Hall of Fame credentials on their resumes.
- QB Troy Aikman (Hall of Fame)
- G Steve Wisniewski (never played for Dallas but made All-Pro)
- C Mark Stepnoski (All-Pro)
- DE Tony Tolbert (All-Pro)
- RB Emmitt Smith (Hall of Fame)
- T Erik Williams (All-Pro)
- CB Kevin Smith (All-Pro)
- WR Jimmy Smith (All-Pro in Jacksonville)
- S Darren Woodson (All-Pro)
An Unexpected Divorce
Success can bring people together, but sometimes it can also tear them apart.
The feud between Jerry and Jimmy had grown to a point where not only was their friendship in danger but so was their business partnership.
The two ultimately decided to part ways early in 1994 following the second of consecutive Super Bowl victories.
Many stories swirled in the aftermath of the shocking business divorce, but the most common was the rumor that Jerry’s ego was bruised at all of the credit Jimmy was getting for the success.
It created a rift that wouldn’t be repaired until 30 years later.
Ring of Honor
One of the questions posed to Jones post-1994 was when he planned on inducting Jimmy Johnson into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor.
This question was asked to him on what seemed like an annual basis until it finally happened in 2023.
After three decades of deflecting, Jerry finally decided to put Jimmy in the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor on December 30, 2023.
Many thought it would finally break the 29-year curse for the Cowboys but the loss to the Packers proved nothing had changed.
At halftime of that game with the Cowboys down 27-7, the Fox broadcast team asked Johnson what he would say to the team after a performance like that.
Jimmy didn’t mince words, and brought the fire and intensity (albeit without the language) we saw from him as the head coach of the Cowboys in his day.
With the news that Jimmy was appointed to Jerry’s advisory board since his induction into the Ring of Honor, it all makes sense now why he was so fired up.
He was finally personally invested in the Dallas Cowboys again.
Has the Fence Been Mended?
If Jimmy is in Jerry’s ear again helping make decisions on the Dallas Cowboys, it can only mean good things.
It appears they have let bygones be bygones, but how far Jimmy’s reach goes is yet to be seen.
Will Jerry go as far as having Jimmy in the room of executives or the War Room during the draft?
What hand did he play in retaining HC Mike McCarthy and hiring DC Mike Zimmer?
These are questions we won’t know the answers to until they are answered for us in the process of the offseason.
Rejoice, Cowboys fans. Jimmy Johnson is back in the building.