Story on Stephen Jones

Texas Ace

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There's a good piece on SI.com of how Stephen Jones has changed the direction of the team, and how that's due in large part to how he is the one guy who stands up to Jerry.

I don't know how good he'll be when he takes over everything and Jerry is long gone, but I do think it's safe to say he will be better than Jerry.

This quote about Romo and him going to another team was very telling due to it's honesty and the fact that Jerry would never say or believe anything like this:

These days, a popular parlor game is speculating on possible Romo landing spots. “I’m sure a lot of people would love to have him,” says Jones. “The big thing with Tony is, Can he stay healthy? He’s had a hell of a time doing that.”

That's much different from Jerry saying he believes Romo will play 5 more years.

You can read the rest here:

http://www.si.com/nfl/2017/01/12/dallas-cowboys-stephen-jerry-jones
 

Texas Ace

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Johnny Manziel was supposed to have been picked by now—but there he was, fidgeting in the green room at Radio City Music Hall, when it came time for the Cowboys to use their selection at No. 16.

This was going to be a problem for Dallas. Jerry Jones was smitten with the Heisman-winning Texas A&M quarterback. But the men Jones had hired to help him make those decisions? Not so much. “If you’re scared [of Manziel],” one Cowboys executive joked to Stephen, one of those draftniks, “then I’m really scared.”

“I’ll never forget that morning,” recalls Stephen. “Jerry said, ‘Let’s go through the [prospects] again, make sure we all see eye to eye on how we’ve got ’em ranked.’” If Manziel was still there at 16, the patriarch added, “I assume we’d take him—wouldn’t we?”

Replied Stephen, with some delicacy, “Well, I don’t think we would.”

Jerry acquiesced: If any of three defensive players were still available—linebackers Ryan Shazier or Anthony Barr or tackle Aaron Donald—the Cowboys would choose one of them before the quarterback.

“And Zack,” Stephen reminded his father. Indeed, Dallas had Notre Dame guard Zack Martin higher on its board than Manziel. But Jerry wasn’t making any promises.

Surely it wouldn’t come to that, father and son finally agreed. Surely, by then, Manziel would be gone—or one of the defenders would still be available.


It came to that.

“So there we were, staring at Johnny and Zack Martin,” Stephen says. Jerry went around the table trying to wrangle support for Manziel, but he came up empty. “Lonely is the right word,” Jerry says. “I don’t think there was another soul in the room” who shared the owner’s enthusiasm for Johnny Football. Instead, Jerry suggested his team trade out of the pick. “But no one was calling to trade,” explains Stephen. By this time the boss “was not happy,” says the son. Exasperated, Jerry finally asked, “So no one in this room wants to take Johnny Manziel?”

“There wasn’t a peep,” says Stephen, who told his old man, “Dad, we need to take Zack.”

“All right,” came the reply. “Turn it in.”

Jerry turned to Stephen, having discerned in the drama a teaching moment. “Son, I hope you’re happy,” Jerry said. “But let me tell you something: You don’t get to own the Cowboys, you don’t get to do special things in life, by making major decisions going right down the middle. And that“—taking an offensive lineman over Johnny Football—“was right down the middle.” :doh

Manziel, of course, went 22nd to the Browns and was out of football 22 months later. Martin became the first Cowboys rookie in 45 years to be named an All-Pro. Running behind him, and the other members of the NFL’s best O-line, DeMarco Murray led the league in rushing in 2014, just as Ezekiel Elliott did as a rookie this season, after which he too was named an All-Pro. Because the checks and balances the Cowboys have in place worked—barely, but they worked!—the team did not draft Manziel, which left Dallas free to take a quarterback in the fourth round two years later. That QB, Prescott, turned in the best statistical season by a first-year passer in NFL history.

Sometimes it’s not bad to play it right down the middle.
That's about as good example as you'll find that Stephen is going to be 100X better than Jerry.
 

Cowboysrock55

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That's about as good example as you'll find that Stephen is going to be 100X better than Jerry.
It's exactly stereotypical Jerry too. The concept that you can't win without swinging for the fences. But Jerry is just wrong on that. You win in the NFL just like you do in baseball by hitting lots of doubles and triples. If you go for the home run at every at bat you'll strike out more often then you hit the homerun. NFL teams aren't built by having one or two dynamite players. They are built by having 22 really good starters that allow each other to perform that much better.

Plus, sometimes when you go down the middle, you still hit the homerun anyway. Like Dak Prescott.
 

Cotton

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The timing of this article just isn't even fair. I was already homering the fuck out. Now? OMFG.
 

Rev

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:hawfap
 

ravidubey

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Even these guys had to learn *something* after nearly 30 years.

I'll never forget how much we've lost while these guys chased shiny things and threw darts on draft day for decades.

After a brief flash of clarity in 2011, I feel the worm started to turn for good in 2013.

