Tag: Stephen Jones

Schottenheimer’s success with Cowboys hinges on one thing he can’t control

Here’s why the front office for the Dallas Cowboys plays such a big role in determining the success of new head coach Brian Schottenheimer. | From @BenGrimaldi

Brian Schottenheimer is now the 10th head coach in Dallas Cowboys history, and he’ll try to help end a Super Bowl drought that will reach three decades during the 2025 season. The opening press conference dog and pony show is over, and now the real work begins.

The first-time coach can’t do it alone, and his success hinges just as much on the front office as it does him. Therein lies the biggest challenge for Schottenheimer, to find a way to lead the team if upper management doesn’t change their philosophy.

It’s no surprise that Schottenheimer looked the part during his initial media session, but sadly Jerry and Stephen Jones played their roles as well. If Schottenheimer is the hero in production, the Joneses remain the villains. If the Cowboys want better results with their new coach, they’ll have to alter their ways and provide a better supporting cast.

Frankly put, the front office will need to be more aggressive in acquiring talent. Free agency must be used for more than just the plugging of holes, as Stephen Jones put it during the opening presser. The stopgap option of waiting through the first few waves on the open market before signing cheaper players isn’t a way to break their championship drought. The last 12 years of free agency should have told organization this lesson.

The Cowboys don’t need to sign the best and most expensive players in free agency, but they do have to add quality talent. The team can still sign players that help at positions of need, they just have to do it with better options.

Team executive vice president Stephen Jones acknowledged they might need to alter their free agency approach during Schottenheimer’s press conference. Jones mentioned how the Cowboys will look at how they use free agency and how it helped the better teams in the league this season, but that guarantees nothing. Much like his dad’s facetious “all-in” comments from last offseason, Cowboys fans will believe it when they see it.

Stephen Jones is notoriously cheap when it comes to adding outside players; the organization has signed just one player over $6 million annually since the 2012 offseason, and that was a one-year rental for defensive lineman Greg Hardy in 2015. Other than Hardy, the threshold has rarely been hit and no big-money free agent has been signed by Dallas.

Instead, the Cowboys like to re-sign their own free agents and extend their best players before crying poverty. The Joneses (mainly Stephen) will talk about the salary cap and how the pie divides trying to make excuses as to why they don’t use free agency, it’s how the team conducted business last offseason. The Cowboys signed quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb to massive extensions but slept through free agency. The team made one outside move, signing linebacker Eric Kendricks, and that was it before the compensatory pick window closed.

That cannot be the case again this offseason, even with a high number of their own free agents to re-sign and the priority on extending edge rusher Micah Parsons, the Cowboys have to find quality players from outside the organization. They cannot be last in free agency spending again and expect to turn their fortunes around for 2025.

Currently they don’t have a ton of salary cap space, but that can easily be managed by getting Parsons’ deal done quickly and restructuring some contracts, with Prescott and Lamb’s deals leading the way. The Cowboys can create all the cap room they need to be in on good players in the open market.

Dallas can also be aggressive in the trade market. It was a successful route in 2023 when they dealt for cornerback Stephon Gilmore and WR Brandin Cooks. Any progressive approach to adding talent will be necessary to give their new coach a chance at being more successful than his predecessors.

The Cowboys hired Schottenheimer to get them where their previous six coaches couldn’t, and part of those failures are because of how the front office operates. They can’t continue to do the same thing this time around, hoping it works. If the decision makers don’t give Schottenheimer more to work with, he’ll suffer the same fate as the previous six.

This problem isn’t new, the previous two coaches have felt the sting of the organizations unwillingness to be proactive in acquiring talent. The lack of utilizing free agency has been something that’s held the Cowboys back for the past 12 years, and it threatens the team’s future again.

Schottenheimer might only have one shot as a head coach, so he’s at the mercy of the Joneses and how they operate the franchise. It’s what he signed up for, and he’s been around the organization long enough to understand the way it works. There’s smiles and laughter now, but no one’s going to care if Schottenheimer can’t deliver on his bold prediction that the Cowboys are “gonna win championships.”

The coach can only work with the talent he’s given, and hopefully, Dallas’ front office provides Schottenheimer with the players they need to get over the hump. Solving this Super Bowl drought is as much on the front office, as it is their new head coach.

Wayback Wednesday: Cowboys’ head coach drama was even crazier 5 years ago

A look back at the crazy drama from 2020 when Jason Garrett went through what his successor Mike McCarthy is currently dealing with.

The Dallas Cowboys have yet to announce what their plans are for the head coaching position in 2020. It’s eerily reminiscent to what happened back then, but crazily enough, things aren’t anywhere near as dramatic as they were when head coach Jason Garrett was left in limbo. Here’s an article from Day 3 of the ordeal, the Wednesday following that season’s finale, laying out the weirdness of that process.

