Cowboys' Jerry Jones reveals why he plays general manager role
Jones, 82, said he has often been asked why he doesn't hire a general manager.
"I'm often asked the question, 'Why I don't hire a general manager?'" Jones said in Netflix's "America's Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys."
"I've had people say, 'Jerry, you subject yourself to so much criticism. You need a buffer.' I don't like it like that — I like the pain."
Jones has served as the team's general manager since purchasing the franchise in 1989. The Cowboys had significant success early in his tenure, winning Super Bowl XXVII (1992), Super Bowl XXVIII (1993), and Super Bowl XXX (1995).
Since that dominant run in the early to mid-1990s, however, the Cowboys have not enjoyed the same level of success. The last time they reached the NFC Championship Game was in the 1995 season, the year they last won the Super Bowl.
The Cowboys' 30-year conference championship drought is the fourth-longest active drought in the NFL.
Last season, the Cowboys finished 7-10 and missed the playoffs as quarterback Dak Prescott was limited to eight games with a hamstring injury. They made the playoffs in 2023 but lost 48-32 to the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Wild Card round.
Jones is currently under fire from the Cowboys' fan base after star edge rusher Micah Parsons requested a trade a couple of weeks ago. Fans have chanted "Pay Micah" at Jones throughout training camp.
The Cowboys open their season Sept. 4 against the division-rival and defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. Jones said he was not confident that Parsons would play in the game.
Parsons has been "holding in" at Cowboys training camp, attending meetings and practices but not participating on the field.
If Parsons does not play in Week 1 — or if he is granted his wish and traded away — Jones will certainly feel the pain from an upset fan base.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Chelsea agree €29.5 million deal to sell Renato Veiga to Villarreal
Chelsea have agreed a deal to sell versatile defender Renato Veiga to Villarreal for €29.5 million, per Fabrizio Romano. The 22-year-old is on his way out of Stamford Bridge after only a year. The Blues included add-ons and secured a heavy sell-on clause in the Veiga deal. His move is a record transfer for the Yellow Submarines. Veiga arrived at Chelsea last summer and proved instrumental for the West London outfit, comfortably slotting into midfield and at left-back. Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca clearly showed trust in Veiga, especially in the cup competitions. However, he surprisingly decided to leave mid-way through the season, claiming he wanted a starting berth as a centre-back. He went on loan to Juventus, where he played in his favoured position. Juve boss Thiago Motta was a fan, lauding his ability to 'find free men between the lines'. Some Chelsea fans hoped that the Blues would reintegrate him into the squad, especially with Levi Colwill out with a long-term injury. Benoit Badiashile is also dealing with niggling issues. There is no way back in for Veiga, who will now complete a move to Villarreal. It will be interesting to see if his departure opens the door for Chelsea to sign another centre-back. Maresca wants a new defender, but the hierarchy maintains that he has enough, with Josh Acheampong emerging and Mamadou Sarr set to return next summer. News from trusted journalists is that Chelsea will only sign a new centre-back if they can shift some, like Veiga and Axel Disasi, off the books. Who should Chelsea sign if they enter the market for a centre-back? If Chelsea need a defender who can command his box and punch passes through the lines, they should consider approaching Inter Milan for Alessandro Bastoni. Bastoni's ability on the ball will be a massive weapon in the build-up phase. Colwill was an excellent ball progressor, and the Italian can fill the gap seamlessly. However, it is worth noting that Bastoni won't come cheap, and Chelsea must also consider what happens when Colwill returns from his setback.
Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Pirates call up Bubba Chandler, baseball's top pitching prospect
PITTSBRURGH (AP) — Baseball's top pitching prospect is getting called up to the majors. The Pittsburgh Pirates have decided to promote 22-year-old right hander Bubba Chandler ahead of their game Friday against the Colorado Rockies, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the roster move was not yet official. Chandler will join a staff that already includes 2024 NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes. The Pirates are shuffling their pitching rotation after sending veteran left-hander Andrew Heaney to the bullpen last weekend. Chandler got off to a hot start in Triple-A this year but has stumbled lately and is currently 5-6 with a 4.05 ERA this year for Indianapolis. ___ AP MLB:
Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NBA summer predictions: Projecting the West's best teams and LeBron James' future with the Lakers
With the NBA's new schedule out, and training camps just weeks away, it's time to look ahead to the 2025-26 season. What does the future hold for the Western Conference? Our writers take an early stab at predicting how the standings will play out. (Check out our East predictions, too.) Which West team will make the biggest leap in the standings? Dan Devine: The Spurs, but almost by default. The second through eighth seeds in the West were separated by four wins last season, with 48 Ws representing the low end. Nos. 9 through 12 were separated by four wins, too. That kind of congestion makes it tough to envision most of the teams in the conference taking too huge a jump, so give me San Antonio — 34 wins with Victor Wembanyama missing 36 games and De'Aaron Fox playing just 578 in silver and black — to climb the standings with better health, better depth and another year of seasoning. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] Ben Rohrbach: The Spurs. Assuming Wembanyama remains healthy, he will be the best defensive player in the league, and on offense he will be set up by a trio of guards — Fox, Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle — who are explosive in their own right. They have added some veteran depth around Wembanyama, and they still have much of their existing core, including Devin Vassell. It is a team primed to make a leap from outside the play-in tournament into the hunt for a guaranteed playoff seed. Vincent Goodwill: The easy answer is the Spurs, almost because everyone else in the West is bunched together. We are assuming a full season of Victor Wembanyama and, if that happens, one season closer to him being fully actualized. More playmakers around him to make the game easier and one can expect his first of many DPOYs. Going from 34 wins to at least 43-44 isn't unreasonable. Tom Haberstroh: The Spurs. It's hard to pick any of the West teams that made the playoffs last season since almost all of them were basically 50-win outfits. Of the teams that were in the bottom half, the Spurs have the highest upside with Fox and Wembanyama healthy. I think the public is underestimating the potential for Wemby to establish himself as the NBA's best player by the end of the season. Which West team will make the biggest drop in the standings? Haberstroh: The Lakers. From a standings standpoint, I don't see how the Lakers stay at a No. 3 seed again. I'm a believer in Skinny Luka, but if LeBron James is at all checked out, there's not nearly enough depth on this roster to sustain a level required to having first-round homecourt advantage. I fear the talent drop-off after Luka Dončić, James and Austin Reaves will doom them this season. Devine: This sucks, but … the Kings. I'm just bracing for the worst in Sacramento, where Fox is gone, Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan are hosting a revival of the wildly-underwhelming-in-the-worse-conference Bulls, Domantas Sabonis exited the season hoping for a point guard, and Scott Perry responded with Dennis Schröder and (maybe?) Russell Westbrook. Maybe Doug Christie's got the goods to turn all of this into a team that doesn't find itself drowning well below .500 in the West. But maybe, before too long, last season's 40-42 mark feels like the start of another disastrously steep descent. Rohrbach: The Lakers. Listen: LeBron James will turn 41 years old this season, and he does not seem happy about his current status within the organization, or at least that is what his last public statement suggested. That has a chance to disrupt the team's chemistry throughout the season. Even if it does not, the Lakers face real defensive issues as they try to build lineups around James, Dončić and Reaves. The addition of Deandre