September 17, 2024 • 69 mins
Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
On the eve of the NFL season, Stephen A. sits down with one of the most influential owners in the history of the NFL, Jerry Jones. In the straight shooter interview, Jones discusses the Cowboys upcoming season, why he passed on running back Derrick Henry, contract negotiations with star players, Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons, Cowboys nation, and his legacy with America's Team.
Support the show: http://www.youtube.com/@stephenasmith
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
You know, there's certain places that I just belong. I
just feel whole. It just feels like it was calling me.
It just feels like.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Where's stephen A? Where's stephen A? So I decided to
show up at the Cowboys and guess who I'm hanging
up with today?
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Did you take a wrong turn?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
You could be nice to me? You could be nice.
Stephen A. Smith's showing What's up? Everybody? Welcome to the
latest edition of The stephen A. Smith Show. I will
(00:49):
call this a special edition. Even though I'm usually coming
at you three times a week over the digital airwaves
of YouTube, and of course iHeartRadio. This is a special
edition because I'm usually want to give you an opening monologue,
I might give you a closing remark, I might talk
about a whole bunch of things, but not today. I'm
not wasting a second of time talking to you all
(01:10):
on my own because I have a very very special guest.
He is the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, himself, the man,
the myth, the legend of one and only Jerry Jones.
What's upbody? How you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Man? Well, it is special to be space.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
How you doing? It's great, It's great to be here
with you. Let's get this out of the way right now.
It's great to see you. It's great. You look good,
you seem like you're feeling good. How are you feeling
about your Cowboys this upcoming season.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Sir, well, I feel a lot better than some of
the critiques that maybe I'm getting more than they are,
but I'm sensitive to. But frankly a little surprised. I'm
surprised that it isn't more apparent to fans that we
(01:59):
put we put an outstanding team together. I think the
team is in better shape to roll than it was
last year, really, and I do. And we got criticized
in the off season about that we weren't out after
the big names in free agency. We were criticized because
(02:23):
we had some special or have had special contracts for
some key players with frankly, in my opinion, most of
the thing to watch for on those key veteran players Lamb,
of course, Dark Prescott and maybe even Parsons. The key
(02:46):
things remember about them is, except for Lamb, that's not
this year, that's not two thousand and four. That's about
the future from two thousand and four. I'm talking about
the discussion the contract of those type of things. And
of course I'm wearing it on my slave a little
bit because I actually save it.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I am a pleaser, Okay. It bothers the hell out
of me to.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Really get critiqued and criticized, especially if they're getting there
the red meat and they're getting in there where I'm
double sensitive about it. But there's not many things about
the Cowboys that I'm not sensitive about it.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Right, Well, it's hard to see because I mean, you look,
every time I turn around. You got to smile on
your face. And you should, by the way, because a
franchise that's worth over ten billion dollars, practically double of
what the average salary of the average franchise in the
NFL is worth. That's a lot to smile about. But
I'll go back to you when you talked about getting
to the red meat and being sensitive, specifically when you
(03:49):
talk about the Dallas Cowboys. Here's way I've been critiquedway
I've been critical. I thought you should have win and
got Derek Henry. I thought that monster of a running
back out of the back field with somebody that could
be a security blanket for somebody like that person. That's
the only thing that I thought about when it came
to you guys and what I thought you were lacking.
(04:10):
Answer me that question, why didn't you go after Derek Huntry.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
First of all, we might have a little difference as
to what we were lacking the most. It is very common,
matter of fact, the rule that when you look at
a coming season, you've got some soft spots in a
football team or in any team, I think, and so
(04:35):
it's a question of where do your resources, where do
they need the areas that need the most attention. And
candidly I thought in Zeke that we really had an opportunity.
I know that how badly he wanted to get back
with the Cowboys. I personally thought that his work there
(04:59):
in New England was better than maybe a lot of
other people evaluated it. I thought he did carry the
mail in some critical times for them. And by the
way I saw those old boys getting up with that
Jimmy Brown look, the way those players used to look
when I was watching them on television, and did look
(05:20):
like they had just hit a brick wall an old
Jimmy's I saw some of that still in the way
that New England with Zeke got the job done in
the running game, I have more belief that Zeke gives
us what we need in our short yardage than maybe
(05:40):
a lot of fans do.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
You clearly didn't have any doubts about Ceedee Lamb. He's
clearly one of the best wide receivers in the world. Nevertheless,
when everybody and their grandmother looked at it and said,
this is his market value four years, about one hundred
and thirty six million, about thirty four million per year,
what have you? We sort of knew that ultimately the
conclusion and that was reached would be reached. Yet it
(06:03):
took you practically all summer and all off season to
make the deal happen. Why was that?
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Now, let me get this tray.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Yes, sir, we're not We're questioning whether or not I
had the same evaluation of C. D. Lamb because I
was a little slow, in people's opinion about get him
in on paper. Okay, when he got on paper, did
(06:31):
you see how much went on paper?
Speaker 1 (06:33):
You do?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Now?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
The same guy that was slow is the one that
wrote that number on that paper and signed it.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
There was never any question.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
About how we felt ce d Lamb was as a
football player or what he could do to basically help
our team.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
But tevery that's what feeds into my question. We know
you didn't doubt it. We can see that. So somebody
is looking at Jeby Jones and it said, this man
knows what he's doing, he knows what a talent he has.
He knows he's going to sign this guy. What takes
them so long? So how do you answer the question
about what took you so long when you knew exactly
what he was worth and what you were going to
(07:15):
do in the end.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
I haven't and I'm not trying to be cute, but
I don't see any rewards or I don't see any
penalties on your timer on does he get on the
field and is he on the field when he ought
to be out there? And so I had no urgency
at all about getting him to the field field. Now,
(07:40):
I'm sensitive about what fans and all of the ones
that are against the Cowboys as well as all the
ones that are for the Cowboys, and I want to
look good as well as anyone else. But it was
important for us on every aspect to really try to
husband as much of the resources that would go in
(08:05):
Lamb's direction. It was critical for us to husband one
thousand dollars of fifty thousand dollars one hundred thousand dollars,
because in our system, that's that much more that we've
got to pay Parsons, or that's that much more for
us to pay that young offensive lineman that we want
(08:26):
to renew his contract three years from now. It's a
zero sum game. And by the way, this is in
the world's smallest fiddle.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Here.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Boy, I'm so lucky to get to do this. But
also know that just because you have one thousand dollars
in your bank account, have you ever thought that you
may owe three thousand dollars back over here in bills?
