Cowboys: Smokescreens, Scandrick, Transparency, and the Draft

The Dallas Cowboys front office has been extraordinarily media friendly over the years but is that transparency hurting the team?

The Dallas Cowboys braintrust, and Jerry Jones in particular, loves media attention. And over the years he’s used his media friendliness to his benefit. But lately, the overly candid Jones clan may have been a little too forthright and possibly even shot themselves in the foot.

This is the second offseason the future of Orlando Scandrick has been under question. Last spring during the draft, and now this March, talks of his availability are running rampant. While the legitimacy of those rumors were questionable last year, this year they are undeniably true. Even Scandy himself is calling for an outright release to end the madness.

The Cowboys, hoping to get something for their undesirable asset, are testing the trade market first. The problem is, they already made their intentions to move on from Scandrick well known. Why exactly would another team want to trade for him if they knew he was going to be released anyway?

Unless they thought they couldn’t attract him. Or unless they thought they couldn’t sign him on the open market to a cheaper contract than the one he’s currently on, they have no reason to trade and every reason to wait it out.

If the Cowboys played this a little closer to the vest, they could have generated more interest. But everyone now knows he’s leaving Dallas one way or the other, so Jerry Jones has lost majority of the leverage.

Look at what the Seahawks just did. News was out that Earl Thomas was discontent and available. His sudden attainability made his value plummet. Until, of course, Seattle stated publicly they wanted to keep their star player and were looking into an extension. Now that he’s not imminently on the market, he’s become much more desirable and much more expensive.

Seattle built a market. They may or may not be serious in their desire to keep him. We just don’t know and THAT is precisely the point.

The Draft

The draft isn’t much different. The Cowboys have publicly reaffirmed their stance against taking 1-technique defensive tackles high in the draft. There was once talk the Cowboys could abandon this strategy since nose tackle is a strength in the draft this year and defensive architect, Rod Marinelli, is seemingly on his last tour.

But nope. The Cowboys said they will not be parting with their philosophy and they tipped their hand to their NFL counterparts in the process.

This is another case of being too open and too honest.

More from Dallas Cowboys

• Why the Dallas Cowboys wisely decided against signing Dalvin Cook
• West coast, Texas coast, burnt toast: Cowboys don’t need more runs
• Brandin Cooks will change the way defenses play the Dallas Cowboys
• Why the Dallas Cowboys defensive X-Factor is EDGE Sam Williams
• Dallas Cowboys: 3 head coach options if McCarthy fails in 2023

Smokescreens

Jerry Jones was once a master of smokescreens. He loved getting reporters off his scent, and while he rarely lied, he often misled.

We haven’t seen that very often these days.

As much fun as it is to cover the Joneses, it’s hard not to take notice of how the New England Patriots handle things. Bill Belicheck, the mouthpiece of the franchise, may be the single worst coach to cover in the NFL. He’s vague, he lies (clearingthroathecheats), he’s rude, etc… He basically gives us nothing. And if he does offer a nugget of information, you can bet your sweet ass he’s lying.

But he’s also on to something.

No one knows what he’s going to do year-to-year or even day-to-day. There is more speculation these days in the Boston sports pages than there was in San Francisco circa 1849. And those Pats fans probably wouldn’t trade it for the world.

For as terrible as it would be dealing with a franchise like the Patriots, I bet we can all agree we’d happily take it if it delivered even a fraction of the success.

Next: Latest Sport DFW Cowboys Mock Draft: All Seven Rounds

The Cowboys have been a joy to deal with over the years but their media-friendliness may be hurting the team more than helping the team. Perhaps it’s time to be more covert in Dallas and see if the franchise can benefit from a little mystery.