The Dallas Cowboys had finally broken through. After three straight 8-8 seasons under new head coach Jason Garrett, Dallas finally returned to the playoffs in 2014. Rebuilt around Tony Romo, the club saw postseason action for the first time since 2009, but ended in familiar misery. Dez caught it, the NFL decided they didn’t want the Cowboys in the next round and to the offseason they went.
The Cowboys had a bit of an issue in the secondary that offseason. 2012 draft pick Morris Claiborne was a disappointment and missed 12 games that season. Instead, the Cowboys trotted out Sterling Moore opposite Brandon Carr, a solution that wasn’t a solution moving forward. The Cowboys acted on the need and selected Connecticut corner Byron Jones in the first round of 2015.
And now, just eight seasons later, Byron Jones seemed to be calling it a career. Jones missed all of the 2022 season due to injury, and though he didn’t officially use the word retire, he spoke in the past tense in regards to his playing career in giving a stern warning to the incoming 2023 draft class. But that’s not all she wrote.