Dallas Cowboys fans: Don't let Stephen Jones play you

Dallas Cowboys front man Stephen Jones has gone public with the Dak Prescott negotiations once again – don’t fall for his game.

You’d think we would have learned by now. After seeing this unfold time and time again between the Dallas Cowboys and the player in which they are negotiating, we really should know better. But here we are, falling for Stephen Jones’ tricks and playing right into his hands.

Stop me if you heard this one before: Player A wants a new contract. The Dallas Cowboys (through Stephen Jones) speaks out about how they appreciate the player but they need to do right by the team. Player A gets low-ball offer and counter-offers (as is customary in negotiations) with an offer that’s more aligned with market price.

Stephen Jones goes public and speaks with varying degrees of vagueness about how paying too much money to one player will hurt the other players and the team. With Player A painted the bad guy, the fanbase inexplicably starts siding with the billionaire owner over the player who’s jersey they own.

Does any of that sound familiar? It should because that’s basically how things unfolded for Tony Romo, Dez Bryant, Ezekiel Elliott, DeMarcus Lawrence, Amari Cooper, and now Dak Prescott. In each case Stephen Jones and the Dallas Cowboys publicly played hardball: Blaming the salary cap (something ownership created and players want abolished) as a handcuff, he’s painted the player in whom he’s negotiating as a villain.

Despite repeatedly showing us all the ways the salary cap can be manipulated or downright circumvented, he still tries to paint it as an inflexible pie that must be divided. He calls it a zero-sum, which we all know it is clearly anything but zero-sum.

Related Story. How the NFL Salary Cap is Fake News. light

Cowboys VP Stephen Jones on @ProFootballTalk on contract talks with Dak Prescott: “There’s all sorts of analytics out there that show if your QB takes up too big a percentage of your salary cap that it decreases your chances to win. We’re just trying to figure out the right fit.” pic.twitter.com/ZHWap10JAU
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) May 9, 2020

This public posturing goes on for days, weeks, and even month sometimes. They typically go on until the deadline. In fact, the Dallas Cowboys are known for their deadline-only dealing. They often avoid engagements altogether until some sort of deadline is in place. That’s why they had virtually no contact with Dak Prescott’s agents or Amari Cooper’s agents last season. They waited until free agency was near.

That’s why last offseason they waited until the 11th hour of DeMarcus Lawrence’s surgery deadline to make a deal. That’s why they waited until the last moment before the start of the season to sign Zeke as well. It’s how they operate.

Stephen Jones talks a big game and applies pressure on the players. He paints himself as a slave to the rules and the player as someone who wants too big a piece of pie. He does all of this as a lead-up to the deadline. And what happens at the deadline? He caves.

The Dallas Cowboys always seem to pony up and meet the demands of the players when all is said and done. He did what he said he wouldn’t with Zeke. He did what he said he wouldn’t with Tank. And he’s probably going to do what he said he wouldn’t with Dak.

Dallas Cowboys fans, don’t let Stephen Jones play you

By Reid Hanson | May 13, 2020

Dallas Cowboys front man Stephen Jones has gone public with the Dak Prescott negotiations once again – don’t fall for his game.