And so when you see that and you say, well,
I've got the money, I'm going to go do it.
(08:55):
Unless you look around the corner a little bit, you
may not be able to do it. I'm looking at
all times, certainly the short term part of any contract
with any player, but I'm also looking a longer term.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
I have to.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
I have to look three years down the road, if
you will, sometimes maybe five years.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Down the road.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I have a very good feel, as good as anybody
about what the future is going to be for the
teams in the NFL regarding revenue, I understand it very well.
I've spent thirty five forty years doing almost nothing but
thinking about NFL, the revenues.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
This is your thirty six year coming up. This is
your thirty six year, thirty six year.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
And by the way, I coveted being in the NFL.
I was looking at it four or five years before that.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
One of the piece of the charges at the time,
if I remember.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Correct exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
My point, without being long winded, is this is a
long range life that you have to deal with in intermittent,
short term decisions. In many cases, CD's contract had everything
to do with how importantly was to the future of
the Dallas Cowboys. It had everything to do with rewarding
(10:13):
him for how he had evolved as a key player
for the Dallas Cowboys. But it also had everything to
do with how he was gonna fit in our picture
years down the road.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
By the way, this is Stephen A. Smith show. You
ain't being at it. You could be as long with
it as you want to. You're gonna don't worry about anything.
It's gonna be in there. We're not cutting kicking on,
We're not We're not We're not cutting out anything, but
let me transition from Ceedee Lamb to your quarterback. And
I'm going to be very delicate with what I'm asking
because we all know what's going on with Dak Prescott
(10:48):
and there are things I'm smart enough to know that
while a negotiation has taking place, you understand saying only
a fool talks about their own negotiations while their negotiations
are taking place. I would know that from personal experience
right now. But I have to ask you. You talk
about looking ahead and looking to the future, how much
of that thought process is applicable to your quarterback? Considering
(11:10):
what the quarterback market has dictated with everybody from Trevor
Lawrence to Joe Burrow to Jordan Love, the list goes
on and on. How much does that factor into your
thinking knowing what the market says it is about the
most important position in football, which is the quarterback position.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Well, I'll tell you this, You've nailed it with your
question and the ground that you have to cover again,
Dak is a long term decision for the Dallas Cowboys.
I think Dak one of his unique things is that
(11:50):
he's going to be able to his makeup what he is,
his skill levels, what he is as a person, and
a quarterback will age well. As you look at quarterback
age and viability. I think it will age well as
he moves into the next five or ten years of
(12:10):
his life. I think he's the kind of quarterback that
gets better and better. That we certainly know that time,
oh father time, that it makes a big difference as
we get older. But quarterback is a place that that
experience can manifest itself and wins. Also the hard times,
(12:34):
the mistakes that have been made, if you've got the
right kind of makeup, that's a plus. You need rewarded
for having gone through that, because you not Steven A
I'm pointing to. I'm talking about Dak Prescott. You know
how to use a hard time and turn it into
an asset.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
He does that. It's one of his qualities.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Well, so evidence is there of that, though, Jerry, Because
I'm thinking about postseason, I know that he's been absolutely
phenomenal in the regular season. He wins in September, October, November.
In the month of December, I think his record is
like twenty one and eight, but then January comes the
record is four and eight. And last time I checked,
when you started here, thirty six years ago. It didn't
take you long to get a first ring, then a
(13:16):
second ring, and then the third ring inside of four years,
and the Dallas Cowboys were loaded with a level of
success that we still revealed to this very day. At
what point do you look at your quarterback and say,
when you're gonna give it to me in January.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
You're so good, You're so good.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
No, I mean it, and I appreciate it because you
literally have gone through the steps of thinking that I've evolved,
not just over the last weeks, months, but over the years.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
There is a case.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Where you have to think that something's gonna happen that
hasn't happened yet.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Eyes you're sitting.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Right there with everybody else having measured the experience. In
that case, I look at his basic great qualities, and
then I fundamentally see someone that is getting better. I
think he got better with Mike with a coach naim
(14:24):
directly as his offensive coordinator. I think he has improved
since the day that he got here. If you really
want to look at.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
It, so you think he was better last year with
Mike McCarthy as both the head coach and the play
caller than he was when Kellen Moore was his the
offensive coordinator.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
Well, without diminishing our demeanion, Kevin Kellen, he was definitely
better last year, definitely and by the way, room to
get better, room to grow.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
I think that's a fact.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
The other thing is that he's got last year in
a heart and this framework of reference. He's got that
and the disappointments that went with it, some of the
positive that went with it. He's got that to use
this year. Physically, Yes, I think he's getting better. I
(15:15):
do want to recognize though that as you get older
then some of that is diminished. This is a position, though,
that that long term experience can really pay off for you.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Now here's the way that I look.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
At it completely is that when you look at what
he brings to the table as opposed to the alternative,
the alternative is not a one year attornetive alternative.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
It's a several year alternative.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
So when you look at the prospects of the likelihood
of him over the next five years knocking on that door,
I like those odds, and that to me is where
you go you pulled the trigger on it. Now, it's
very important that we have a way to reconcile this
(16:08):
with DAK because we've had the benefit of a lot
of supporting cast with DAK over the last five, six
seven years.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Yes, would you give us that?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yes, I would in a heartbeat.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Okay, So we've had a lot of supporting cast. There's
no question that with DAK having been very well paid
over the last four or five.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Years, one hundred and fifty seven point four million dollars
over the last four years.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Over the last four that's right.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
There's no question that I got some of that off
my credit card.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Now, whereas I spun some money that I didn't have
very common in the NFL, matter of fact.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
In common with you, because that's right, you did when
you first bought the cap.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Well, it is, it very much is. But you certainly
I'd like to say I do then too. But I
had a passion that I wanted to get involved that
I scratched then that I'm not scratching that passion as
much right now. I'm trying to be real practical at
least in this explanation to you. But the facts are
(17:15):
that not only have we had great supporting cast around DAK,
we have also spowned some of the money that we've
got to spend on Dak in the future that went
in on his last contracts. That's the way the cap works,
and that's usually when you have a high priced quarterback
(17:37):
what you do. So we have the challenge of not
only recouping what we have spent on him over the
last four years, we've got to add that to what
we're going to be paying him for the future. Now
that's not Dak's problem only in that it's the Dallas
Cowboys problem because that money is not gonna be there
(18:01):
to spend on supporting cast. And so we've got to
ask herself, can we have the kind of success that
Dok deserves, We deserve, his teammates deserve, our fans deserve.
