The Antithesis of Stephen Jones

[Simpleton]

This deserves it's own thread because McVay's viewpoint here is the diametric opposite of what Stephen's is. It perfectly encapsulates the lack of urgency that exists within the Cowboys front office and their complete comfort in kind of just floating along, being good but not great, and just hoping things come together "one of these years".

McVay knows his opportunities are limited, same with their front office, and the same goes for at least 80% of the coaches and front offices around the league, so they go for it when they can. Stephen knows he'll be around until death, so why go outside your comfort zone?

In my heart of hearts I think the Rams were probably overly aggressive and if they hadn't gotten extremely lucky to win it last year it's very likely that history would look back on their moves as a bit too "try hard", because they're going to be pretty bad in the not too distant future with not much to restock the shelves.

After all, it's no coincidence that there are rumblings about McVay retiring/going to TV, he knows what's coming.

But with that said, there has to be some level of strategic urgency where you can identify when you're in a window of opportunity and go outside your comfort zone to try to go for it. This offseason would've been one of those with how soft the NFC is at QB and the fact that we have a probable top 3-4 QB in the conference (uncertainty in Green Bay with Adams leaving/Rodgers aging, Brady being 45 and Arians retiring, 49ers going with Lance, etc.) and if we had rolled the dice on an aggressive move like Von Miller that could've elevated the entire defense and maybe been enough to make a Super Bowl run.

But instead we got Dante Fowler and Dorance Armstrong, which is...fine, maybe enough to make it to the divisional round like McVay says, but it's not going to take a good defense and elevate it to 2013-14 Seahawks/2015 Broncos dominant.

Von Miller could have. Hell, Chandler Jones might even have.

 

[boozeman]

You just don’t like how Goof Son handles this organization with a steady hand.

 

[bbgun]

Free agents, yes, but I don't like forking over future #1s. The draft is a drag when you don't have them.

 

[NoDak]

 

[Chocolate Lab]

To be fair, didn't Jerry go for it plenty of times? They just went for the wrong players. Seems like player evaluation was the problem all those years more than the mentality.

Don't get me wrong, I understand there's a balance to be struck there. Just saying, the Stephen attitude is relatively new here.

 

[Simpleton]

To be fair, didn't Jerry go for it plenty of times? They just went for the wrong players. Seems like player evaluation was the problem all those years more than the mentality.

Yes, and that's the irony of it all.

Jerry was a moron with no restraint and little respect for how to draft, but he definitely "went for it" with bold trades/FA moves. Stephen on the other hand has emphasized the draft and we've done really well there over the last decade roughly, but he's on the complete other end of the spectrum, refusing to take any risk in free agency.

If you could combine Stephen's focus on the draft with Jerry's willingness to take risks we'd be in a really good spot, but here we are.

All things considered, I'd take Stephen's style, but he needs to learn when to take calculated risks.

 

[Simpleton]

Free agents, yes, but I don't like forking over future #1s. The draft is a drag when you don't have them.

Like I said, I think the Rams went a bit overboard and if they hadn't gotten extremely lucky last year I think they'd end up regretting it because they're going to be in quite a hole once Donald/Ramsey/Stafford start dropping off in the next 2 years or so.

But my point is that Stephen needs to be willing to take some sort of measured/calculated risks, a middle ground between where he is now (completely unwilling to take risks) and the Rams reckless moves over the last few years.

If he could find that middle ground I truly believe we'd be contenders right alongside anybody else over the next few years, but instead I think we're going to continue falling just short with maybe a divisional round appearance or two to show for it.

 

[p1_]

But is it fair to compare Jones to McVay, where McVay is the coach? Is he calling shots like Stephen?

 

[Simpleton]

But is it fair to compare Jones to McVay, where McVay is the coach? Is he calling shots like Stephen?

Doesn't matter whether it's McVay or their GM ultimately, the mindset is the same.

 

[Cotton]

the Stephen attitude is relatively new here.

It is, and I think that is the biggest thing reason why this offseason has been so infuriating.

 

[shane]

But is it fair to compare Jones to McVay, where McVay is the coach? Is he calling shots like Stephen?

McVay has the leadership presence and the gonads to tell everyone in his org to go for broke and they all buy in. He has really lived up to his whiz kid hype.

 

[boozeman]

Doesn't matter whether it's McVay or their GM ultimately, the mindset is the same.

He is all about makin’ that bank, yo!

 

[p1_]

Doesn't matter whether it's McVay or their GM ultimately, the mindset is the same.

oh, you mean they both want to win and will be aggressive in pursuit of talent.

 

[Angrymesscan]

You just don’t like how Goof Son handles this organization with a steady hand.

You know what they say… slow and steady wins the race…

 

[Cowboysrock55]

You know what they say… slow and steady wins the race…

Most valuable franchise... Winning

 

[Cotton]

oh, you mean they both want to win and will be aggressive in pursuit of talent.

Such a weird concept.

 

[p1_]

Such a weird concept.

Its truly alien to Stephen. He will not take financial risk whatsoever.

 

[1bigfan13]

It is, and I think that is the biggest thing reason why this offseason has been so infuriating.

The infuriating part of operating under Stephen's thrifty approach is that he's basically playing whack-o-mole.

Roster turnover in the NFL happens too quickly to strictly build a winner through the draft. By my count there are only 16 current players who were on the Cowboys roster in 2019.

Take the 2022 draft class as an example. It normally takes players 2-3 years to start playing at a consistently high level. So by the time those guys get fully up to speed, the core vets who were already on the roster will be 2-3 years older. Meaning some will be past their primes and some will become cap casualties/free agents. Therefore, they're constantly spinning their wheels in the mud.

That's why I prefer the approach of teams like the Bills, Bucs, and Rams where once you get close, you go all in to try to get over the hump. You trade away a draft pick or two to get a proven player who can make you better TODAY.....not 2-3 years from now.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

That's why I prefer the approach of teams like the Bills, Bucs, and Rams where once you get close, you go all in to try to get over the hump. You trade away a draft pick or two to get a proven player who can make you better TODAY.....not 2-3 years from now.

Or hell you at minimum aren't afraid to use up all your cap space to keep high level players like Gregory and Cooper and then still create room to add free agents.

You don't even have to trade away draft picks to do this. But we did the opposite. We dumped high paid players, let guys go, added no one of relevance and proceeded to draft guys to replace what we have lost. And I really like Sam Williams (Gregory), Tolbert (Cooper) and Tyler Smith (Connor Williams). But you're literally just drafting guys to replace starters hoping that those rookies can somehow be better than the guys before them. It's never going to get the team there unless you're hitting on an insane amount of day three picks.

 

[Simpleton]

Or hell you at minimum aren't afraid to use up all your cap space to keep high level players like Gregory and Cooper and then still create room to add free agents.

You don't even have to trade away draft picks to do this. But we did the opposite. We dumped high paid players, let guys go, added no one of relevance and proceeded to draft guys to replace what we have lost. And I really like Sam Williams (Gregory), Tolbert (Cooper) and Tyler Smith (Connor Williams). But you're literally just drafting guys to replace starters hoping that those rookies can somehow be better than the guys before them. It's never going to get the team there unless you're hitting on an insane amount of day three picks.

It's quite a farce, the sad thing is that we've been really good at drafting which has propped up the roster over the last 10 years, but they refuse to invest to take the next step.

They're plenty content just being competitive, making the playoffs every other year and kicking the can down the road.