No one drafts well every year, but I feel the Cowboys are finally going about it the right way more often than not.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Even these guys had to learn *something* after nearly 30 years.

I'll never forget how much we've lost while these guys chased shiny things and threw darts on draft day for decades.

After a brief flash of clarity in 2011, I feel the worm started to turn for good in 2013.

No one drafts well every year, but I feel the Cowboys are finally going about it the right way more often than not.
Sounds less like Jerry learned and more like Stephen and others were given more authority. And now that it has worked I'm guessing Jerry will cling more to the new process.
 

Simpleton

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Sounds less like Jerry learned and more like Stephen and others were given more authority. And now that it has worked I'm guessing Jerry will cling more to the new process.
Agreed.

I remember reading something a year or two ago that made it sound like the trade up for Claiborne in 2012 was the final straw for Stephen/Garrett/whoever as far as just letting Jerry do what he wants. Then the whole Sharrif Floyd thing in 2013 revamped the process even further.

I do think that the real braintrust (Stephen/Garrett/McClay and so forth) let Jerry go off the reservation at times just to let him get his rocks off, like with the Gregory and Smith picks. It's a shame they do it in the 2nd and not the 6th or something though.
 

ravidubey

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Let's not pretend Stephen has always been this voice of reason in the room that Jerry has conveniently ignored.

Stephen is just as culpable for a lot of our messes. Jerry has relied on his family as partners for a long time.

It's come down to lessons learned from 30 years of trial and (mostly) error. That's 10-15 times as much leeway as any normal pro gets.
 

Genghis Khan

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There's a good piece on SI.com of how Stephen Jones has changed the direction of the team, and how that's due in large part to how he is the one guy who stands up to Jerry.

I don't know how good he'll be when he takes over everything and Jerry is long gone, but I do think it's safe to say he will be better than Jerry.

This quote about Romo and him going to another team was very telling due to it's honesty and the fact that Jerry would never say or believe anything like this:




That's much different from Jerry saying he believes Romo will play 5 more years.

You can read the rest here:

http://www.si.com/nfl/2017/01/12/dallas-cowboys-stephen-jerry-jones
I do however have to take umbrage with him saying something that likely hurts Romo's trade value.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Let's not pretend Stephen has always been this voice of reason in the room that Jerry has conveniently ignored.

Stephen is just as culpable for a lot of our messes. Jerry has relied on his family as partners for a long time.

It's come down to lessons learned from 30 years of trial and (mostly) error. That's 10-15 times as much leeway as any normal pro gets.
Stephen has become more and more involved with the team. 10 years ago Stephen wasn't saying shit in the war room. He use to be the silent cap guy. That clearly is not the case anymore.
 

GShock

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Even these guys had to learn *something* after nearly 30 years.

I'll never forget how much we've lost while these guys chased shiny things and threw darts on draft day for decades.

After a brief flash of clarity in 2011, I feel the worm started to turn for good in 2013.

No one drafts well every year, but I feel the Cowboys are finally going about it the right way more often than not.
Nah, Jerry's too old to be learning. He learned in his formative years. No matter how many wells are dry, drill the next one, and you might hit it.

Huge debt to buy America's team? Take the chance.

No college coach has come in and been successful? Let's get Jimmy.

Jimmy's a special coach and cannot be replaced? Let's get Barry.

All of those successes worked to reinforce to him that taking chances and swinging for the fences works, and works spectacularly.

Kudos to him for not bigfooting the others in the room, I guess (though I swear something similar was written when we selected Gurode over Bryant...and then were able to get Bryant). I figure he gets his high risk/high reward homerun swings in the second (Smith, Gregory).

Baby steps.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Kudos to him for not bigfooting the others in the room, I guess (though I swear something similar was written when we selected Gurode over Bryant...and then were able to get Bryant). I figure he gets his high risk/high reward homerun swings in the second (Smith, Gregory).

Baby steps.
Yeah I think Jaylon at least was one of those picks were our guys had this list of guys they loved in the second round. And then they all got picked right before us. After it was sort of like, fine Jerry, we will let you get your guy. But I think Jaylon is going to pay off.
 

Genghis Khan

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Nah, Jerry's too old to be learning. He learned in his formative years. No matter how many wells are dry, drill the next one, and you might hit it.

Huge debt to buy America's team? Take the chance.

No college coach has come in and been successful? Let's get Jimmy.

Jimmy's a special coach and cannot be replaced? Let's get Barry.

All of those successes worked to reinforce to him that taking chances and swinging for the fences works, and works spectacularly.

Kudos to him for not bigfooting the others in the room, I guess (though I swear something similar was written when we selected Gurode over Bryant...and then were able to get Bryant). I figure he gets his high risk/high reward homerun swings in the second (Smith, Gregory).

Baby steps.

Exactly right.
 
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