Can we do that and get in the range to
afford Dak? I think we can.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I want to take just a few seconds to make
sure everyone knows out there, it's the first week of
the NFL season, and I could have been more excited.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
I couldn't be more excited.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
I have been waiting for this for months, obviously, as
all of you have as well. You know why, because
the best part is that prize pects has got you covered.
That's right, You see while all these big time games
are happening. Prospects is gonna make sure you have an
opportunity to cash in.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Prospects is a daily fantasy sports app where you can
select two or more of your favorite.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Players and then pick more or less when it projected
in game stats. Okay, and it's not just football, oh no, no, no,
no no, it's got It has something for every sport
you love to watch, from Major League Baseball to the
WNBA to tennis and everything in between. You can pick
my homes andw Reese and one Soto all in the
(19:13):
same entry, y'all.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I make my picks insumit early.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
All in less than sixty seconds and get this sign
up with code that say yes, and Prospects will give
you fifty dollars instantly when you play your first five
dollars lineup. You don't need to win your lineup to
receive a fifty dollars bonus scaranteen. All you have to
do is play a five dollar lineup on Prospects and
you'll get fifty dollars instantly.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
So go to Prospects dot com right now, pick ball,
pick less. It really is that easy. I'm gonna throw
some numbers by you. I'm gonna tell it that your direction.
From twenty and sixteen to twenty and nineteen, your Dallas
Cowboys rank dead last in cash spending, dead last. From
(19:59):
tw one twenty twenty three, you're ranked thirtieth. People talk
about you today in terms of the trend continuing because
as of mid August last month, you're ranked dead last
and twenty twenty four cash spending. This is what they say.
I wonder when you look at yourself being the brilliant
businessman at drug because nobody can deny it. I'm just
telling you, I'm gonna I'm gonna editorialize it this moment
(20:22):
nobody could deny what a brilliant business Don't go I'm
gonna go over board. But I will ask this question,
how would you describe yourself as a businessman right now
with one of these three words brilliant, frugal, or cheap?
What would you say best describes you as a businessman
(20:43):
at this moment in time, in today's n FL climate.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
Yeah, that's fair. Uh, that's a very fair uh question
to ask. I grew up being taught uh to have
a big front door and a small back door, get
a lot in and let as little out as you can.
(21:09):
That was fundamental.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
What I would.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
Tell you is that if you look at any team
in the NFL over a period of time, we spend
the same amount of cash we do, we just defer
it in different ways or at different times. Now, I
don't want to waste my or your time here, but
I will tell you there are many ways to try
(21:36):
and win a Super Bowl. Many ways. Sometimes your coach,
your coaches that you've gotten, have a preference for this
size player, They have a preference for this emphasis on
the talent, on the team where it is, formations, all
of those kinds of things. So that has to be
reconciled with the coaching philosophy and if you will coaching
(22:00):
techniques that are there at that particular time. The more
continuity you can have in that, then the better you
can manage the salary cap, the better you can do that.
We've had some really good continuity since Dak has been here.
We had Jason Garrett and then we had Mike who
(22:21):
came in with Kellen Moore over and working more closely
with Dak. That is paying all for us, But we
really did in Dak's early years because we didn't pay
under his initial contract at the level that Dak performed
(22:43):
because he was a fourth round draft pick. So by rights,
he wants to play, not catch up. He just wants
to let's get up snuff, Jerry, and let's go. I
get all of that, and I do. We have done
that over these last four or five years. We've got
our work cut out for us over these next several
(23:04):
years to reconcile being able to do what Dak deserves,
what he might be able to get someplace else. Well,
it's the same time put together a supporting cast around him.
That's got to be done with some young players. That
can't be done with just cherry picking out here in
free agency and getting high priced players running back that
(23:27):
you mentioned earlier. I'm a little reluctant to mention names.
I'm seeing that it's called tampering.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
There we go.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
But my point is that you can't have it all.
I was right after I got the Cowboys. I flew
over to where I was living, right after announcing I
was going to buy the Cowboys, and I flew over
on a little LERI jet and the car to picked
me up, and I had a reporter on that plane
(23:55):
with me and the car that picked me up was
a five year old.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Muddy Bronco Ford Bronco. That's the time.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
And the guy said, this is irrational. It doesn't make sense.
You're on a jet, and you fly on a jet,
yet you get off on a muddy fifty five Ford.
What's wrong here? And I said, not one thing. You
can't have it all. The way you get to drive
a jet is to drive a five year old muddy
fifty five forward.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
It's just a question of which way you want to go.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
With you, I said, do you have the faith that
in this day and agent, I'm not talking about dak here,
I'm just speaking in general, this culture of NFL players,
the youth that comes associated with it, the times that
we're living in, do you have faith that play is today?
Would get that breakdown that message that you just articulated.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Oh, I don't know that they would get it when
it comes to the rationale when you're talking to them
about their money. They may get it when they look
at the overall concept of the team, or may get
it when you look at the overall players in the NFL.
