The Commanders’ surprising journey to last season’s NFC championship game left the Cowboys with the longest-running drought in the conference. Dallas has famously failed to reach the conference title round since its Super Bowl XXX victory nearly 30 years ago.
Only the Browns have the Cowboys beat here entering the season; the Texans have never reached an AFC title game, but they have only been in existence since 2002. In a scenario in which the Cowboys held a traditional power structure, there is next to no chance the same GM would be calling the shots from the mid-Troy Aikman period to now. The numerous playoff disappointments, even as a host of first-round gems have ascended to All-Pro status over the past 15 years, would have undoubtedly prompted Jerry Jones to make a change. Fortunately for Jones, he is the GM as well.
Jones will turn 83 in October, and while the iconic owner is in the Hall of Fame for his work in that area, his work in the front office draws annual scrutiny. Micah Parsons is now applying it from the inside, criticizing Jones for yet another delay in a high-profile contract negotiation. The Cowboys would assuredly be better off if a traditional exec were in place as GM under Jones, but the longtime owner remains against such a change.
When asked if he has considered removing himself as GM, Jones responded, “Uh… yes. Momentarily. Small fractions of seconds, I promise you that.” Jones named himself GM upon buying the team in 1989. He promptly fired Tom Landry, while Hall of Fame GM Tex Schramm moved on not long after. Jimmy Johnson then steered one of the great rebuilds in NFL history. Since the Jones-Johnson divorce (1994) centered around credit for that rebuild, a Jones-centric Cowboys operation has lost ground in the NFL hierarchy.
“I don’t apologize at all for the fact that I’ve got the passion to be in the spot I’m in or I have the background or I have the qualifications,” Jones said, via Fox4News.com. “I don’t apologize about that at all to my mirror.”
While Jerry Jones delegates considerable draft responsibilities to VP of player personnel Will McClay, his son Stephen serves as the Cowboys’ executive VP. McClay has led the way in providing the Cowboys with Parsons, Tyler Smith, CeeDee Lamb, Zack Martin, Travis Frederick and Tyron Smith. He has also turned down GM interest, highlighting his central role in the Cowboys’ front office. Jones gave McClay an extension this offseason.
Even as McClay has remained a constant, Jones has run into rampant criticism regarding roster management and his handling of head coaching situations. Jones kept Jason Garrett in place for nine-plus seasons as HC; of the 10 seasons he finished, Garrett produced three playoff berths. Jones then fired him days into the 2020 offseason, before conducting a narrow search that brought in Mike McCarthy. That sequence repeated this offseason, with the Cowboys waiting several days to separate from the five-year HC. They then promoted Brian Schottenheimer, who had not conducted a head coaching interview anywhere else since PFR’s 2014 launch.
Schottenheimer will be the latest HC to operate in a Jones-centric workspace. The Cowboys have posted 12-win seasons in each of the previous three slates Dak Prescott has finished, but two of those seasons ended with home playoff losses. Although the Bengals also have their owner (Mike Brown) in a GM role, Duke Tobin operates as a de facto GM for the AFC North club. Jones also has tenure on Brown, being the longest-serving active GM. Among non-owners, Mickey Loomis (hired in 2002) is the closest to the two owner/GM figures.
Jerry sentenced himself to life without the possibility of a championship
I saw it more as a death sentence.
for Cowboys fans
Great news! The Cowboys will continue to struggle!
Not for as long as the New York Giants reside in the NFC East.
Chucky, very good point
The Cowboys will still struggle just not at the same level as the Giants.
That about sums it up.
I assume Jerry Jones will keep himself on as GM until they wheel him out in a bag.
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As did fans of the other 30 non-Dallas teams.
Jones’ ineptitude is overstated, but it’s clear that the dual-responsibilities have, at minimum, some clear disadvantages; meaning, there’s no one to challenge you if (more like when) you do make a bad decision. We also see this in Cincinnati, where Mike Brown has a similar setup. Jones has his son, which is at least a little something, but given the fact that he’s 83, he should be considering it on age alone. They have a very capable executive in Will McClay who has avoided jumping ship yet, despite outside opportunities, and who has been there for enough time to be trustworthy. I suppose the issue would be whether to nominate Stephen for the job, in which case reporting to his father would be sort of a conflict of interest, or to promote McClay, which could bypass Stephen.
In that regard, I could see it being a tougher decision. But even if we ignore the lack of postseason success, Jerry has to have thought about this for age related reasons, if nothing else. I would wager that he just enjoys it too much to step down, but doing so and allowing Stephen or McClay to take over some more of his GM duties would be a good transition from the old power structure to a new one-perhaps even a merit based one. My question here would be what Stephen might do in a structure with himself as GM. Stephen has had some good moments, but it’s hard to tell how much could change and how much could not.
Jerry owns it – the cowboys that is – so he can do as he pleases until can’t do it no more…
LONG MAY HE REIGN!
Heyyyy, aren’t you a NYG’s fan???
Exhibit 1 and 1A for worst GMs in the NFL, Dallas and the NY. Luckily for you, you don’t have to deal with a King and his nepotism.
* and the NYGs
The Giants can fire their GM and fans can hope they pick up a competent one. The Cowboys fans have to wait for Jerry to be thrown into the central core by his son.
I hope he lives forever and is GM forever. Someone needs to make him the same throne the God Emperor of Man has.
That’s pretty good, and I’m not even a Warhammer fan.
Personally, I prefer a setup where one guy stands out front, calls the shots, and takes the blame when things go bad. That use to be the model but today nobody wants to take responsibilty so you’re seeing bloated front office and coaching staffs. Something goes wrong, you find a fall guy or two to throw under the bus and then go back to bullsh–ting the fans that everything will be better from now on.
Cowboys fans should worry if Giants finally found their QB. I dare Parsons to leave the team because Jerry dragged his feet to sign him.
Dart’s first throw 11 on 11 was a pick six lol
LoL. Okay, time to tank for the next Manning
Giants drafted Jaxson Dart cos he went to Eli’s old school.
Micah will probably have to leave the Cowboys now that you’ve Dared him to!
Whether they do or not, the Giants have to at least have a somewhat average o-line at some point.
Jerry Jones is a perfect example of why professional sports teams should be publicly owned by their fan bases. The draft and rookie contracts insures a level of parity in the league. Only awful management can prevent occasional success under such a format. Jones is proof that you don’t have to be smart or competent to be successful in this country…you just need lots of capital.
With public ownership comes layers of bureaucracy which just bog down all decision making efforts. You also get a lot of internal politics amongst board members. I don’t think we need more teams whose big agenda item is to propose “tush push” rules.
Just think, the Dallas Cowboys could’ve been owned by Donald Trump. He had an offer to purchase the Pokes in 1988 but that fell through.
Instead he had to settle for owning a USFL team and helping to run that league out of existence.
The USFL existed earlier in the 1980s. Trump’s USFL involvement is why the NFL blocked his planned acquisition of the New England Patriots from the debt-afflicted Sullivan family in 1988.
Well, he had already tried to buy multiple teams, and then he tried to force his way into NFL team ownership by forcing a merger by antitrust lawsuit. Not exactly the best way to ingratiate himself to owners. But he also ran into issues with not wanting to open his books enough or making financial claims that didn’t pass the smell test.
And them Cowboys were deeply in debt when he tried his corporate raider strategy in 1988. Jerry Jones bought the club the following year, tore everything down, built it back up. Today the most valuable sports franchise in the USA is America’s Team.
Once this moron “steps down” you get the silver spoon.
Estate taxes were your only hope.
As an Eagles fan, this is great news! Thank you Jerry!
Hahaha. He will never win in Dallas.