Ayton at the center position does little to assuage concern. Goodwill: This is no indictment, but what if it's the Thunder? For the same reasons so many other teams in the West are bunched, what happens if the Thunder slide to an unfathomable 60 wins just from being a champion and taking everyone's best shot? It wouldn't be a mark of decline; remember, the Warriors of Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant went from 67 wins to 58 in a year, just because even dynastic defending is still damned hard. Who will finish with the top six seeds in the West? Goodwill: (1) Thunder, (2) Nuggets, (3) Rockets, (4) Warriors, (5) Timberwolves, (6) Clippers The Thunder are still built to be a regular-season juggernaut with youth and the like. Cameron Johnson over Michael Porter Jr. already looks to be an upgrade, but could we be giving the Nuggets too much assumed love when hardly anyone in today's NBA stays atop or near it for too long? Denver and Houston could flip-flop, as could the Timberwolves and Warriors in the 4-5 spots. A full 'best of the rest of' Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler could have them right around 50, but you can't assume health — a big reason why the graybeards in Los Angeles barely escape the play-in. Haberstroh: (1) Thunder, (2) Rockets, (3) Nuggets, (4) Clippers, (5) Warriors, (6) Timberwolves The West is going to be a bloodbath, but I have the most confidence in these teams locking in slots. I'm sincerely hoping we get Lakers-Mavs in a win-or-go-home play-in tournament game. Make it happen, basketball gods. Devine: (1) Thunder, (2) Nuggets, (3) Timberwolves, (4) Rockets, (5) Warriors, (6) Clippers Even if another 68-win campaign seems like a lot to expect, the champs take the top spot until proven otherwise. I loved the Nuggets' offseason, and feel plenty confident betting on Nikola Jokić to get them to 50-plus wins; I'm pricing in a slight adjustment period, though, for Houston after the addition of Kevin Durant, who brings both titanic scoring talent and, seemingly, a fairly particular emotional weather system with him everywhere he goes. Maybe I'm overly bullish on Minnesota, given the loss of Nickeil Alexander-Walker and the big bets that team president Tim Connelly has made on youngsters like Rob Dillingham, Terrence Shannon and Jaylen Clark to back-fill the rotation, but head coach Chris Finch is as good as it gets at maximizing his roster around supernova Anthony Edwards. I think what Golden State found after the Jimmy Butler trade was real, and I think the Clippers' reloaded depth is real … and, evidently, I think they're more real than the Lakers' bet that Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia will fix a defense that gave up 121.6 points per 100 possessions — a league-worst-caliber mark — when Luka Dončić, LeBron James and Austin Reaves shared the floor. Rohrbach: (1) Thunder, (2) Nuggets, (3) Rockets, (4) Timberwolves, (5) Warriors, (6) Clippers Oklahoma City is a juggernaut. Denver and Houston made moves to firmly position themselves as Nos. 2 and 3 in the West. Minnesota and Anthony Edwards are still lurking. And I trust the veteran stewardship of Golden State and the L.A. Clippers more than I do the defense of the Lakers or the youth of some other challengers, including the Spurs and Grizzlies. However you order them, there are only six slots for twice as many competitors. What's your boldest summer prediction involving the West? Rohrbach: Go big or go home: LeBron James will not be on the Lakers at the end of the season. It made sense for the Lakers to trade James from the moment they traded for Dončić. Paying a 40-year-old max money is a hindrance to building a contender around a 26-year-old perennial MVP candidate. It just is. Who knows how the Lakers find a partner to match salaries for James, but they would be wise to acquire whatever they can for one of the game's all-time greats before he could leave them in 2026 free agency. Goodwill: The Sacramento Kings won't be as bad as everyone thinks. With that roster being logjammed, would a contender or wanna-be contender out East try to get Malik Monk or even DeMar DeRozan to solidify themselves in this Boston-Indiana sabbatical year? And maybe the Kings find themselves in a dogfight with the Lakers for one of the play-in spots. Bold, I know. Haberstroh: LeBron waives his no-trade clause and OK's a trade to the Cavs. He's coming home — again. It won't be easy, but if the Cavs get off to a slow start, Darius Garland's contract could be large enough to grease the wheels in a three- or four-team trade. Devine: Apparently, it's that the Lakers will be in the play-in tournament, Skinny Luka and all. I know. I'm just as surprised as you are!