(25:11):
But Steven, when it's your money, my money, your money,
we have a little bit less rational or we have
a little bit less tolerance for let me show you
a reasonable reason why this isn't going to work. There's
not enough to go around to get us both where
(25:31):
we want to go. That usually falls on some deaf
ears when you're talking about mine in your negotiation, and
that's not the issue. But that's one of the issues.
There's always time or always a way to make it work.
Let's just don't work it on my time. Let's just
don't work it on my contract. I get that, I
(25:54):
really do get it, and I'm sympathetic about that.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
But that's just part of what you have to work is.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
The flip side looking at them and saying, but you
are playing for the Cowboys. This is the brand, the
number one brand in all of sports. As much as
I hate to admit it, Jerry Fir is the number
one brand of sport. Jerry Dad, I said it for
public up.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Make it the number one brand.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
I know, I know you told me that on several occasions.
The Cowboys, the star on the helmet, the billion dollar
playpen that is at and T Stadium, Jerry's World, as
folks affectionately call it. Do you believe that that allure
is something that should come into consideration when you're talking
to any player about playing for this franchise.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Well, I talk it. I certainly do.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
And I'm one of the best ambassador you've ever seen
for the Dallas Cowboys and the Star. I can be
because I literally sacrificed and gambled what was an idiot
move to be involved with the Cowboys. I actually had
(27:05):
some money and I gave it all and then signed
up to two or three times that to buy the
Dallas Cowboys. So I'm living, breathing person that believes in
the Star. In addition to that, because of the way
things have gone over the last thirty something years, no
(27:27):
one can talk about how good the NFL is for you,
or how good and for that matter, of the Cowboys,
or how good this game is and how it benefits you.
No one has benefited anymore than I have. And so
that I am a good practicer of that. And I
(27:49):
will tell you that if you will look around the
corner a little bit, not all have it right this second,
because it's sure wasn't here immediate when I got involved
with the Cowboys. Matter of fact, most things I've ever
been in my life didn't have immediate killer benefits or
(28:13):
killer returns. If you can, as a player look around
the corner a little bit, look years down the road,
I think you will see some of the benefits of
the Dallas Cowboys. One of the things that I guess
I'm the most rewarded by, not proud of rewarded by,
is that I'm partners with many of our ex players.
(28:36):
I'm partners with players that played here twenty and thirty
years ago, and we do things together financially, we do
things together to get involved in their careers.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
They're my life.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Just like being with anybody twenty years ago, if you
had a intense relationship, if you had a great experience,
those guys become your buddies. And when they come in
and they're a little wounded, buddies help buddies. Or when
they come in and got an opportunity, then let Old
(29:11):
Jerry get involved with you a little way. By the way,
those same guys, I can't tell you the time they've
reached out and helped Old Jerry in these last thirty.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
They swear by you.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
When I have been on a knee, and believe it
or not, I get on knee, I do well do
many times. Many times I've stumbled, and I've had help
from my ex players, if you will. So that's what
happens when you spend your life together. Now, that is
a fact. I'm not personally gonna be around forever, but
(29:42):
that is a fact. So do I try to share that?
Do I not share it? But do I try to
talk that when I'm visiting with the player about it's
better to be here. There's no state income.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Tax in Texas.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
I'm fully aware as you.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Are well aware of it.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Do it out in California or anyplace else and you
won't take home as much. All of that has a place. Now,
you've got to understand something. I'm sitting here. I've given
a lot of my life and I'm going to tell something.
Nobody appreciates what a football player, the things that have
gone through him. I know the times when it didn't
(30:21):
look good. It happens to everybody. I know the times
when you're hurt. I get it all. So I admire
the guys that play this game, but I would like
for them to enjoy life after football, and the Cowboys
enable you to do that. We've got some guys that
are good on television doesn't just take you baseball players
(30:42):
or basketball.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
I mean, I beat them up constantly, but I get
what you're saying. They're good when they're not going they're
going up against somebody other than me because I don't
let cowboys beat me.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
And well, let me say this, and I've got that.
But also the opportunity is there playing for the Cowboys
if you will listen and know how to use it.
You gotta know how to spread the cowboy peanut butter
on the cracker and it'll help you down the road.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Hold that right there, because that's a perfect segue into
getting into you, because I want to talk a little
bit more about Jeffy Jones, not just the Cowboys. You're
watching the Stephen A. Smith Show right here. We'll be
right back in a minute after we take care of
our sponsors. Welcome back to the Steven AX Smith Show
(31:33):
right here with the digital airways of YouTube and of
course iHeartRadio Iron with the one and only Jerry Jones,
owner for the Dallas Cowboys. I mentioned this is entering
your thirty sixth season as owner for the Dallas Cowboys.
How much time do you walk around feeling like you
(31:54):
have left you elluded earlier to Dak Prescott, Ceedee Lamb
and looking ahead and ahead, Michael Pauses and others. But
that's somebody speaking about the luxury of time. I've seen
you in the past quoted, You've quoted yourself, I don't
have much time. What's your mentality like right now?
Speaker 4 (32:14):
Well, I had a great friend in his motto, I'm
on a bar, and that said, I don't have time
to have a bad time. It ain't on my schedule,
righty schedule. And so having said that, I.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Like Michael Irving, but I'm not gonna say that was it.
But it sounds like, let's give it to me. But
still I can count. And I will say this. I
was involved in a medical issue about ten years ago,
and uh, the radiologist came in and I was in
under assumed name in this hospital, not my name, and
(32:55):
he said, mister Chambers. He said, I just wanted to
meet you, and he said you have the brain of
a thirty year old. And I said, my wife was
sitting there. I said, you get that, honey. I said,
I want you to listen.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
That good. You're the doctor.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
And I haven't let them up about it since that
particular time. Now I don't know about that. I'm busier
than busier than I have ever been. I get to
do more exciting things than I ever have. There's no question,
Steven that this team I could have never ever guessed it.
