Does Jerry Jones Actually Want the Cowboys to Win?

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Does Jerry Jones Actually Want the Cowboys to Win? originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
If you want to know how not to build a championship franchise in the NFL, just watch the absolute masterclass Jerry Jones is putting on right now.
The owner of the Dallas Cowboys has made life unnecessarily difficult for himself and his team in recent years, waiting until well past the 11th hour to hammer out long-term contract extensions with the most important players on the roster. Those delays have cost Jones and the Cowboys big money in the long run, and it's hard to imagine they haven't had a negative impact on the locker room.
Jones has taken things to a new low with star pass rusher Micah Parsons, though.
At the start of training camp, Jones made these puzzling remarks about Parsons' contract situation:
That kind of approach is puzzling from a man whose team hasn't won a championship since Sheryl Crow beat out Green Day and Counting Crows for "Best New Artist" at the Grammys.
The contract impasse went into red alert Friday, with Parsons not just requesting a trade from the Cowboys, but putting out a lengthy statement detailing his side of the process up to this point:
Parsons wouldn't be the first star player to use a trade request/demand as leverage in contract negotiations, but if things have played out anywhere close to the way the former Penn State star just outlined, this doesn't feel like a power play for a little more money.
This feels personal.
At 26 years old, Parsons is entering the prime of his career. He's been a dominant force at one of the most premium positions in the game, accomplishing more in his four seasons in Dallas than most do in their entire careers:
Many Cowboys fans have been clamoring for years for the team to hire an actual general manager who can handle the construction of the roster with some semblance of adequate aptitude, but Jones continues to be as hands-on as any owner in the league, to the detriment of what used to be "America's Team."
From a team-building perspective, the entire point of evaluating incoming prospects at the college level is to hopefully hit on the kind of player Parsons has proven to be. Getting that kind of player into the building, and being right about it, is the hardest part of the process.
Paying them to stay should be the easy part, as ESPN's Louis Riddick points out:
Had the Cowboys inked a long-term deal with Parsons as soon as he was eligible, those numbers would look like highway robbery in hindsight. Instead, Jones and company have let things drag on while other pass rushers throughout the league have been allowed to reset the market for the position multiple times, driving Parsons' price higher and higher.
Even Parsons' own teammates are taking to social media to vent their frustrations against management over the situation:
Yeah, that's always a sign of a healthy organization.
Listen, if Jones just wants to use the Cowboys as a business venture to make himself a bunch more money, that's his prerogative. He'd be far from the only owner to operate that way in professional sports, and with the way the league continues to force-feed the prime-time slate with their appearances, regardless of how good the team actually is, it's safe to say he'll continue to be successful in that regard.
But if he wants anyone to believe he genuinely cares about putting a winning product on the field and consistently competing for championships, these are the situations where he can prove it.
We've all seen that cranky frown that Jones displays from his luxury suite at AT&T Stadium every time things go wrong for the Cowboys down on the field; the grimace that only embarrassment in front of a national audience can bring upon someone with a reported net worth upward of $17 billion.
If the Cowboys struggle to compete at a championship level this season, either failing to make the postseason or suffering another early exit, while Parsons is wrecking games for some other team that paid him what he's worth, someone should remind Jones he's the one who put that look on his face.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 1, 2025, where it first appeared.