DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was asked a question involving the "T" word in his interview this morning on 105.3 The Fan.
The Cowboys have already shipped out three veteran players ahead of today's NFL trade deadline in order to get more opportunities for some of their younger players.
Those moves could be classified as tanking. However, two of the players (Dontari Poe and Daryl Worley) simply weren't playing well and it was beneficial for the Cowboys to get someone else on the field from a competitive standpoint. The other, Everson Griffen, had been playing much better leading up to his trade to Detroit for a conditional sixth round pick.
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Shan Shariff asked Jerry where he stands on the phrase 'tanking,' but not when it comes to intentionally trying to lose in order to get a better draft pick. Instead, he wanted to know where the organization stands on 'tanking' when it comes to a plan of putting younger players on the field to give them more opportunities, and if they lose and get a better draft pick because of it, so be it.
"The more people you have on the field in a sport, the less you get into driving the car, relative to certainly effort. You can erase that from an individual player's performance. Tanking has nothing to do with the performance of a player or coach. The performance of getting better. The performance of the things you do to try to win the ballgame, in my mind," Jones said on Shan and RJ. "Could you make a decision to play a younger player more, or a player that you're going to be pretty firm that you're going to be going forward with contract wise than a different situation, and the answer is, I can see that, yeah.
"I can see making sure that you get these guys those reps. The only way to have and get better in the NFL is (to get) reps. And game reps are precious and hard to come by. You don't get them by just that issue, if you're sitting their competing for a championship. So I think young players should be doing it anyway. Candidly, you may should be playing those players out there anyway. I don't see it as bright a line. Maybe, you'd say, 'Jones, you've never seen anything bright-lined in your life.' And, maybe, that's right. The point is, I don't see bright lines with any part of that definition."
As for making a trade before the NFL's 3 p.m. central time trade deadline, Jones said he didn't expect to make a move, but added, "the way we're structured, the way we do business, we can make decisions in a short order. If we do get an opportunity, we can make that call. I'm in the mood but (wouldn't do it) if it negatively impacted our future."
With a record of 2-6, the Cowboys currently have the fifth overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Jones also address the trade deadline, Ben DiNucci's debut, and much more. Listen to the interview below.