(33:35):
When I bought the Cowboys, I got I live, was
living a dream. I got to do something that I
thought about a better part of my adult life. And
there was nothing that hurt me at the time I
got sued. I had three one billion dollar lawsuits hit
me at the same time I bought the Dollars Cowboys
(33:58):
nineteen eighty nine, ninety one, and it was like it
was like I was Jimmy Brown running and They're bouncing
off of me.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
I was worried, worried about getting the Cowboys solving and
getting them to where they'd work.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
I was easily some of the pitfalls that were out there.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
But it caused me to really try things, and it
caused me to do some things and they worked, and
I said, man, I'll do that again, and I'll do
that again. And the bottom line is, and it's an
inspiration for me on folly passion.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
I could have.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
Never been anything that I've been involved in over the
last thirty years had it not been for the Cowboys.
It made me something that I was not and caused
me to have some confidence, caused me to try things,
caused me to really be around inspirational people. I love
this stuff and it has inspired me in Consequently, here
(35:07):
i am eighty two and the business have ever been
in my.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Life, the busiest You've ever been. Obviously the most noted
owner in the sport, most popular owner in the sport,
if not the world of sports. Nobody debates that, but
they do look at the fact that it's entering twenty
nine years since you guys have played in an NFC
championship game or got into a Super Bowl. Now here's
(35:31):
what I've said. I've looked at numerous rosters you've put
together and I said, damn it, they got the talent.
He did his job. There. The critique, however, I would
throw in seven head coaches since you last won the
Super Bowl and only five playoff wins in that span.
(35:53):
You hear that number, you hear those stats. What comes
through your mind?
Speaker 4 (35:56):
How do you feel The big thing that I'm disappointed
in is that I got a chance to have a
player on the Cowboys at the same time Tony Romo
and we didn't.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Get a super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
Now that's a shortcoming of what did I not do
that contributed to that too?
Speaker 2 (36:18):
And four in the playoffs his record.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
And my point is, yes, disappointing, but you really can't
do for me what I do if you don't go
over and dwell on at the same time you've evaluated
your shortcomings, You've got to reach over and grab you
a little of the good things that have happened to you.
(36:43):
And I truly have had it so good in my lifetime.
I've had great parents, I've been around some of the
greatest friends in the world.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
People have enabled me.
Speaker 4 (36:55):
My best thing is that I've had ten different people
in my lives give me grace, forgive me, give me grace,
help me. When you got all of that fussing about
not winning a Super Bowl last year, I want to
clear you out of the way. Lightning is going to
strike me. I've had it too good. Now that's how
(37:18):
I do it. That doesn't suffice for the responsibility I
feel to our fans and to the people that are
great sports folks and great fans. But I will say this,
it gives me a lot of resolve. No one that
knows me would think that you take any of these
(37:42):
evaluations about sports teams, and I say that almost sounding condescending,
and I'm not take anything tangible valuable. No one would
understand more than the people around me that I'd give
all that for a first down at the right time time,
I'd give it all for a touchdown at the right time,
(38:03):
or certainly a win, much less in a championship game
or a Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
Nothing has changed. I was stupid.
Speaker 4 (38:12):
I gave took a bigger risk than anybody I've ever
heard about to get to be involved in the NFL
and football. So I didn't get here for money. I
didn't come for money. I came here to win.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
But you also, this is what has had people just
a bit you know, perplexed. I don't know what the
right word for a bit befuddled. You come into the
National Football League, you take the chances, you took. What's
one of the first things you did. You got rid
of Tom Landry, You took a big risk, you brought
(38:47):
in Jimmy Johnson. The world was against you, and you won.
But some people thought you held on to Jason Garrett
too long. Other people look at you with Mike McCarthy.
Now they're wondering if you're holding on to him too long.
Bill Belichick was out there to open morek at this
past season, six time super Bowl champion. They look at you,
that Tony Romo, you loved him to death or what
you wanted to hold on into it. I mean, Dak
(39:07):
basically got that by default because if Tony Romo was
healthy enough it could play, Dak Prescott wouldn't have been
starting this work year. You wasn't having that because as
much as you loved as much love as you have
for Tony Romo, there's evidence that the same Jerry Jones,
who was a shrewd businessman and did whatever it took
to win, hasn't necessarily been the same guy in that
regard when it comes to certain members of his personnel
(39:31):
that he has an affection for. What do you say to.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
That, Well, two things.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
I'm glad you didn't mention Lou sail or Juan Ada
because you've done your homework on me.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Okay, I'm in pressed.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
Well, thank you very much. But having.
Speaker 4 (39:47):
Along those points, uh, the same same person, same guy
that was sitting here that bought the Cowboys, same guy
that uh you know Paul tagged. You asked me one
time after we'd won our Super Bowls, He said, would
you head a committee to coach up owners on how
(40:09):
to hire coaches. You've done so well that I'd like
for you to head the committee. And I said, Commissioner,
I need to be out in the audience. I've run
out of teammates. I don't know how to hire a coach.
And so I was cutting and shooting. And you're absolutely right.
(40:31):
Ignorance can be blessed at times. And certainly coach Landry
I made certainly a pr mistake, but probably he had
many years that he could have been a great coach
in the future for the NFL, and far be it
for me to even judge that.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
But here is the point.
Speaker 4 (40:52):
The same thing, the very same thing that made those
decisions there make them now. The only thing is that
I would say that I haven't taken the risks of
the magnitude of the risks that I took early. I've
(41:13):
slowed down on that risk part of it a little
bit because I like what we're doing with our philosophy
of developing young players now that wasn't been here, that
hasn't been here for the last thirty years, but it's
certainly been here for the last five or ten years.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
The salarycap has altered.
Speaker 4 (41:34):
The way that I look and rationale putting a team together.
That salary cap sometimes some of the same thing. You know,
different people have input when you move a general manager
in and out, and frankly we've had owners move in
(41:54):
and out of the NFL as well.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
Different people look at.
Speaker 4 (42:00):
Lay of the land different than I do. And so
the idea that I'm going to be living with whatever
I do twelve years now, ten years from now, that
idea may have impacted the decisions that I make today.
