Cowboys, Jerry Jones have to change cheap ways for Dallas to be ‘Super’ once again

Jan 31, 2023 - 5:00 PM

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Most Dallas Cowboys fans should be either exhausted or absolutely seething. Exhausted mainly because of the mental gymnastics the fanbase put itself through to believe this team was different. This belief that this team was well-rounded enough to advance to the NFC title game for the first time since 1995. Also seething to see their bitter NFC East rival, the Philadelphia Eagles, easily cruise by the San Francisco 49ers who beat the Cowboys in the divisional round, and are now in a position to win their second Super Bowl in six seasons.

Any outside observer can easily dissect the contrasting team-building philosophies between the Eagles and the Cowboys. Philadelphia are not averse to trading draft picks to acquire outside talent or opposed to signing notable free agents. Then you have the Cowboys, who despite having a penchant for hitting on mid to late-round picks and seldom missing on their first-round selections, faithfully abstain from the yearly free agency frenzy in March.

Not to take anything from the Eagles and Jalen Hurts, but they are having this immediate tangible success under head coach Nick Sirianni because of what’s happening in the front office first and foremost. Think back to this time last season and what people were saying about Hurts as a passer and his standing as the long-term answer in Philadelphia. He’s taken a meteoric rise to a league MVP candidate and perhaps a Super Bowl champion.

Much of that has to do with Eagles general manager Howie Roseman being aggressive and having a sharp focus on acquiring talent. A few transactions to highlight are signing Hasson Reddick, (16 sacks) trading for A.J. Brown (1.496 yards and 11 TDs), signing James Bradbrerry (named second team All-Pro), and trading for Chauncey Gardner-Johnson (six interceptions).

Meanwhile, you have the frugally fixated Dallas Cowboys who refuse to seek premier outside veteran help to address their needs. Most infamously, the team convincing themselves that despite having an offense that sputtered for most of the second half of the 2021 season, before flat-lining in the postseason, it was a wise idea to trade Amari Cooper. A trade that saw the team only recoup a fifth-round pick from the Cleveland Browns and then haplessly attempt to replace Cooper with the committee of Noah Brown and James Washington.

While their division rival was working tirelessly to add pieces in hopes of making life easier on their quarterback, the Dallas front office was busy at work adding additional weight on their quarterback’s shoulders. A quick summary of the Cowboys’ free agency - the aforementioned James Washington, Anthony Barr, Dante Fowler, and a signing of Jason Peters. Those four transactions combine for a total salary of 7.5M.

Does this sound like an honest effort at talent acquisition from somebody that famously said on record, “I’d do anything known to man to get in a Super Bowl.”? Of course it doesn’t, and once again the fans were the ones that had to substitute common sensibilities in team building in exchange for hope sprinkled with delusion.

As everybody now knows, the Cowboys desperately lacked explosive playmaking at wide receiver outside of CeeDee Lamb throughout the season and that came back to bite them in their loss to the 49ers. What they offered wasn’t enough, and what they’ve been offering in terms of talent, hasn’t been enough for several years.

It seems like after every season that ends in disappointment, Jerry Jones stands at a podium and delivers an apology to the fans as a peace offering knowing full well what he had known all along. This team wasn’t his true best effort at building a champion.

Something has to change and that doesn’t include empty rhetoric or apologetic speeches that sell optimism (and merchandise). The last time the Cowboys spent considerable money in free agency to add a player was Brandon Carr. That was ten years ago. If Jones is truly sincere about disappointment in how this year ended, then he can start there and make more earnest investment in substantial help. Discount free-agent pickups that he hopes can beat a mid-round rookie draft pick are no longer going to cut it. Parading a signing like Nolan Carroll or Cedric Thornton as a big splash signing won’t do anymore.

However, the Jones family bait and switch has already begun. Announced right after the Eagles had taken the podium to raise the George Halas trophy, the Cowboys had announced that offensive Kellen Moore and the team were “parting ways”. It’s not even Groundhog’s day and already its scapegoat season. Firing Kellen Moore isn’t enough and is merely a half-hearted pacifier to the outcry of demanding more.

While some fans will appreciate a change of direction underneath the headset, others would much rather celebrate a change of direction in the boardroom. Whether it’s Kellen Moore, Mike McCarthy, or someone else calling plays and designing the offense, that person will require more tools to do the job.

As once said by many in the NFL, “It’s not about the X’s and O’s, it’s about the Jimmy and Joes.” With Moore no longer in the picture, more will be expected of McCarthy to deliver. McCarthy should look at the man who signs his checks in the same fashion. Jerry Jones, it’s time to finally start putting your money where your mouth is.