I found this very interesting because Moore is a bit of mouthpiece for the organization, at least he has been in the past from what I remember, so I think he has some legit sources somewhere along the way.
I'll believe it when I see it as far as signing a legitimate starting-caliber FA to anything more than maybe a 1-2 year deal averaging about $5M/year or so, but if not now then I can't really ever see it until they completely crater with three straight 5 win seasons like under Campo.
At least there isn't much time for Jerry to keep spouting BS and dicking around, we'll have our answer one way or the other in just a few weeks.
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The NFL Offseason Has Begun. Expect Jerry Jones and the Cowboys to Finally Meet the Moment
Sometime Sunday evening, most likely deep in the third quarter as New England searched for its second first down of the game, Jerry Jones realized he had caught a break: the Patriots weren’t going to add to their Super Bowl bounty.
New England’s 29-13 loss to Seattle was every bit as cringeworthy as Robert Kraft’s decision to climb on stage and dance with Cardi B during Super Bowl week seven years earlier. The franchise would remain tied with Pittsburgh with six titles. Dallas and San Francisco are next with five. Three of those were acquired on Jones’ watch. His publicly stated goal is to accrue more than Kraft. “Got work to do,’’ Jones said in an understatement earlier this year.
And that means he will go about his work differently.
Go ahead and roll your eyes at Jones’ proclamation that he wants to pass Kraft. Dismiss it as hyperbole from an owner who’s constantly selling but has failed to deliver for 30 years and counting. This isn’t about setting a realistic goal. It’s about motivation for the 83-year-old patriarch.
Jones leads Kraft on several significant fronts. His franchise is worth more, a fixture atop the Forbes list as the NFL’s most valuable property for 19 consecutive years. Jones has a bust in the Hall of Fame, an honor that eluded Kraft 72 hours before the Seahawks manhandled his team in Super Bowl LX.
But Kraft, more than any other owner, has risen to prominence during the Cowboys’ long fallow period. He has doubled Jones’ Lombardi Trophy haul. The Patriots didn’t win Sunday. But the fact New England got back to the Super Bowl as quickly as it did after moving on from Tom Brady and Bill Belichick caught his attention.
What has Kraft done that Jones hasn’t? Rather than dwell on the management approach and the profile of head coaches hired, let’s focus on one tangible example that impacted the just-concluded season: free-agent spending. New England led the way in that category in 2025, sinking $192.9 million in guaranteed money into free agency. Seattle’s $101.5 million was good for fifth. Dallas ranked near the bottom of the league, doling out just $23.4 million in guaranteed money to free agents.
Jones has signaled he will dive into free agency with a financial fervor he hasn’t exhibited since he paid $50 million to add corner Brandon Carr 14 years ago. Will he increase his investment more than seven-fold to fall in line with what Kraft just spent? No. But he did tell reporters in San Francisco for the Super Bowl that he was prepared to “bust the budget.’’
Watching Sunday’s game, Jones had to think that Dak Prescott is better—much better—than Sam Darnold and Drake Maye. The defense doesn’t have to ascend to the level of Seattle or New England for the Cowboys to finally get back to the Super Bowl. But it needs to be good enough that it’s not an anchor around Prescott’s neck. That requires spending in free agency and using those two first-round picks to fix the defensive side of the ball.
The club’s spending habits in recent years has fostered skepticism. Those people were apoplectic when word leaked that Dallas intends to use the franchise tag on George Pickens, taking it as confirmation that it will be business as usual.
(Quick aside: using the tag on Pickens was treated as a revelation. It’s about as revelatory as me saying I’m going to give my wife a card on Valentine’s Day. That’s Saturday, right?)
The Cowboys will tag Pickens to prevent him from hitting the free agent market while it concentrates on outbidding suitors for free agents who will markedly upgrade the defense. Then Jones will come back and try to get something done with Pickens, the same way I intend to give my wife more than a cheesy card for Valentine’s Day if I know what’s good for me.
Doubts it will unfold this way are understandable. Jones has brought those on himself. But the first sign this offseason will be different came with the hiring of defensive coordinator Christian Parker from Philadelphia. The next will be what happens when free agency opens on March 11.
Jon Hamm hosted the NFL Honors show last week. The actor, a guest at the party Jones threw the night he learned he was part of the Hall of Fame Class of 2017, worked Jones into the presentation. “Incredible performance on
Landman, way more convincing than when he said it was a good idea to trade Micah Parsons,’’ Hamm quipped.
The Parsons trade was the spark. It forced Jones to take a different approach to building his team. He knows he must spend what he didn’t pay to keep Parsons to maintain any credibility. Kraft has that credibility. As Jones is fond of saying, he wants him some of that. That’s why you will see a different Jerry Jones this offseason.
In some ways, you already have.
