Cowboys Jerry Jones’ alleged quote on lack of Black personnel in NFL surfaces

A quote attributed to Jones was included in a lawsuit filed over the league’s ousting of a prominent journalist. | From @ArmyChiefW3

A quote by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones appeared in a 53-page complaint filed by former NFL Network reporter Jim Trotter, who alleges the league did not renew his contract in retaliation for his continued questions about the league’s lack of diversity at the home office.

Trotter filed a lawsuit against the NFL and the league-owned cable channel for racial discrimination. Among the complaints, the lawsuit claims that in August of 2020, Trotter asked the Cowboys owner why there weren’t more black professionals in decision-making positions and Jones allegedly responded by saying: “If Blacks feel some kind of way, they should buy their own team and hire who they want to hire.”

Trotter also mentioned Jones on-air, during his 2021 coverage when racist emails coming from former NFL head coach Jon Gruden came to light. The lawsuit claims that two of Trotter’s supervisors instructed him to avoid the Jones comments.

According to the complaint, his supervisor asked one of Trotters colleagues: “Why does Jim keep bringing this up?”

After working for the NFL Network for five years, vice president Sandra Nunez told Trotter’s agent in November of 2022 that she “could not envision any reason why his contract would not be renewed.” That was before Trotter pressed the NFL commissioner about the topic.

This is not the first time Jones has come under scrutiny over racial divides. In November 2022, a photo from 1957 shows a young Jones, who was a high school sophomore at the time, in the vicinity of white students blocking black students from entering their school. Jones also apologized back in 2013 after being recorded making racially insensitive remarks to a woman.

Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys have yet to release a statement on the matter.

Jim Trotter details why he thinks Raiders set for 6-game win streak starting with Texans

Could the 1-4 Raiders rattle off a 6-game win streak? Jim Trotter thinks so.

There are bold predictions and there are *bold* predictions. Jim Trotter made one such statement when moments after the Raiders lost to the Chiefs to fall to 1-4 on the season, he predicted they would go on a six-game win streak.

He could’ve just said what he said, let people feel however they feel about it and moved on. That, after all, is common on the bird app. But Friday, he backed up his prognostication, going into detail as to why he said it.

As is often the case, Trotter put together a great read, along with some nice touches quotes from Maxx Crosby and Kolton Miller. But if you’re just looking for the nitty gritty on why he feels so confident the Raiders will turn things around in a big way over the next month and a half, here’s the gist of it.

Trotter broke it down into five parts: Character, Circumstance, Competitiveness, Schedule, and McDaniels.

For Character, he points to the win streak the Raiders had last season after all the adversity they faced after the Gruden resignation and the tragic Henry Ruggs III car crash. In other words; they’ve been through worse than a 1-4 start.

Circumstance is to suggest that the new coaching staff and new players such as Davante Adams and Chandler Jones needs time to jell. Especially with no preseason snaps. Five games and a bye week is a good amount of time for that.

“…typically, it takes time to jell after a change in staff and personnel. That is where the Raiders are now. Things that should be second nature are still in the developmental stage…”

Competitiveness points to how many close games the Raiders have been in this season. Even though they have lost four of five. They were winning many of these close games late last season. And if you add the previous ‘time to jell’ to the equation, Trotter figures they will start to come out on top of them.

“Their losses have been by one, two, five, and six points. Some see their failure to come through down the stretch as a cause for concern; the Raiders view through a different prism, contending that the silver lining is they have been in a position to win despite so many coaching and personnel changes.”

Number four on the list should really be number one — Schedule. No question the biggest reason Trotter feels the Raiders can run off six games is because of their opponents. With only one team in the next six games who currently holds a winning record — the Indianapolis Colts (3-2-1).

After the Broncos (2-4) on November 20, the Raiders don’t face another team that currently has a losing record until the Steelers (2-4) on December 24. And that’s the only losing team they face over the final seven weeks of the season. So, yeah, schedule is a big reason Trotter feels confident making this prediction.

His final reason is Josh McDaniels. Mainly, as Trotter notes, he just believes in McDaniels.

I believe he ultimately will get things right, because his football IQ is high and he has faced and addressed what arguably had been his greatest past weakness: relatability.

Specifically, Trotter sees instances in which McDaniels is taking the time to be more interested in his players as people and that goes a long way.

Reeling off six wins in a row would be no small feat. And even if it doesn’t happen, it’s a prediction worth making. If for no other reason than to say there is no reason the Raiders *shouldn’t* win their next six games. Because, on paper, it would seem realistic.

Of course, it also means any game they lose, none of the above reasons can be used as excuses. They’ve been through worse as a team, they’ve had time to jell, they have the talent, they have a favorable schedule, and they believe in their coaches.

Now’s their chance to translate all this into wins.

NFL.com’s Jim Trotter predicts Broncos will improve the most next season

Jim Trotter predicts the #Broncos will show the biggest improvement in the win column this season.

The Denver Broncos totaled a 7-10 record last season.

But with QB Russell Wilson in town, they’re set to go 13-4 this season, according to a prediction from the NFL.com columnist Jim Trotter.