There has never been a date more perfectly suited to the currently-unfolding chapter in Dallas Cowboys history than January 1, 2020. It’s resolutely looking ahead, and it’s self-reflective hindsight… all neatly manifested in a single square on the calendar. And on this New Year’s Day, all of Cowboys Nation is staring into the unknown expectantly, tantalized by the possibilities of the blank slate that lies ahead, wondering what successes the future may have in store.

But after two surreal days at The Star that closed out a maddening year and a frustrating decade for America’s Team, we’re also completely mystified and baffled, at a loss to explain exactly what has transpired to bring us here. Because as absurd as it would have sounded at so many moments during the season, it is now 2020… and, inexplicably, Jason Garrett is still the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

It defies logic and rational explanation. It has birthed a breaking-news mentality, with media camped out at the team facility and fans refreshing news feeds as they breathlessly await word from on high. It has launched bizarre conspiracy theories and fueled wild speculation.

How much confusion currently surrounds the Cowboys coaching conundrum as it enters its third day? Snopes.com, the popular online fact-checking source that specializes in debunking urban legends and validating internet rumors, had to address the trending claim that “Jason Garrett is out as Dallas Cowboys’ coach.”

For what it’s worth, the website classifies the claim as “unproven.” But it also says, “We will update this story when more information becomes available.”

At the current rate, that could be a while.

The 2019 roller coaster limped to an 8-8 halt on Sunday, giving fans the final thrill of a resounding win over Washington, but coupling it with the helpless disappointment of watching via scoreboard ticker as Philadelphia captured the division with their win in New York. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wouldn’t speak to Garrett’s employment status on Sunday evening, even while he talked about the imminent “disbanding” of the team.

As Black Monday dawned in front offices around the league, Garrett himself called in to his regular weekly segment on Dallas radio. He was upbeat and honest, offering more of a public peek behind the curtain than is usual for him as he gave a postmortem explanation of the season.

“I think the overarching explanation is we weren’t consistent enough,” Garrett said, via the team’s official website. “We weren’t consistent enough throughout the year from game to game. We weren’t consistent enough within games. We didn’t do the things that winning football teams do. We have a basic formula for winning that we talk a lot about. You have to win the ball, you have to win the big plays, you have to win the fourth quarter. And often times when you pull back after a ball game to evaluate those three statistics, those will be the deciding factors in games.”

Also in seasons… and sometimes in careers, no one had to say out loud.

But in that interview, Garrett did reveal that his Monday was set to include an address to the team, to be followed by a sit-down meeting with Jerry and Stephen Jones. Everyone, everyone, everyone thought they knew precisely what that meant for the 53-year-old coach whose contract officially expires on January 14, according to reports.

But Monday afternoon came and went with no official announcement. For a brief moment, chaos reigned. One Dallas reporter tweeted out an update that the Joneses had fired the entire Cowboys coaching staff, citing a text message from a source. That story was dismantled within the hour, but uncertainty was the mood of the day.

The details of what Garrett and the Joneses discussed on Monday did not leak out. Garrett, however, did talk to several members of his coaching staff, reportedly reminding those who- like himself- had expiring contracts that they were within their rights to explore opportunities elsewhere. He also apparently told those coaches that the situation in Dallas would be sorted out “within 24 to 48 hours.”

As media members were sent home from team headquarters on Monday with no news to report, the general feeling was that the Joneses were allowing Garrett to say his goodbyes to everyone after being in the building every workday since January 2007 (and with the team as a player for seven seasons in the ’90s, and around the team- for whom his dad was a scout- since he was 21). Garrett wanting the time to conduct a full and proper exit interview with each and every player, even on his own way out the door, suddenly seemed like the most Jason Garrett thing ever. Respect the process, even when it ends with packing your own desk into a cardboard box.

And granting Garrett that time seemed like a very Jerry move. Garrett is family as far as the 77-year-old owner is concerned. This isn’t a firing, it’s a mutual parting of ways. An amicable divorce. Sad, but unavoidable. A long-term investment in a relationship that ultimately didn’t pan out as hoped. There’s no reason to not say goodbye with class.

The fact that other teams were already moving quickly to fill coaching roles hinted at the notion that the Joneses must already have a plan in mind. If Ron Rivera and Jack Del Rio don’t figure into the Cowboys’ immediate future, if Garrett is being allowed to take a slow victory lap, many fans surmised, it must mean that the club’s next target is not out there taking interviews. Maybe because he’s with an NFL team in the postseason. Maybe because he’s a college coach with a gentleman’s agreement already in place. Maybe because he’s currently working in the CBS broadcast booth, or he’s still cleaning out his locker of No. 82 jerseys.