I'm sure they are, and so I can look and say,
the same guy's doing it, the same guy willing to
(42:23):
change that guy in the mirror step. And I have
made so many mistakes a period in my day. I've
made them, and I know that most people do make mistakes,
but I've made some that took me years to recover from,
and so there's no sure thing in those decisions. I
(42:46):
do feel, and this may be where the rub comes.
I don't feel at that level of decision making for
this team, for this situation is there's someone better than me.
Don't to think though that I don't change philosophy regarding
our football team is wrong.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
Well, I agree with that, and I totally believe you
when you say that, But I will say in terms
of I know that you will modify, you will try
to change. But you're the owner, you're the president, you're
the GM, You run the show, you make the decisions.
If somebody was in the position that you're in, but
they answer to you, and they went twenty eight seasons
(43:29):
without making it to a conference championship game, let alone
the Super Bowl, what would you do.
Speaker 4 (43:34):
Well, I would say the one most responsible for it
is the guy they're answering to me. And that's what
I've said from the very beginning. There's no slipping away
from it. The buck stops, it does stop. It stops
right here. And that doesn't mean much if it's just
for show, or that doesn't mean much if there's not
(43:55):
some tears and some sweat and blood that goes with it.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
What about those who argue is not a consequence? Is
at the end of the day, you're not going to
remove yourself, so you don't really have to pay the
price for whatever mistakes you make because you're not getting
rid of you as most of us wouldn't get rid
of ourselves.
Speaker 4 (44:10):
Well, of course, but that is absent a little deal
call paying that price. You think for one minute the
way our season ended last year. Are there is anybody
on this earth that bothered any more than me?
Speaker 3 (44:27):
No one.
Speaker 4 (44:28):
There's been no one that looks back that really can
live with how long it's been since we've been with
the Super Bowl? Do you think that I literally do
go in here and say, well, but how many people
have won three Super Bowls?
Speaker 3 (44:43):
Okay? Do you think I say? Of course, I do not.
I do not say.
Speaker 4 (44:46):
That I look at it as that was then, this
is now. But I do look at it that way
in that sense that ten years ago we obviously didn't
win a Super Bowl. We had a different code that
was then, this is now, Let's go do it now. Now.
I've done this and things away from football all my life,
(45:08):
and I have discarded. I have gone in different directions,
and I've gone in different businesses. The guy in the
mirror is the man that I change out.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
It's interesting because even though I bring up the lack
of success in terms of a championship, when you bring
up the name Jerry Jones to anybody in the NFL.
Do you know, I haven't had I haven't found one
single person associated with the NFL that has denied that
you're worthy of the Hall of Fame. Everybody acknowledges that
(45:39):
you're worthy of the Hall of Fame. Everybody acknowledges what
you've done for the NFL, broadcast, right TV, right deals.
You know, the marketing, the merchandising, all the things that
you've done to elevate the profile of the National Football League,
the committees that you've been on that you've spearheaded. And
(46:01):
I know several officials within the NFL, for teams, league office, players, associating, etc.
All say we are Jerry Jones an incredible debt of
gratitude for what he has done for the National Football League.
In your eyes, what have you done for the National
Football League?
Speaker 3 (46:21):
Well, I know this.
Speaker 4 (46:26):
I've got to say, it's what the National Football League
and frankly football has done for me. And I go
to those meetings with as much ziping my step and
as much excitement as I was going to them thirty
(46:46):
years ago.
Speaker 3 (46:47):
When we have a meeting right now, this thing inspires me. Early.
That inspiration caused me to if you will be.
Speaker 4 (47:02):
Very aggressive, be very aggressive. Well, I was motivated to
be aggressive. It was called the hounds were after me.
The dead hounds were after you. On the other hand,
I had, by getting to participate in sport in formative years,
I learned that this day, too, shall pass. I had
(47:27):
to really call on myself to be a football player.
Speaker 3 (47:32):
It hurt me.
Speaker 4 (47:33):
My trainer one time, is from Virginia, said Jones, You've
got to have the lowest tolerance for pain of any
kid we've ever had to school. I said, well, grinding,
it hurts me morning. It does the rest of them.
Speaker 3 (47:45):
Damn it.
Speaker 4 (47:45):
I deserve a medal to be out here. It shakes
me up when I get hit. Well, my point is
it called on me. I lived in daydreams. I would
walk around before the practices and I would dream about
being something else, And for that matter, I would dream
about owning a football team. I saw Art Modell on
(48:08):
the cover I think it was Looker Life magazine, and
there he had moved from the advertising over to be
the owner of the Cleveland Browns. And they said, here
comes an advertising TV man into the league.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
What is he going to do?
Speaker 4 (48:23):
And he was sitting there with two beautiful children and
a Hollywood wife who was a movie star. And I
told my buddy I was riding with on the team, Butts,
that's me, that's me, That's who I want to be,
right there?
Speaker 2 (48:36):
Modell Art Modell, the same person, the same Art Modell. Okay,
if I remember correctly, that was pushing for the league
to once take a pay cut with the broadcast rights deal,
and you afford him and ultimately one that same Art Modeal,
that same.
Speaker 4 (48:49):
Art Modell, who I of course admired and.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
Still admire. And it was rough. He was very critical.
Speaker 4 (48:59):
And he told me when I was trying to get
the votes to vote against accepting a pay cut from
the rights phase, the networks had come to us wanted
a pay cut, And he shook his finger in my
face and he said, do you realize we've got to
make payroll and plan two and three years out? And
(49:20):
you're saying, maybe don't have a contract.
Speaker 3 (49:22):
Do you know what?
Speaker 4 (49:23):
You don't know what it's like to have to do that, Jerry.
All I did know was that if I was going
to get my nose blooded, that I might as well
put it off because I might get hit by a
car and not have gotten that nose blooded while I
was on earth, so to speak. So I was putting
(49:44):
it off. I didn't have an answer, is my point,
and so I would tell you that was an impressive thing,
made you want to get in and do the very
best that you could. But my point is that I
love the National Football League. No church, no family of uh,
(50:09):
no school, no business. No person can be what God be.
