Jerry Jones admits his role in Cowboys’ drought, but it’s irrelevant until he makes the decision he’s been postponing for decades
Nothing will change until Jerry Jones hires a general manager for the Dallas Cowboys.
Jerry Jones is saying the right things about the Dallas Cowboys’ problems. But once again, I’m wondering if he’ll do the right thing.
Speaking to reporters following the Cowboys’ loss to the Los Angeles Chargers—a 34-17 defensive debacle that came one day after Dallas was mathematically eliminated from the NFL Playoffs—Jones admitted his disappointment with the team and his part in it. But at 83 years old, will he act on it?
Jerry Jones admits role in Cowboys’ 30-year drought
This season’s elimination makes it official: There will be at least three decades between the last Cowboys’ Super Bowl win and the next one. And Jones knows it is largely on him.
“I’ll admit that the Cowboys management has played a big role (in the 30-year Super Bowl drought),” Jones told reporters postgame via The Athletic’s Jon Machota. “But seriously, I’m very disappointed that the way we’re structured and my role puts us here tonight. I’m tremendously disappointed.”
The drought is even worse than the Super Bowl aspect of it when you factor this in: Each and every other NFC team has made it to the NFC Championship Game since 2010. The Cowboys haven’t been there since the 1995 season.
Some Cowboys fans might take Jones’ explicit disappointment and think it could translate into a change in organization structure. Unfortunately, we’ve heard this before. Though Jones is often willing to admit his shortcomings, words won’t fix the franchise. But doing something literally every other owner in the NFL does, could.
Jones needs to hire a general manager
This would be controversial to… absolutely nobody but the Jones family.
But there are good reasons for them to finally figure it out now. And one of them was mentioned by Dak Prescott on Sunday following the loss when asked if he still saw fire in Jerry: His age.
“Yeah, a lot of fire,” Prescott said. “Maybe as much here recently as I’ve seen, whether it’s him right up against the clock and him knowing—which he’ll tell you that.”
Though Prescott pointed to Jones’ recent trades as evidence of him still having “a lot of fire” in him, here’s the reality the Cowboys face: They have about a three-year window to win it all based on the contracts of Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and Brian Schottenheimer (all of which run through 2028).
But they’re not ready to win just yet. After all, the defense needs a revamp at every level, the offense needs to figure out its offensive tackle situation, and they need to find a way to keep WR George Pickens around.
Can they do it? Maybe, but here’s the thing about that NFC Championship Game stat from early. Dallas hasn’t made it that far since 1995. And do you know what happened one year earlier? The salary cap era commenced. That means under the league’s biggest push ever for parity, the Cowboys have had mediocre results ever since the momentum of a championship football team (mostly built by the closest Jones has had to a GM in Jimmy Johnson) wound down. And we think the lack of a real general manager isn’t the main issue?
And I’m not talking about his son and Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones taking over. Heck, not even VP of Player Personnel Will McClay. I’m talking about an outsider that comes in and shakes things up with true autonomy.
If Jerry is truly disappointed with his role in the team’s drought and he feels like he’s running out of time, he must realize the truth about his team. He’s got a star quarterback and playmakers in place. But the Cowboys need a general manager to fix serious issues across the roster. And yet, they say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
And at 83 years old, I don’t expect Jones—who still has an in-season weekly meeting with the coaching staff, by the way—to change his mind. It’s one of the most important jobs in any NFL organization. And the owner is still roleplaying as it.
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