Yes, with every minute that passes without an announcement, the Cowboys’ fans’ list of “prospective” coaches gets longer and crazier.

One theory even held that the Joneses had offered Garrett a front office job, to keep him in the organization and off another team’s sideline. It’s no secret that Jerry desperately wants to ultimately be proven right about his strong belief in Garrett and his football acumen. Monday’s non-announcement would give Garrett the chance to go home and talk it over with his family.

The Joneses bagging their regular Tuesday radio phone-ins didn’t do much to quiet the noise.

Tuesday brought the promise of another meeting between Garrett and the Joneses. But once again, that meeting brought no new information or changes to Garrett’s employment status or the Dallas coaching staff (although passing game coordinator Kris Richard is now slated to interview with the Giants). A second full day of no movement. Lather, rinse, repeat.

But what had been seen just a day prior as a class move and a respectful handling of a tense situation had started to look like just more evidence of the dysfunction in Dallas. Why was this dragging out? Why not give exiting assistants the full chance to throw their hats in the ring with the other teams currently scrambling to fill sideline slots? Why not make a definitive statement about starting a new chapter in the history of the Dallas Cowboys? How long can it possibly take for Garrett to say goodbye to everyone? Was Jerry getting cold feet and considering retaining Garrett as coach after all? Has Garrett somehow saved himself?

Or is this just the very beginning of a long and painfully slow process?

As Garrett Watch enters its third day, it’s safe to say that no one really knows what’s going to happen, even though it seemed obvious as recently as Monday. Wild Card Weekend is just hours away, yet Jerry Jones has the spotlight shining directly on his .500 team that isn’t even in the dance. The collection of memes poking fun at the wait-and-wait-and-wait-and-see situation grows by the hour. Even those who cover the team or know the Joneses personally are simply along for the ride now.

January 1 is traditionally a day to turn over a new leaf. Give up a bad habit. Let go of the past. Try something new. Resolve to be better. Look to the future.

But right now, the Dallas Cowboys are stuck right where they have been.

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Cowboys pocket-watching VP says Eagles are headed for salary cap hell

Dallas Cowboys VP Stephen Jones says the Philadelphia Eagles are headed for salary cap hell and will have some tough decisions to make

The Cowboys and Eagles are franchises headed in different directions. While Dallas will look to retool, Philadelphia has retooled and looks like a Super Bowl contender.

Howie Roseman is a salary cap wizard, and his dominance over the rest of the NFC East has been glaring for some time. During a recent sitdown with 105.3 The Fan, Cowboys Vice President and son of Owner Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones, attempted to excuse his own incompetence by claiming that the Eagles will soon face salary cap struggles.

When asked about the difference between the two rosters following a 41-7 loss in Week 17, Jones mentioned that 50% of their cap space was on injured reserve.

A current look at salary cap space shows the Eagles have $9,856,286 available to roll over to 2025, while the Cowboys have $19,411,873 available.

According to Over The Cap, Philadelphia will start with over $31,102,970 before the cap rises, while Dallas will be at $19 million.

Looking at cap hits for 2025, Dak Prescott has $89,896,666, CeeDee Lamb has $35,450,000, and so on. In Philadelphia, Jalen Hurts has just $21 million against the cap, with A.J. Brown and Lane Johnson having $17 million.

Roseman is a wizard, and salary cap hell will likely never happen, regardless of the dead cap hits accrued by pushing time back with void years.

Micah Parsons noise likely to dominate Cowboys offseason coverage

The idea of the Cowboys trading Micah Parsons is as absurd as the media’s infatuation for long-shot scenarios

Raise your hand if you loved the constant media coverage last offseason about Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb’s unresolved contract extensions. Anyone? Anyone? Not even a little?

Aside from the national media, who live off ratings, and Cowboys front office, who lives off attention, it’s safe to say hardly anyone in the general public enjoyed the absurd and unrelenting conversation surrounding Prescott and Lamb’s unresolved contract situations last offseason.

Re-signing Prescott and Lamb basically went without saying. Both players were cornerstone pieces executing at peak levels. The players themselves had interest in staying in Dallas, the Cowboys had sincere desire to bring them back, the team had cap room, and the market had been clearly set. Re-signing was a forgone conclusion, yet the media couldn’t stop speculating about their possible departure because big names pull big attention.

With so many alterative storylines available to discuss, it was maddening for Cowboys fans and non-Cowboys fans alike to be inundated with constant talk about a possible divorce between these players and their team.

This year it seems the greater NFL media is at it again, but this time they have their sights set on Micah Parsons. Parsons, the Cowboys superstar pass rusher, is entering the last year of his rookie deal in 2025. He’s eligible to sign an extension and when he does, he’s likely to reset the market as the top defensive player in the NFL.

