Jerry Jones Has Lofty Goals, but There's One Big Problem
The Dallas Cowboys are one of football's most successful teams ever, and Jerry Jones had a hand in that. However, lately, Jones' Cowboys have been wildly unsuccessful, and it seems that nothing he does can quite turn this team into a Super Bowl contender.
Despite that, Jones says he'd like to retire as the team owner with the most Super Bowl titles. That's a lofty goal in and of itself, but it's so much harder to envision when considering how poorly run the Cowboys have been in the 2010s and 2020s.
Jerry Jones wants more Super Bowls
Right now, Jerry Jones has three Super Bowl titles as owner of the Dallas Cowboys. He hasn't had one since the mid-1990s. The Cowboys have been good, but they've never been a Super Bowl contender. They haven't even been to an NFC Championship Game since then.
"My goal in life is to retire as the owner that won the most Super Bowls," Jones said via ESPN at the end of the season. "That's my goal. To be retired in the NFL as the owner that won the most Super Bowls. We've got three."
He continued, "How many more do I have to go as a single owner? (New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft) has got how many? Six? So, I got work to do. Got work to do. But at least I'm up to the second rung in the ladder."
Jones readily admitted that his team isn't flawless, but no team is. "Every team has holes," the owner/GM said. "You have to. Just the way it works. But I see six teams that weren't in the playoffs last year that are in the playoffs this year. I know it can happen. I know how close it is. And I think we can get in here and get the defense in shape quicker than it might look."
The Carolina Panthers, New England Patriots, Chicago Bears, Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, and Pittsburgh Steelers are those six teams, and Jones is hoping to emulate their turnarounds and get another championship.
There's just one problem. Jones is still in charge.
The Cowboys owner must get out of his own way
As the owner of the Cowboys, Jones has final say in everything. He's also the GM, so unless he fires himself, he will remain in that role. That's the biggest problem with the current Cowboys. Jones is no longer an effective GM, but he is too proud to step away.
Jones has made some good moves recently, to his credit. Trading for George Pickens was brilliant, as was signing Javonte Williams for pennies on the dollar. He's hit on several draft picks recently, including CeeDee Lamb, Tyler Booker, DeMarvion Overshown, Jake Ferguson, DaRon Bland, Micah Parsons, and others.
He's also made some bad picks. Mazi Smith comes to mind, as does Kelvin Joseph. But perhaps the trades are the worst part. He refused to extend Micah Parsons and had to trade him, which is bad enough.
But when that move understandably tanked the Cowboys' defense, Jones refused to admit defeat and help his team out in the future. Instead, he used some of the capital from the Parsons trade to trade for Quinnen Williams, an aging IDL, in what was a lost season.
Those two moves hurt the Cowboys big time, and when the margin for error is so slim for a team that's not exactly elite, that hurts. Jones' bad decision-making has cost the Cowboys over the years, so he can forget about those Super Bowls unless he brings in an actual GM to run the show.
