Dallas Cowboys have a crisis looming unless they take action
The Dallas Cowboys have been in the news a lot lately, but not for the right reasons. With an opportunity to fix the environment in front of him, owner Jerry Jones has once again handled things poorly.
I’ll begin by saying that there aren’t many owners in the NFL that are better than Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. With his NFL Hall of Fame induction drawing near, he’s more than deserving of his enshrinement within the halls of Canton. Yet, he’s far from perfect and his latest mishandling of personnel misconduct over the last four days may hold this franchise back from what it could be.
What has happened
It’s been a wild offseason ’round here, to say the least. We all know about Ezekiel Elliott and the domestic abuse charges and the stupid decision he made on St. Patrick’s Day and of course, his latest night club incident. Granted, the latest twist in this story means it may be made-up. But the greater point still remains.
But not to be outdone, we have Damien Wilson hitting people with trucks over a parking spot, the odd story of Lucky Whitehead and his missing dog and David Irving‘s four game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs.
For the fourth straight year, the Cowboys will start the season without a defensive starter due to suspension. Yet despite this culture of skirting the law, running with a bad crowd or just doing stupid things, the Dallas front office has seemingly done nothing about it.
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Remember when Head Coach Jason Garrett told reporters that he wants to bring in “the right kind of guy?” Of course you do. He says it almost every time he gets the chance. In fact, here’s a quote of his from just last season.
"“I think we’ve built our football team the right way with the right kind of guys. That doesn’t mean guys aren’t going to make mistakes.”"
Garrett said that right before training camp last summer. So of course, that leads us all to ask, “what exactly is ‘the right kind of guy’?” We’re still not sure.
What the front office has said
Enter Jerry. He told the media Tuesday that he’d spoken with Elliott about his off-the-field issues. Truth be told though, nobody thought any discussion of substance would actually take place between the two. Instead of coming around to the mentality that he can lead the change, here’s what he told Elliott.
"It’s like a rock star wherever he goes . . . Certainly anybody that’s experienced that knows that takes some getting used to to have to learn many aspects of that. So certainly Zeke is evolving and being subject to needing to learn how to deal with the media and social media the way it is today."
I hate to break it to you, Mr. Jones but this isn’t an issue of “deal(ing) with the media and social media.” No, this is about making wise decisions. This is about players surrounding themselves with people that make wise decisions.
Essentially, Jones’s quotes have told the players that he knows they’re going to do stupid things. But instead of teaching them dislocation from bad behavior, he says they should just make sure they only cause trouble when nobody is looking.
What would solve the problem
Jones’s concerns appear to revolve around visibility as opposed to the root of the problem. This is why he needs to hire some better PR guys, or some PR guys altogether. He needs to create a new frontier.
The Dallas Cowboys need some guys that stay in the players’ ears and advise them about right decisions. Obviously, this wouldn’t prevent everyone from getting into trouble. But it sure could at least make a difference.
What these players need to hear are veteran and former players who have been in the league giving them direction. They need to be coached on how to keep themselves out of compromising, dangerous or overall stupid situations.
Sure, this sounds like a group of glorified babysitters. That’s because they are. Yet, it’s not all that different from life for all of us. We all have that one or even a couple of family members that just never grew up. The NFL is littered with these type of guys.
We’re talking about an image and a brand here, and the Cowboys brand cannot afford to lose players from acting a-fool. It’s a difficult conversation for someone like Jones to have with his players, but if he hired the right guys he wouldn’t have to.
Next: An open letter to Ezekiel Elliott
If he wants his players to make the right decisions, it all starts at the top. But by not having his guys called to the carpet, Jones is making wrong decisions as well. If they see the man at the top failing to make the right decisions, then what incentive do they have? Do the right thing, Mr. Jones. Get these players the help they need and hold them accountable, or else we’re in for a long December.