‘In the best interest of the organization’: Jerry Jones addresses Cowboys’ cheerleader settlement

The Cowboys owner spoke publicly for the first time about the $2.4 million paid to 4 cheerleaders following 2015’s voyeurism scandal. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones spoke on the record for the first time about the $2.4 million settlement the club reached with four team cheerleaders in 2016 over accusations of voyeurism. The incident, involving former Cowboys senior PR man Rich Dalrymple, occurred in 2015 and was brought to light earlier this month in an ESPN article.

Jones was interviewed by Meredith Land of NBC-5 in Dallas on Friday before an event honoring him for his contributions to cancer research. Land took the opportunity to also get the 79-year-old’s first public comments about the scandal.

When asked about why the Cowboys elected to reach a settlement with the cheerleaders, Jones had this to say:

“First of all, the cheerleaders are an iconic- a vital- part of what our organization is, the Dallas Cowboys. And so we took these allegations very seriously. We immediately began a look-see, an investigation into the situation. I can assure you that had we found that it need be, there would have been firings or there would have been suspicion. As it turns out, in the best interest of our cheerleaders, in the best interest of the organization, in the best interest of our fans, what we decided to do was show the cheerleaders how seriously we took these allegations and we wanted them to know that we were real serious, and so the settlement was the way to go.”

Jones uses the phrase in the best interest three times in his answer, referring to the cheerleaders whose privacy was violated, the team’s considerable fanbase, and the worldwide brand that is the Dallas Cowboys organization. Whether reaching a large cash settlement behind closed doors and swearing all parties to secrecy with a non-disclosure agreement was actually the best outcome for all three of those entities is highly debatable.

Dalrymple continued to work for the Cowboys for another six years after the incident. ESPN reported that his access to the cheerleaders’ locker room was revoked, a disciplinary letter was placed in his personnel file, and security changes were made to relevant areas of AT&T Stadium.

Dalrymple announced his retirement suddenly on February 2, ending a 32-year tenure with the franchise.

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ESPN: Cowboys paid $2.4M to settle with cheerleaders, retired Cowboys exec also vouyeristic towards Charlotte Jones

Longtime PR man Rich Dalrymple is accused of two incidents in 2015 involving the club’s cheerleaders and owner Jerry Jones’s daughter. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Troubling allegations have come to light involving Rich Dalrymple, the Cowboys’ longtime senior vice president of public relations and communications, who retired earlier this month after more than three decades with the club.

The story, reported by ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. on Wednesday, involves two separate incidents from 2015. In the first, Dalrymple is accused of spying on four Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders as they undressed inside their own locker room at the Cowboys’ home stadium. The second allegation Dalrymple is accused of is that he used his phone to capture ‘upskirt photographs’ of Charlotte Jones Anderson, the Cowboys executive vice president and daughter of owner Jerry Jones, during the 2015 NFL draft.

“Multiple sources tell ESPN that at a kickoff luncheon on September 2 of that year,” the ESPN report states, “Dalrymple was seen by a cheerleader standing behind a partial wall inside their locker room at AT&T Stadium. The cheerleader accused him of pointing his iPhone horizontally at the women as they were changing out of their unmistakable blue and white uniforms.”

The network goes on to report the role that team owner Jerry Jones played in containing the story.

“Documents obtained by ESPN show that in 2016, team owner Jerry Jones paid the four cheerleaders and their lawyers a $2.4-million-dollar confidential settlement. As part of the agreement, the cheerleaders promised to keep quiet about the alleged incident. Three people with knowledge of the situation told ESPN shortly after the alleged incident, a Cowboys security guard wanted to report the allegation to the police, but law enforcement was never called. A team representative said the security guard never mentioned wanting to call the police in his interview with human resources later that day. According to the sources, team officials urged the four cheerleaders to report the incident to the team’s HR department, and they did. But they were unsatisfied with the resulting investigation.”

As per Van Natta, “A Cowboys representative says Dalrymple told the team he entered the locked cheerleaders’ dressing room with a security key card only to use the bathroom, and left as soon as he realized someone was there.”

A former cheerleader familiar with the incident said what happened became known to several others on the squad.

“It hurt my heart because I know how much it affected the people who were involved,” the former cheerleader said. “It was a very … ‘shut the book, don’t talk about it, this person is going to stay in his position’ … They just made it go away.”

ESPN’s bombshell report reveals that Dalrymple is also at the heart of a second disturbing claim, this one pre-dating the locker room incident by several months.