At age 25 and playing at the peak of his profession, every team in the NFL would love to have someone like Parsons. And with constant talk of “pie” and free agent penny pinching, Stephen Jones has made the Cowboys an easy target for a national media thirsty for tantalizing Cowboys headlines.

Now after recent comments regarding another frugal offseason in 2025, the media has already spun dozens of Parsons trade stories. While Jones’ statements at the time and subsequent statements thereafter have specifically shot down such a blockbuster transaction, the damage has been done, and the clickbait playbook has been released.

It seems the only thing that will get this genie back in the bottle is a new contract, and based on the Cowboys history of negotiations, that won’t happen until the 11th hour. That means Cowboys fans can expect at least eight months of trade speculation, eight months of public bickering between Parsons’ camp and the Cowboys front office, eight months of coverage that could be going to something interesting.

Not that a Parsons trade wouldn’t be interesting, just that trading arguably the best pass rusher in the NFL isn’t a realistic possibility right now. While he can be re-signed at any point, he’s under contract for another full season. After that the Cowboys have the ability to keep him for one year, if not two years, under the franchise tag. That would take him all the way to 2028.

“We love Micah,” Stephen Jones said to address the developing media storm. “I can’t imagine a scenario where he’s not wearing the star on his helmet.”

As if the team needed a reminder of what Parsons brings to the table, they just got it this season. After missing four weeks earlier in the year, Parsons returned in Week 10 and has been a force ever since. Since his return the Cowboys have been first in sacks, first in pressures, and second in pass rush win rate.

Over the last four weeks with Parsons, the Cowboys have posted the fifth best defense in the NFL and with that an affirming 3-1 record. His impact is profound, and the Cowboys know it. He also brings star power and all the marketability that comes with that. That’s something everyone can agree the Cowboys have a keen eye for and value greatly.

Because they just can’t get enough of the Cowboys, the national media is almost guaranteed to latch onto the Parsons trade conversation and not let go until it’s finally put to bed with a new contract.

Buckle up.

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Of course Stephen Jones is setting the stage for another inactive Cowboys offseason

Don’t expect a very active free agent period in 2025 because the richest franchise in sports history are claiming poverty yet again. | From @ReidDHanson

2024 was “The Season of Stale” in Cowboys Land. Not only did Dallas allow the vast majority of their internal free agents to depart unopposed, but the Cowboys turned up their noses at virtually every noteworthy outside option as well.

Citing fiscal restraints as the reason, the Cowboys chose to fill their ever-growing list of needs with rookies and supposedly-opportunistic post-draft bargain finds. The results were rather predictable, with the Cowboys entering the season with enormous talent deficiencies at both ends of their once-impressive depth chart.

The front office’s offseason inactivity was explained by Stephen Jones as a necessary step in order to afford high-cost re-signings like Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb. Publicly available contract numbers begged to differ, showing multiple avenues to free up spending cash without resulting in crippling damage down the road.

Alas, the front office stood strong and fielded a roster worthy of their efforts. With the Cowboys 5-8 and on track for their first losing season since 2020, there was hope the front office had learned their lesson, that fans have weathered the storm, and better days are ahead in the coming offseason. Based on recent statements from Jones, those hopes appear to be misplaced.

“I think we knew we were going to have a challenge this year and next year,” Jones said of his ability to spend. “It’s going to be really, really tight because we still have some money left over from some guys who aren’t here today. And you’re going to have some other guys that won’t be here in the future that you still have their cap count.”

The dead money Jones alludes to is certainly a concern. According to Over the Cap the Cowboys have $27,323,246 in dead money this season. It’s a noteworthy amount but by no means a number other teams haven’t dealt will. Based on a November report there are 26 teams with more dead money than Dallas. It’s not exactly the albatross Jones is making it out to be.

Even if the Cowboys cut players like Terence Steele in 2025 and take on the dead money ramifications as a result, they’ll be in far better shape than the majority of the NFL. Simple adjustments to veteran contracts and a new contract to Micah Parsons could easily free up north of $100 million over the offseason. It would allow the Cowboys to properly build a roster around Dallas’ most talented players and do so without pushing too much money into the future.

Of course, the front office would have to want to spend that money for this to be a reasonable option for them and based on past behavior and recent statements, there is no indication they want to spend money.

The Cowboys are once again the most valuable franchise in all of professional sports so it’s understandable they

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Stephen Jones: Cowboys won’t be making any phone calls about in-season trades

To slightly twist the famous saying: “Call us; we won’t call you.” That’s what the Cowboys are saying to the rest of the NFL. Dallas looks to be down their two best defensive players for the short-term, and have a few obvious areas offensively where …

To slightly twist the famous saying: “Call us; we won’t call you.”

