FRISCO—After speaking during Monday’s press conference with coach Brian Schottenheimer here at The Star, Dallas Cowboys COO Stephen Jones was briskly making his way to the elevator, literally with a deal-closing interview with future defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus waiting. So I had to hurry. Scooting into Stephen’s elevator, he did.
I also had to speak quickly. because there is a limit to how many levels the Cowboys elevator can reach. (I’m not attempting to be ironic.) Not long after Stephen famously used his fingers as “air quotes” to downplay the team’s 29-year title “drought,” he made a suggestion that their strategy for selecting a roster this offseason might alter.
“We’re going to take a long, hard look at how we’ve looked at free agency,” Stephen stated during the press conference. And we will make any necessary changes there.” With a boast and a compromise, dad Jerry was added: “I want our followers to know that I do real good managing (the cap)… However, it’s clear that we haven’t done it sufficiently.” In actuality, all 32 teams “manage the cap,” so that admission is just the beginning. However, how can we determine which teams “do real good”? Championship contention serves as a barometer for that.
Dallas isn’t “real good” at it, as the 29-year evidence shows. So, to the elevator, where there wasn’t time to present the specifics of my “$100 million case,” with the numbers that prove that Dallas doesn’t have to be “really, really tight” (Stephen’s words) against the cap in 2025. I mention to Stephen that Cowboys Nation’s ears are going to perk up when they reflect on his suggestion that “a long, hard look” at “change” is being considered. “Yeah,” he said, acknowledging that his supporters find those claims encouraging. “We’ve looked at that outside before,” he continued.
We’ve succeeded. We have been heavily involved. Alright. We’re making progress now. But then Stephen falls back to a pair of ol’-reliable rote answers. He said, “We’re probably a little tightened down more than before, this time around, because of the magnitude of what we’re doing with Dak (Prescott) and CeeDee (Lamb) and Micah (Parsons). …” And then he said, “Two years ago, we traded for (Stephon) Gilmore and for a veteran player in (Brandin) Cooks and really helped our football team.” …” And of course, those two 2023 offseason deals (a fifth-round pick was send to the Colts for Gilmore and a fifth- and a sixth- to the Texans for Cooks) were fruitful and smart. However, that was two years prior.
And the result – again, title contention – was not good enough. Finally, as Stephen zipped away, I brought up “void years” and “flipping the switch” as it relates to the present deals for Dak and Lamb, and Stephen budged. Just a little bit. “You can do certain things,” he said, and your ears are allowed to perk up again.
Then he added, “There’s limitations to it, though.” If you ask this year’s two Super Bowl GM’s, Brett Veach in Kansas City and Howie Roseman in Philadelphia, you will hear they use terms like “super-aggressive” to describe how they’ve stayed on top.
(The Chiefs are in the Super Bowl for the fifth time in six years; the NFC East rival Eagles are in The Big Game for the third time in eight years.) Little wonder it bothers Cowboys Nation to hear Stephen to address the same cap issues that those teams have by citing “limitations.” During the presser, Jerry said of fans being mad at him: “Well, I understand that. I’m mad at me right now. But the issue is what are we gonna do about it.
I’m the best man to do something about it.” And later, Stephen added, “You always have to evaluate yourself. When you’re not having success you have to look at it.” After 29 years, the Joneses owe it to their audience and to themselves to be “the best men” by first admitting they are “not having success” … and then by taking action. Put down the “air quotes,” fellas. And pick up the calculator and the pen and the $100 million checkbook.