Again, from the ESPN report:

“A separate allegation involving Dalrymple centers around the April 2015 NFL draft. ESPN has obtained a sworn affidavit by a Cowboys fan who claimed, while watching a live video stream of the team’s draft war room, he noticed Dalrymple repeatedly using his phone to take what he called ‘upskirt photographs’ of Charlotte Jones Anderson, the Cowboys executive vice president and Jerry Jones’s daughter. The fan’s affidavit was presented to the Cowboys by lawyers representing the cheerleaders, and within several weeks, the Cowboys settled with them. ESPN was not able to obtain a copy or view the war room video in question. A Cowboys representative told ESPN the team had been aware of that allegation prior to the affidavit being presented by the cheerleaders’ lawyers.”

The war room claim was made in a Facebook post made by the fan as the Cowboys were about to select cornerback Byron Jones in the first round. The cheerleaders and their lawyers discovered the post months later as they searched for other evidence of misconduct or past behavior from Dalrymple.

“The team says it ‘thoroughly investigated’ both alleged incidents, including an examination of Dalrymple’s phone. The team representative said, ‘The organization took these allegations extremely seriously… The investigation was handled consistent with best legal and HR practices, and the investigation found evidence of wrongdoing.'”

That representative was Jim Wilkinson, a communications consultant for the Cowboys. Wilkinson maintains, “The most basic common sense tells you that if Jerry Jones believed in any way that someone had even remotely done something like that to any member of his family, that person would have been fired immediately.”

Just over four months later, the four cheerleaders say Dalrymple was the man they confronted in their locker room- phone in his hand- as they changed clothes.

“If any wrongdoing had been found, Rich would have been terminated immediately. Everyone involved felt just terrible about this unfortunate incident,” Wilkinson said.

ESPN states, “A disciplinary letter was placed in Dalrymple’s personnel file, but the Cowboys declined to release that letter or any details resulting from its investigation. Team owner Jerry Jones also declined to comment.”

The team does not dispute that Dalrymple used his key card to access the locker room that day using a rear entrance, never addressing attorneys’ claims that “a men’s restroom was 20 feet away.” The Cowboys revoked Dalrymple’s access to the cheerleaders’ locker room and made sweeping security changes in that area of the stadium.

The cheerleaders, their spouses, their lawyers, the four Joneses- Jerry, Stephen, Jerry Jr., and Charlotte- along with Dalrymple himself all reportedly signed an agreement in May 2016 “denying any wrongdoing and that the alleged voyeurism even took place.”

Each of the four cheerleaders allegedly received $399,523.27 as part of their settlement.

Dalrymple said he had spoken to Jones about his retirement from the Cowboys during the team’s 2021 campaign, electing to wait to walk away until after the season was over.

He was originally brought to Dallas at the recommendation of Jimmy Johnson, his coworker from the University of Miami during Johnson’s tenure as head coach there. Dalrymple announced his retirement on February 2. He was 29 when he was first hired by Jones; he’ll turn 62 later this year.

Dalrymple told ESPN, “This has nothing to do with my retirement from a long and fulfilling career, and I was only contacted about this story after I had retired.”

But as has been pointed out, Dalrymple’s retirement after 32 years with the club and inclusion in the Jones family’s inner circle was barely recognized by the Cowboys organization, with no team press release, interview quote, or even a mention on their official website.

In a statement to ESPN, Dalrymple said, “I understand the very serious nature of these claims and do not take them lightly. The accusations are, however, false. One was accidental and the other simply did not happen.”

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News: Cowboys defense practicing takeaways, eyeing soft QB schedule

Also, a possible playoff bubble, replacing Gerald McCoy, the recent linebacker shuffle, and how the Dallas sidelines will look different.

While still getting over the awful double-shot of Gerald McCoy news from Monday and Tuesday, there was plenty for Cowboys fans to feel good about on Wednesday, including a key reinforcement being officially added to the defensive line that McCoy just vacated.

Elsewhere, a franchise legend is still basking in his limelight moment, and the Dallas defense could be primed for quite a moment of its own. The team received word that the sidelines will be a little less colorful this season, and there’s talk of playoff teams moving to a bubble after the season. All that plus news about play calling, quarterback mentoring, linebacker shifting, turnover practicing, and opposing-passer ranking. Here’s the midweek News and Notes.

The strength of schedule for each NFL team based on opposing quarterbacks tiers :: The Athletic

Here’s a list where fans want to see their team near the bottom. The Cowboys are slated to face just one “Tier 1” quarterback, Russell Wilson, in 2020. Lamar Jackson, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Ryan, and Carson Wentz are considered “Tier 2” opponents. The majority of the Dallas schedule- 10 games- will be played against quarterbacks in the weakest two tiers.