That’s what the Cowboys are saying to the rest of the NFL.

Dallas looks to be down their two best defensive players for the short-term, and have a few obvious areas offensively where they could stand improvement. At 2-2, they’re not out of the running in the NFC by any means, but they definitely haven’t looked like a powerhouse who’ll simply cruise to a postseason berth with what they currently have.

But don’t expect the front office to be any more active in trade discussions around the league than they were in signing free agents over the offseason. In fact, the team’s No. 2 man in charge has now hinted that the Cowboys won’t be making any outgoing phone calls at all about any potential trades.

“I don’t know, this time of year, that anyone’s willing to trade their best players,” executive vice president Stephen Jones told K&C Masterpiece on 105.3 The Fan during an interview on Monday. “It’s just a work in progress. We’ll keep our lines of communications open around the league. And if something presents itself, then we’ll certainly look at it.”

We’ll keep our lines open…

If something presents itself…

Seems the Cowboys won’t be pulling a move similar to the 2018 midseason trade for wide receiver Amari Cooper. Whew. Good thing, because all that did was save a season that was headed down the toilet.

Dallas had just fallen to 3-4 with no real reason to hope for a turnaround when they surprised everyone by swapping a first-round draft pick for the then-two-time Pro Bowler. The team went 7-2 after his arrival and won the NFC East, with Cooper revitalizing his career and earning another Pro Bowl nod.

But this time, the most passive front office in the NFL is apparently content to sit back and not even inquire about any of the quality players who are stuck in bad situations or on legitimately awful (read: needy) teams.

Linebacker Micah Parsons is probably going to miss at least one game, probably two, and maybe more. Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence is likely headed to injured reserve and could need four to eight weeks to recover.

Over the next eight weeks, the Cowboys face seven opponents, who (as of this writing) have a combined record of 17-10. Five of those teams made the postseason last year. It’s a gauntlet of teams who are either expected to be contenders or have already gotten off to a hot start.

With Lawrence gone, Parsons limited, no real threat at WR2 or WR3, and a foundering running back corps, there’s no telling what the Cowboys’ record might be at the end of that stretch.

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But no need to make any real attempt to improve the roster, Jones is saying, because maybe something will just fall in our laps while we work on booking out AT&T Stadium for concerts and soccer matches and heavyweight fights and monster truck jams.

Don’t get us wrong; we’d like to win, sure. But not if we have to give up any draft picks for next year. We’re probably good enough to “hang around the rim” this season (and if not, we have our McScapegoat ready to take the fall) as soon as the season’s over.

They want to win. But more importantly, the Joneses want to do things their way.

And according to Stephen Jones’s way of thinking, any club looking to unload a quality player already knows that Dallas is open for business. Why give up the upper hand in negotiating by being the ones to initiate talks?

“It’s no secret to anyone in the league that we had two significant injuries in terms of Micah and D-Law,” Jones explained, “so people who might have an inkling to do something, I’m sure we’ll hear from them, but for the most part, I think no one’s willing to mail anything in right now.”

Except maybe the Cowboys.

Because they apparently won’t be making any phone calls.

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Stephen Jones: ‘Zero thought process in not having CeeDee being a Dallas Cowboy’

From @ToddBrock24f7: Stephen offered a calm counterpoint to Jerry’s comments regarding the All-Pro WR’s contract status, giving fans hope that a deal is coming.

While Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was riling up the fanbase with his flippant comments about the lack of urgency in getting a new deal done with All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, his son Stephen was telling a slightly different story.

The younger Jones, the team’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, made it clear that the Cowboys are in no way preparing for life without Lamb.

“Zero thought process in not having CeeDee being a Dallas Cowboy,” he told Ed Werder and Matt Mosely on Thursday on The Doomsday Podcast.

But then, with his very next words, he immediately reminded the world that Lamb is already locked in for 2024.

“CeeDee can’t go play anywhere. He’s under contract, and we have franchise tags available, so CeeDee’s not going to be playing anywhere but Dallas. But we want this to be a great situation for him when we’re all said and done, but also a great situation so we can put a great football team on the field.”

Stating Lamb’s contractual status in such stark terms won’t win any brownie points, but it’s the cold, hard truth.

And the other 90 guys who are actually in camp were, in fact, more of a focus this week as the team made a procedural roster move that raised a few eyebrows. Lamb was placed on the Reserved/Did Not Report list on Tuesday, but Jones explained that the purpose of the re-designation was to open a temporary spot for a defensive depth player, and that nothing more should be read into it.

“I don’t think it says anything,” he said. “We just knew we had that roster spot, and when [Lamb] reports- which we certainly believe he will, at some point- hopefully with a new contract. We continue to make progress. Things are very cordial.”

