DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - The Dallas Cowboys roster will look much different in the 2022 season, in large part because of the turnover amongst some of the most high-profile names on the roster.
Most notably, La'el Collins, Randy Gregory and Amari Cooper, each of whom has a new home for next season.
And when speaking to the media on Tuesday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones revealed his team's reasoning for parting ways with those players, citing 'availability' as his main concern.
“More important than anything, these decisions we made ... relative to top players, had everything to do with their availability and my concern about their availability,” Jones said.
Jones issued a similar sentiment back April, when Gregory signed with the Broncos on a deal that was, for all intents and purposes, equal to that which he would have received in Dallas.
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“Availability was a big item here,” Jones told the media this spring. “Being available. Always has been. Always has been. And you can reach a point where if you’ve got a big question mark on availability — forget ability, if you’ve got a big question mark on availability, do you want to strap on millions and millions of dollars to your salary cap with that big a question mark at availability? It got too high for the benefit of the team.”
Jones has a point as well. Since his first season in 2015, Gregory has played in just 50 of a possible 112 regular season games for Dallas for various reasons, including injury and suspension.
The same holds true for Collins as well.
Collins, who came into the franchise at the same time as Gregory, has played in just 74 games, missing the entire 2020 season. He has also been suspended for multiple games.
As for Cooper, it is a bit harder for Jones to justify that statement. During his time in Dallas, Cooper missed just two games in 3.5 seasons, both due to his contraction of the COVID-19 virus.
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However, it was Cooper's unwillingness to get the COVID-19 vaccine, that Jones believes led to his contraction of the virus -- something that reportedly bothered Jones very much.
“The fact that he was one of their few unvaccinated players still on the team last year I think really rankled the Jones',” Rich Eisen said in March. “It’s interesting, the COVID protocols (Thursday) were shelved, but still what will linger is somebody at a time when all they had to do was take a shot and that would give them a better chance to win and they did not is something I think will linger in the mind’s eye of front offices and ownership. And I think you put it all together, and that’s one of the reasons why Cooper will be on another team.”
The Cowboys lost both games that Cooper missed in 2021.
Now, the Cowboys turn their attention to new bodies added to the roster in replacement of those former stars, as they attempt to move toward another NFC East title -- something Jones believes is certainly possible.
"I think we're in better shape today to make a run at it, than we were sitting here last year," Jones said.