The athlete be the talent they are if their ass
is hanging out and they don't have no money. And
so that's the way that the NFL was and it needed.
The model was not working, and the model does work.
(50:35):
And consequently, one of the things that makes it work
is it's financial foundation. And that's why we're always looking
at that. And if you so, I'm not ashamed of that.
I'm not ashamed of that at all. What's missing here
is the fact that maybe someone thinks that because I
don't want to win a ball game, I don't want
(50:58):
to win a Super Bowl as much as I want
to make a buck, that's bull stuff. That really is,
That's not the way it works. Anybody really knows me
is that I'd trade two thirds a third of whatever
percent you want to call what the Cowboys are supposed
to be worth to get us to get one of
(51:19):
those Super Bowls.
Speaker 2 (51:20):
Because I'm not going to lie to you. I wanted
to ask you that question. I know the answer because
you and I have gotten to know each other over
the years, and I'm honored to say that, but I
have to ask. I had to ask. I'm glad you
just answered that for me, because I'm thinking ten billion
dollar valuation. Average salary in the NFL is worth about
five point seven billion. A couple of franchises that have
been so for over six billion, but you're worth over
ten billion dollars. But I was asking myself, he's making
(51:42):
so much money, he's enjoying so much success. Is this
the definition of winning? To Jeviy Jones? And you just
answered that question.
Speaker 3 (51:49):
I'll say one other time.
Speaker 2 (51:50):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (51:50):
I told my team, but we just opened we just
finished training camp, but we opened training camp, and I
told my team coaches.
Speaker 3 (52:01):
Yeah, I could be anywhere in the world I want
to be. I could be. I don't want to be
anywhere else. I want to be right here with y'all.
Speaker 4 (52:10):
I want to be out here and I want to
be agonizing with us vicariously, not in your shoes. Guys,
I don't want any of that, but I want to
agonize with you in your pursuit to become an NFL
player and be a part of the Cowboys, because I
want to be a part of that feeling when we
(52:31):
walk out there together and win it. Now, money, money
is not that. That's different, Stephen, much different than that.
And so but I'll tell you this, if money helps
ease the pain, it do?
Speaker 3 (52:50):
It really does.
Speaker 4 (52:51):
I This guy called me and he said we're supposed
to cut the questions off on a radio show. It's
been a few years back. He said, you know, he said,
how does it feel a guy, if you're a statue
your pocketbook? How does it feel to have gotten it
stuck up your you know what?
Speaker 3 (53:07):
Like that?
Speaker 4 (53:08):
And I said, well, I've had it stuck up there
when I didn't have money, and I've had it stuck
up there when I have some. Feels better when you
got a little money. It's lubricated.
Speaker 2 (53:18):
Oh my lord, you just used the word lubrication. Oh
my lord. Before I listen, I got a few more
questions before I let you get on out of here.
Michael Parsons, we brought up Seede Land. We brought up
Dak Prescott. We know this doesn't have to be the
year that Michael Parsons has taken care of. I'm one
of those dudes that have been on the record saying
I believe he's the face of the franchise. I think
(53:40):
he's a monster. I say that in the most complimentary
way imaginable. I think the brother is special, and I
think he personifies what you should want the Cowboys to be.
That's how I feel. But that's just little old me. Well,
how does Jerry Jones feel about Michael Paarson's.
Speaker 4 (53:56):
Well, saving as usual, You've got a hint of your
own clue. But seriously, I saw where Mike Zimmer, our
new defensive coach, former coach at Minnesota, said he's brilliant,
called him brilliant. Uh, Mike, Michael Parsons. Michael Parsons is
(54:20):
probably the best athlete that I've ever been around. That's
as a player as well as being involved with Dallas Cowboys. Uh,
he's so unique. He's multifaceted. And what does that mean. Uh,
he's got a lot of angles that he looks at things,
just like he's got a lot of angles that he
(54:41):
used to put pressure on that quarterback. So he is
very special and he is uh, he's one of my
picks now, Steven and the rest of them will clay.
They picked some guys, but Mike is the guy that
I pick. I'm joking when I say that, because that's
how proud I am of it. I believe that he's
(55:05):
just started. And yes, I don't want to save face
of a franchise, because it takes a lot of faces
to make it roll.
Speaker 3 (55:15):
He's special.
Speaker 2 (55:16):
You're going from a three four to four to three
on defense with Zimmer as the coach. Now, obviously you
think he's going to flourish even more on the Zimmer
than he did under Quinn.
Speaker 4 (55:25):
I think he can because this probably will give him
unfair a little bit and critiquing those defenses, but it
probably gives them a better chance to put somebody else
in play to put some pressure thereby making it a
problem to just double team Michael all the time or
(55:45):
triple team or just scheme against him.
Speaker 2 (55:48):
How did you feel when DeMarcus Lawrence, who I like,
I'm very fond of, but he showed up on national
television on first Take super Bowl week and he said,
we were a bit tired. You know it's a heavy load,
essentially alluding to playing for the Cowboys. There's a lot
that comes with it. It ain't the typical franchise. Michael
Parsons I spoke to him that night on the air.
(56:10):
He didn't take kindly to that at all. He said, well,
he didn't want to hear that at all. He didn't
want to hit that at all. How shocked were you
when you heard that DeMarcus Lawrence has said that? And
how'd you feel about it?
Speaker 4 (56:19):
Well, frankly, I didn't pay give it the kind of
serious uh consideration. Maybe it deserved. This thing is different.
The Cowboys are different. U. There is a lot of visibility,
uh the uh.
Speaker 3 (56:39):
But taking a.
Speaker 4 (56:40):
Toll on your competitive juices is not characteristic of DeMarcus Lawrence.
He will go after him until they've gotten in the
dressing room, got the street clothes on now. So you
got to pay attention when he basically makes a comment.
But in general, I have always thought that attention is inspirational.