Mailbag: Still top-five potential on defense? :: The Mothership

In the latest edition of Mailbag, Cowboys writers David Helman and Rob Phillips do their best to answer fan questions. In this edition, they take their turns predicting who will replace Gerald McCoy at 3-tech and look at whether the Cowboys have a chance to be a top-five defense without him.


Cowboys activate Dontari Poe same day they say goodbye to McCoy :: Cowboys Wire

As the Cowboys received terrible news about Gerald McCoy, fellow defensive tackle Dontari Poe officially made his return from injury. The two play different positions along the defensive line, but Poe’s presence will nevertheless ease some of the burden left by McCoy’s absence.




No Cowboys cheerleaders in 2020 (bad), sideline reporters (ok), or Rowdy (awesome) :: Cowboys Wire

The sidelines at AT&T Stadium will look very different this season, with several longtime staples suddenly MIA due to the COVID-19 crisis.  But there is a silver lining, as the eviction of one of the parties may portend a return to the Super Bowl if history repeats.


Dalton embracing mentor role in Cowboys QB room :: The Mothership

Snagging QB Andy Dalton was an excellent offseason move by Dallas. Easily now one of the best backups in the league, the veteran has experience and knowledge that he’s sharing with the Cowboys’ young quarterbacks.



Ezekiel Elliott on Cowboys in 2020: ‘We’re going to run the ball’ :: ESPN

There is a misconception surrounding Mike McCarthy that the former Green Bay head coach doesn’t like to run the ball. But McCarthy understands the back he has in Ezekiel Elliott, and the former two-time rushing champ expects the Cowboys to continue pounding the rock.


Why Drew Pearson belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame :: NFL.com

Drew Pearson isn’t in the Hall of Fame yet, and that’s a problem. The 1970s’ All-Decade wideout is overqualified for the achievement, with three first-team All-Pro selections and a Super Bowl win. Gil Brandt helps explain why Pearson should finally get the call in 2021.


McCarthy: Kellen Moore calling plays is ‘best decision’ for 2020 Cowboys :: Cowboys Wire

Mike McCarthy has turned over the big laminated menu to Kellen Moore. But he’s given up play-calling duties before… and then taken them back when things didn’t go so well.



Leighton Vander Esch believes the Cowboys defense practices getting turnovers more now :: Blogging the Boys

A longstanding deficiency of the Cowboys seems to be getting extra attention under Mike McCarthy and Mike Nolan. The third-year linebacker reports that there is now a portion of each practice session dedicated to “punching, raking, hammers, all the stuff. Tackling and punching at the same time.”


Bucky Brooks: What the LB position switch means :: The Mothership

The analyst breaks down the recent shuffling of Leighton Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith, and explains why each player’s individual game should improve… and predicts the new roles could allow the Cowboys defense as a whole to become a blitzing nightmare for opposing quarterbacks.


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No Cowboys cheerleaders in 2020 (bad), sideline reporters (ok), or Rowdy (awesome)

The NFL banned all mascots and cheerleaders from being on the field at NFL games in 2020.

The Dallas Cowboys have the most iconic cheerleaders in all of sports. After nearly 60 years on the field, and 14 seasons of reality TV, 2020 marks the first season the Cowboys cheerleaders wont be on the sidelines with their football-playing counterparts.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero gave some insight as to how the sidelines will look in attempt to comply with safety protocols during the Covid-19 pandemic. The famous Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders will have to find a new way to cheer on America’s Team. Rowdy, the teams mascot, is also prohibited from joining the team on the field. The last part makes the first part almost palatable for some.

For those who don’t remember, the Cowboys have had Rowdy in the stands since 1996. The last time Dallas won a Super Bowl was 1995. Do the math.

The list of NFL mandated changes doesn’t stop there, however. Network sideline reporters and pregame TV reporters are also barred from taking their usual places.


 Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Feature: Salary camp, comp pick impact of Gerald McCoy’s release


Teams are also quickly trying to figure out how they will handle stadium capacity for fans. According to Katie Richcreek of the Action Network, two teams, the Las Vegas Raiders and the Washington Football Team have already announced there will be no fans at their home games for the entire season.

A handful of teams have decided they will try to fill their arena’s at 25 percent capacity. The majority of organizations are yet to make a statement regarding stadium capacity.

Jerry Jones  announced there will be at least some fans in attendance at the games in Dallas, and the team will have to comply with Texas state regulations. The NFL has already announced any games with fans will impose a strict mask-wearing policy regardless of what the state the game is played in does or doesn’t mandate.

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