OXNARD, Calif. (105.3 The Fan) - Dallas Cowboys COO Stephen Jones understands the fan's frustrations with the way the team conducted business this offseason, but he and the organization believe it was in their best interests to move on from some key players, and let the younger, unproven players get their opportunity to make an impact on the roster.
Dallas began the offseason by trading away their top receiver Amari Cooper to the Browns for a 2022 fifth-round pick and a sixth-round pick swap. They followed that up by losing starting defensive lineman Randy Gregory to the Broncos in free agency. Whether they botched the negotiation or not is still up for debate. And then they cut starting right tackle La'el Collins, who signed with the reigning AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals.
Those departures, and the team's subsequent failure to address the holes left by those players, became the key talking point this offseason for an organization that has visions of winning its first Super Bowl in 26 years. And that bothered owner Jerry Jones. … So much so that he opened his 'State of the Cowboys' press conference on Tuesday to explain the thought process behind moving on from those high-profile players.
Stephen Jones has empathy for the fans and their opinions on roster decisions, some of whom point to the Rams and their wild spending, which resulted in a Super Bowl last season. But that's a path the organization simply doesn't want to go down right now.
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"Winning offseasons has gotten us nowhere. When you say, 'Hey, what are you doing to change? What are you doing to do something different, that's going to change the narrative - so when you do get to the playoffs, you're able to have some success?' How do you change the narrative that you win some playoff games and you do compete for championships," Jones questioned during his training camp sit-down with the K&C Masterpiece on Wednesday. "Winning offseasons and getting veteran players, there's no question when the Rams step up and do what they did and they win a Super Bowl, of course, their mantra was 'get some big-name players, who did show up for them in the postseason, then that becomes, hey, look at the Rams. Look at what they did. Everyone needs to emulate it.' It's a copycat league … I get that. I understand our fan's [frustrations]. What we're doing here is certainly not a flashy, sexy way we went about it this offseason, but we feel really good that the results are going to be much better."
Listen to the entire conversation with Jones in the podcast above.
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