Cordial, perhaps, because nothing at all has really happened of late. Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that Lamb’s agent has been in Paris at the Olympics and just returned to the States.

It’s possible, then, that the lack of urgency has been on both sides of the negotiating table.

Jones admitted that Lamb’s extended no-show means the timing between him and quarterback Dak Prescott may have taken a minor hit, but he knows that the two have put in work together over the offseason. And with their connection entering its fifth year, it’s not like they’re just getting to know one another on the football field.

The upside, Jones says, is that the team’s younger wide receivers- including Ryan Flournoy, Jalen Cropper, David Durden, Tyron Billy-Johnson, and Jalen Brooks- have gotten reps they might not have seen otherwise. That will only help the club with whichever pass-catchers eventually make the regular-season roster.

But coming to new financial terms with the team’s trio of superstars is nevertheless high on the front office’s to-do list, Jones maintains.

“It’s a great situation to have, but it’s challenging when you have one of the top quarterbacks in the league and then you’ve got two of the best non-quarterback players in the league, Micah Parsons and CeeDee Lamb.

“It’s a negotiation that we’re obviously having to work hard at because you also, at the end of the day, want to be able to put some other players [on the field]. Those three guys can’t go out and play the game by themselves.”

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Of course, most Cowboys fans will quickly point out that without any of those three players in uniform and on the field, the team’s chances of winning games on anything resembling a regular basis absolutely craters.

The stage seems set for a late-camp announcement on a new deal for Lamb, similar to the one that brought guard Zack Martin back to Oxnard in mid-August of last year, or the record-breaking extension that running back Ezekiel Elliott signed in September 2019 after an even longer holdout (that itself seemed rather contentious, at least until Jones and Elliott were peddling T-shirts making fun of that whole “Zeke Who?” saga).

There’s still plenty of time for a deal to happen. The Cowboys are notorious for delaying as long as possible, dominating the summer news cycle with breathless will-they-or-won’t-they conjecture and then swooping in to look like heroes right before things get real, both saving their cash-cow players (who weren’t going to play in the preseason anyway) from any possible exposure to injury and using the break to develop their newbies.

And this time, it’s Stephen Jones who is suddenly the voice of reason, giving Cowboys fans cause to hope that the offseason of dragging their feet has simply been part of a larger plan.

“It’s certainly something that’s very doable, and we plan on doing it, because we want all three players here and we think we have the best chance to win a championship by having those three players on our roster.”

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Has the time come for Cowboys’ to worry about their stars?

The Dallas Cowboys haven’t worked out extensions with any of their big three contracts, is it time to worry? | From @BenGrimaldi

Upper management for the Dallas Cowboys has played it cool, calm, and collected over the past four months. They’ve led all fans of the team to believe they’ll be fine for the 2024 season, but is it time to worry?

Not according to Jerry and Stephen Jones. Signing free agents? No need, we’ve got guys we like and expect to step up. The Cowboys’ brass also loved their draft, despite some criticism that many of their picks will take some time to develop.

And what about those contracts, fellas? Again, no cause for concern, because the Joneses have run the gambit of catchphrases to justify their inactivity. They’re waiting for more leaves to fall, there’s only so much they can spend under the restraints of the cap, it takes two to get a deal done, or getting snippy in a press conference about them “not working” on the deals.

Now, with approximately three weeks until training camp opens, there still hasn’t been any movement on deals for quarterback Dak Prescott, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb or edge rusher Micah Parsons. And worse, there don’t appear to be any deals on the horizon, publicly at least, feeding rumors Lamb will ask to be traded absent a contract extension that doesn’t include at least $32 million annually.

Right now, that’s an unfounded report, but it does signal a larger issue, that Lamb could be getting tired of waiting on a new deal. The All-Pro WR hasn’t been around the team all offseason in hopes of getting a lucrative extension and watched other receivers get their raises as the Cowboys twiddle their thumbs.

There’s no evidence Lamb will sit out or request to be traded, and there’s still time to work out a new contract. The Cowboys are notorious for getting deals done at, or during camp, so there’s hope that Lamb, Parsons, or Prescott could get their extensions at any time. Last summer, the team worked out a long-term deal with All-Pro cornerback Trevon Diggs and extended right guard Zack Martin during camp, although that took a short hold out to get done. Could the same be in store for Lamb?

Prescott has taken the situation in stride, continuing to hammer the point that he’s comfortable playing out the final year of his deal, controlling what he can control.

Prescott also knows he holds all the leverage, if he doesn’t work out a new deal with the Cowboys, he’ll become a free agent and will hit the open market in 2025 as perhaps the biggest free agent in league history. The All-Pro QB has stated this offseason he doesn’t fear playing for another team, so he’s prepared to move on if necessary.

