I still hold out distant hope that Stephen has less of that wildcatter instinct that causes us to make boneheaded impulse decisions, as much as last year was a flop, not offering Murray the moon was a perfect demonstration of big picture thinking. The decision to not draft Manziel, and build up the line all seem like wise decision making.
The issue is that as long as Jerry is in charge, he will make snap judgments, that endanger the long term success of the team. I think once Jerry is out of the picture, which may be after ha abandoned this mortal coil, we'll see a lot more consistency.
I agree and I don't think it's a distant hope. I don't think for a second that Stephen is a "football guy" but I do think he is much more pragmatic, rational and measured, and all the items you point out demonstrate that. It would be unfortunate if he doesn't hire a true "GM", but for all we know McClay is basically functioning as our GM at this point, Jerry's insanity aside.
Once Jerry is gone I trust that Stephen will empower "football guys", if he hasn't already with McClay and this Vital guy.
Last offseason was solid by most accounts, despite what happened with the injury ravaged season, 2014 clearly was a success and if we stay healthy I think this offseason will prove to be very similar to 2014, assuming we can make another solid signing or two with a guy like Jason Jones.
The real measure of this offseason will be what we do in terms of drafting a QB, although I can't blame Stephen entirely if we fuck that up because if Jerry has any juice left whatsoever you know he will use it in this the type of circumstance, with a top 5 pick and his prodigal son Romo being questioned.
The fact that Stephen can at least formulate coherent, logical thoughts on the situation is encouraging despite Jerry's incoherent babbling.