Ahead of training camp, Trotter stated how much the acquisition of Wilson affected the Broncos.

“Two words: Russell Wilson,” Trotter wrote on the league’s official website. “All we heard last season was that the Broncos were a quarterback away from being a Super Bowl contender. Well, they have one in Wilson, the former Seahawks star who is regarded as one of the game’s top talents at the position. Wilson wants to be mentioned among the greats of the game, and he knows that will require more Super Bowls. If you know Wilson, you know it doesn’t sit well with him that his Super Bowl appearances with Seattle are associated with the Legion of Boom and the running of Marshawn Lynch more than they are with his play. Not judging, just saying he wants to stamp indelible fingerprints on the Lombardi Trophy. He should have an opportunity with a Denver team that has a roster flush with talent, particularly at the receiver position. The Broncos upgraded the defensive front with the signings of D.J. Jones and Randy Gregory, and added a solid cornerback in K’Waun Williams. But it all will come back to Wilson.”

Great point about Wilson’s previous Super Bowl ring being associated to the Legion of Boom and Lynch. Sounds like more reason to bet on the Wilson-Jerry Jeudy QB-WR duo as the stack to draft in your fantasy football leagues this summer.

Trotter’s praise comes on the heels of his colleague Adam Rank predicting the Broncos will go 12-5 next season. Second-year CB Pat Surtain, meanwhile, drew praise from the league’s official website earlier this month as well. He ranked as the fourth-best coverage player last season. Check out the rest of Trotter’s tenacity in believing the Broncos will improve with six wins this season.

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LB Zaven Collins ‘someone to watch’ for the Cardinals in 2022

NFL Analyst Jim Trotter says second-year inside linebacker Zaven Collins is a crucial part of the team’s plans for 2022.

For the second consecutive season, many Arizona Cardinals fans were left frustrated with the team’s seeming to play their first-round pick inside linebacker. We saw a big second-year leap from 2020 No. 8 overall pick Isaiah Simmons, though he did not get a ton of playing time during his rookie season.

With the Cardinals opting to release three-year starter and team captain Jordan Hicks, the defense is going to need someone else to step up at that position. The projected man for that job is 2021 No. 16 overall selection Zaven Collins, who did not have many opportunities last season.

NFL Network analyst Jim Trotter mentioned Collins as a player that will be essential to the defense’s chances of improving from last season, particularly with the loss of standout edge rusher Chandler Jones.

“One player specifically that they are calling on to step up their game this year will be second year linebacker Zaven Collins,” he said, via AZCardinals.com. “After the final 10 (games), there were eight games in which he didn’t take 10 percent or more of the snaps.”

Trotter points out what has frustrated Cardinals fans with their back-to-back first-round inside linebacker selections. In the team’s blowout loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the wild card round, Collins was riding the bench in favor of Tanner Vallejo, one of the team’s special teams aces.

The team added former Vikings ILB Nick Vigil this offseason, but all signs point to Collins being the starting ‘mike’ linebacker. His development for the team is crucial, particularly given his need to call the defense from Vance Joseph.

We saw a big second year jump from Isaiah Simmons in year two. Could we see the same from Collins? The Cardinals certainly hope so.

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Chargers’ Pep Hamilton gives first impression of QB Justin Herbert

Pep Hamilton is already working on improving some of Justin Herbert’s weaknesses from college.

The Chargers made two changes to the quarterback room this offseason. They drafted Justin Herbert in the first-round of this year’s draft, and followed that up with giving him a mentor by hiring Pep Hamilton to fulfill the duties as the team’s quarterbacks coach.

So what does Hamilton think of his new project? NFL Media’s Jim Trotter recently spoke with Hamilton to get an idea how Herbert is doing in (virtual) rookie minicamp thus far.

“I asked him [Hamilton], what did you learn about your quarterback about you didn’t know before? He said, ‘Look, we knew about his intelligence, we knew about his athletic gifts but what I didn’t know is how important football is to him.’

And he told me that with Justin, one of the things is he wants more. He wants to understand all the conceptual things behind a play design. He wants to know the why, as opposed to just the what. And Pep told me that’s important because you have to understand and see the big picture to succeed at the position,” Trotter said.

One of the things that Herbert struggled with in college was not seeing the entire field and being late to locate coverage. In Oregon’s system, he did benefit from pre-determined reads at times, but that will have to change at the next level.

To work on this, Hamilton has already given Herbert an assignment during the offseason training.

“What Hamilton told me is that he’s given Herbert an assignment. And he wants him to basically make a mental checklist of everything he goes through while watching NFL defenses.

Pep said, ‘when you see a little, you see a lot. When you see a lot, you don’t see anything’ and by that, what he means is that Herbert should be focusing on certain keys pre snap to know what a defense is going to do and what that coverage is going to be,” Trotter said.

Hamilton has worked with many NFL and some college quarterbacks, including Andrew Luck at Stanford and with the Colts. The Chargers are hopeful that he will help elevate Herbert’s game as he looks to be the long-term answer at the quarterback position.