Losing two of your best players, presumably before the 2025 season, feels like it should be cause for concern.

Parsons is still a few years away from becoming a unrestricted free agent and Dallas could use the franchise tag on him to keep him around, but he’s also smart enough to know that he’s going to break the bank eventually. It had to be noted by the Cowboys last month when he said he was going to “set the market” when it came time to get paid. That should’ve been enough to make the Joneses sweat with fear over paying Parsons.

Playing this game of chicken with arguably their three best players is a poor way to do business, as most of Cowboys Nation has noted this offseason. However, Jerry and Stephen Jones don’t appear to be phased by it in the least. If the organization isn’t worried now, with the possible threat of losing their best WR, or their top-tier QB, when will the panic set in?

Many fans are well past the point of concern and have no faith the Joneses will come through with extensions (at the very least) for Lamb or Prescott. The Cowboys aren’t worried, but they’re in the minority.

You can chat with or follow Ben on twitter @BenGrimaldi

Are Jerry and Stephen Jones among the league’s best front offices?

An NFL writer believes Dallas has one of the league’s better front offices in the league, something that can be both defended and derided. | From @BenGrimaldi

The NFL offseason is in full swing, which means actual football things are at their minimum. To help bridge the gap, rankings are all the rage, as they allow for fun, safe debate about things that will eventually play out in the fall. Among those that will stir some debate is the latest slotting of NFL front offices, including where the Dallas Cowboys’ dynamic duo has been placed.

NBC Sports’ Patrick Daugherty ranked the Cowboys’ tandem of Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones ninth out of 32 league GMs. Far be it for any Cowboys fan to knock a list that has their favorite team near the top, but one would be hard pressed to find a large contingent of Cowboys fans agreeing with this sentiment.

Being listed as the ninth-best GM duo in the league during an offseason where the Joneses have barely made a move in free agency and failed to negotiate any extensions with their top three priorities wouldn’t qualify as a Top 10 GM in many minds, but Daugherty lays out the case for the father-son team:

9. Jerry Jones/Stephen Jones, Cowboys

“The Cowboys have three straight 12-win seasons but only one playoff victory to show for it. They have superstar players on both sides of the ball but depth issues that tend to rear their head at the most inopportune times. They have a war horse head coach who somehow crumbles at all the biggest moments. This is a good roster, one stocked with homegrown talent. It is just impossible to shake the feeling it should be something more. Jerry Jones and his gang of cronies never quite get the credit they deserve because the finishing touches are always missing. The once-vaunted offensive line and skill player depth have become just as top heavy as every other unit. The bottom could fall out at any given moment. Jones and company do at least provide a ceiling. That is more than half the battle, and a lot more than can be said for most front offices.”

The pluses for the Joneses are easy to see, their Cowboys remain a good team who have been in the playoffs in three straight years and have three consecutive 12-win seasons, something no other franchise can boast. There is also considerable All-Pro talent on both sides of the ball, something Daugherty acknowledges.

However, as he also points out, with all the success that’s occurred in those three campaigns, not coming close to a Super Bowl provides a reason to doubt the duo. As Daugherty says, “Jerry Jones and his gang of cronies never quite get the credit they deserve because the finishing touches are always missing.”

Truer words are hard to come by when speaking about Jones and his Cowboys, who haven’t reached the final four in 28 years. However, that has as much to do with Jerry and Stephen as it does anyone else. Most Cowboys fans will argue the finishing touches are always missing because they haven’t been aggressive during the offseasons. Their abysmal attitude towards free agency spending is one of their biggest downfalls among the “depth issues” explained above.

There are five GMs/tandems listed above the Joneses from the NFC, including the San Francisco 49ers duo of John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan, which came in at No. 2, Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman, who landed at No. 3, and Brad Holmes of the Detroit Lions at six. The other two ahead of the Cowboys were the Los Angeles Rams duo of Sean McVay and Les Snead at four, as well as Brian Gutekunst of the Green Bay Packers, who landed just in front at No. 8. It’s somewhat surprising how the league’s perceived greatest GM, Roseman, didn’t land at the top of the list, but he was bested by the Kansas City Chiefs GM duo of Andy Reid and Brett Veach.

The lack of playoff success over the years, and with their refusal to change how they operate, it’s hard to support the Joneses as a Top 10 GM option in the NFL.

Yet their Cowboys have had a substantial number of wins in the regular season and done a great job of drafting, so it’s difficult to find their rightful place in the GM hierarchy. Every other GM in front of the Joneses but one have at least gone to a championship game in the last three years, Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Beane. This is something that continues to allude Dallas’ franchise and keeps the Cowboys’ duo outside the Top 5.

The Joneses rank high on the list of GMs according to one league writer, but it’s likely something Cowboys fans would vehemently disagree with, especially during an offseason that borders on incompetent.

You can chat with or follow Ben on twitter @BenGrimaldi

Cowboys’ Stephen Jones looking to in-house backups to fill OL holes: ‘You have to continue to evolve’

From @ToddBrock24f7: Jones suggested that the Cowboys may have some rising stars waiting in the wings as they reshuffle an OL reeling from 2 starters’ exits.

It was frustrating for Cowboys fans to watch a perennial All-Pro like Tyron Smith and even a Pro Bowler in Tyler Biadasz walk out the door in free agency. It’s been downright maddening to watch the front office make zero moves to fortify their positions on the offensive line in preparation for the 2024 season.

That’s led to much hand-wringing in the pre-draft process as observers try to match up the top prospects of this year’s college class with the spots left vacant by veteran departures. Sure, there are talented tackles, guards, and centers to be had, but the roster is thin in other areas, too, and seven picks won’t plug all the holes. The Cowboys certainly can’t afford to whiff on a rookie offensive lineman and leave quarterback Dak Prescott in the crosshairs in what could be the organization’s last best shot for a while.

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But for all the what-ifs about which big man Dallas should draft with the 24th overall pick, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones hinted during a Tuesday radio phone-in that the answers to the O-line questions may already be inside the building.

He started by explaining the business decisions that led to Smith and Biadasz no longer wearing the star.

“We just think you have to continue to evolve as an offensive line,” Jones told 105.3 The Fan’s K&C Masterpiece. “And certainly, you hate to lose a player like Tyron Smith, who’s going to, in my opinion, be a Hall of Famer. I think he’s going to be wearing a yellow jacket, but at the same time, unfortunately, Tyron’s had to miss a lot of games, and at some point, you have to make those tough decisions. Certainly, you hate to lose Tyler at center in terms of what he had done for us, but at some point there, you’ve got to make a tough decision that we can have him go to another team and we can replace him hopefully and have a center who’s better.”

Most Cowboys fans would have to agree that getting 13 games out of Smith last season was a stroke of considerable luck. And while Biadasz was a solid player from Day One, he’s probably not the kind of center you break the bank for to keep on a second contract.

So what is the master plan up front? As sure as most analysts are that the Cowboys need to look to the draft’s early rounds for top-tier offensive line help, Jones allowed for another possible approach. It’s the Cowboys’ favorite approach of all: putting all their chips on in-house development and promoting from within.

“We like the young guys that we’ve brought in here over the years, not unlike Connor McGovern stepped up after being a backup for three years,” Jones explained. “He stepped up and played really good at guard and then got awarded a contract in Buffalo. We have guys like [Matt] Waletzko and Asim Richards and young players that are on the come. T.J. Bass played really well for us last year. Obviously, they’re guys that our fans aren’t as acquainted with as much because they haven’t played as much, but we feel like they can step up, not unlike Tyler did as a rookie at center and play really well.”

The 6-foot-8-inch Waletzko was a fifth-round pick out of North Dakota in 2022. He’s appeared in four games over two years.

Richards was a fifth-rounder last year. He took 39 total snaps with the offense as a rookie.

Bass went undrafted out of Oregon last spring but was used in every game of the 2023 season.

But expecting any of them- or Josh Ball or Earl Bostick Jr. or Dakoda Shepley- to suddenly be an every-down starter five months from now and hold their own alongside the likes of Zack Martin and Tyler Smith is a gargantuan leap.

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Hope springs eternal, though, especially when a Jones is in front of a live microphone. And whether Stephen really believes the Cowboys are all set on the offensive line or he’s just trying to smokescreen some attention away from the prospect they’re eyeing in next week’s opening round of the draft, his latest comments won’t do much to placate the legions of Cowboys fans who feel like the team is trying to hold this thing together (and maybe not even very hard) with duct tape and baling wire and rose-colored soundbites and a locker room full of what the club seems to view as interchangeable parts.

“Versatility is a huge thing, and that’s what Tyler Smith brings to the table, the fact that he can swing out there [from left guard to left tackle],” he said in closing. “And if we feel like there’s a better fit at guard or center, and knowing that we have a player like T.J. Bass there, then we can look at it. We like Waletzko; he’s had a couple things injury-wise and we haven’t necessarily needed him. Same goes for Asim Richards. We feel like we’ve got some answers there at tackle. I think the bigger thing is we’ve got a young player in [Brock] Hoffman there at center, but there are some guys that we may give a chance to snap the ball; it’s not out of the question that T.J. Bass gets reps at the center position. All these things will work into our strategy as we move forward.”

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