(57:05):
I played for a team in college that when we
would practice, there would be days when two thousand people
would sit on a grass knoll fifteen feet from our drill,
And for me, I was a little down the line early,
but it would make me play like I was in
a Bowl game out there on a Tuesday afternoon or
(57:26):
a Wednesday afternoon. So that that kind of interest, that
kind of cheering you on was inspirational, and I always
thought that did that when we had our big crowds
at training camp. A lot of people early didn't want
to have crowds at training camp. I thought it was
great and inspirational. You just want to in that drill,
(57:49):
you want to try to excel in that drill in
front of all those people.
Speaker 3 (57:53):
I think that it's inspirational.
Speaker 2 (57:55):
Some of the players that you've outwardly just shown such
an incredible lifevel of love and affection for mirrored that
kind of thinking. When we mentioned a playmaker who would
doubt that he thought attention was an inspirational we know
he think the playmaker, Michae Levin thought attention was inspirational.
Emmitt Smith, attention was inspirational. Troy Aikman, a quiet storm
(58:17):
still a three time Super Bowl champion, Attention was inspirational.
To Charles Airleys of the world. The list goes on
and on. No one says that about Dak Prescott, your
quarterback that's in line to get fifty five or sixty
million dollars a year. Jerry Jones, how do you feel
about that?
Speaker 4 (58:37):
I came along at the right time. I got a
chance to be a part of this thing called le NFL.
I didn't waste any time. I mean I didn't let
it in gras go under my faith. I grabbed it
and I had a lot of running with.
Speaker 3 (58:55):
The ball to do after I grabbed hold of it.
Speaker 4 (58:59):
I think that we all are at a special place
in time. Let's run it up the flagpool. Let's run
it up the flagpool. The game itself is hard work.
It takes little boys, big boys, fat boys, slim boys.
(59:21):
It takes all kinds now when they get in that huddle,
everybody gets together and they kind of bleed alike, and
they're on a team, they're a part of it.
Speaker 3 (59:31):
But all of that goes on.
Speaker 4 (59:32):
We're sitting here in Texas, and I'm telling you right now,
football is a part of the earth and the trees
around here.
Speaker 3 (59:40):
It's here, that's all.
Speaker 2 (59:41):
It is different.
Speaker 4 (59:42):
And girls have gone to heard about two days all
their lives. In many cases, football is a life around here,
and most of it is hard work. Most of it
is mundane. Dare I say that, But it's hard work
in mundane. But guess what we do. We take a block,
(01:00:05):
and we take two big boys bumping into each other,
and we make it into the Coliseum of Rome, and
we make it like the Roman Gladiators, and we put
my town against your town. Here here in Texas they
do that, put my school against your school. In our case,
it's the Browns against the cowboys out there. With that
right there, we embellish it and make it bigger than life.
(01:00:30):
Everybody benefits from that, and I'm you helping, and that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
Well, I don't apologize for it because you all deserve it,
even though these fan base get on my nerves. But
that's a different story for another day. I will say this,
I think Dak Prescott is a star. I think he's
a big time player in the regular season. I think
in the postseason he's got some proven to do. And
I think he has to have the kind of attitude
you just articulated in order for him to get over
(01:00:53):
the hump. One of my last couple of questions is this.
We saw Jordan Love come out of nowhere and play
lights out in the last half of the season last
year and in the playoffs against you guys, we sort
of Eagles acquired sa Kwon Barkley in the offseason to
add to a formidable offensive team. We sort of Detroit
Lions elevate themselves to relevancy basically winning their first playoff
(01:01:17):
games is nineteen fifty seven for crying out loud, We
see the San Francisco forty nine as making a statement
keeping ayuk, keeping their team intact. They don't intend on
going anywhere. What's the path to success for the Dallas
Cowboys in twenty twenty four considering what I just outlined, So.
Speaker 4 (01:01:37):
We have drafted some very very outstanding football players that
should have gotten on the field more last year than
they did. We bring in some free agents and they
still may be struggling to get on the field. They
need to get on the field. We also drafted some
pretty good ones this year. When you are fighting the
(01:02:01):
salary cap bulch and you want to have the supporting
cast around Dick and have it around CD and possibly
even Micah, those young players are the ticket. They've got
to come in and take up some of that slack
for lack of sury cap.
Speaker 3 (01:02:22):
That's where we are.
Speaker 4 (01:02:24):
Last year we had some that should have been on
the field. They'll be out there. Plus some of our
young ones get on the field. Oh I know that says, boy,
there they are counting on some rookies, counting on some
young players. Okay, some's got to give, some's got to give.
We do want to keep these guys, and at the
same token, we've spunked the money.
Speaker 3 (01:02:46):
How do we do all of that?
Speaker 4 (01:02:48):
You do it by keeping it in your pocket during
the high price free agency. You do it by hopefully
developing young players, and you don't by keeping the premium
guys that you can possibly keep.
Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
I pointed out, I think the mistake that you've made
the biggest mistake is holding off for coaches too long.
Bill Belichick was out there last year, you elected not
to go that routing. You kept Mike McCarthy in place.
Is he on the line let me say twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (01:03:17):
Four, Yeah, let me say this. Nobody's out there, you say,
and I agree with you and Bill my gunness, what
an outstanding coach at all. But nobody's necessarily out there
that I could have made this decision or not that decision.
Mike McCarthy is an outstanding coach. We've had twelve win
(01:03:40):
seasons for the last three years now.
Speaker 3 (01:03:42):
I agree with you. I agree with you.
Speaker 4 (01:03:46):
That we have not had the playoff success that you
would have wanted to have with a Super Bowl winning
coach and Mike McCarthy. But I'll tell you firsthand, he's
got outstanding ways with players. He's an outstanding coach. As
hard a working coach as I've ever been around. He's
an outstanding coach. What you're seeing though from me is
(01:04:10):
just the way that I'm doing it right now. Certainly
I did not renew a lot of contracts. There's nothing
to keep me from renewing a contract out here this afternoon. Uh.
This is just the way that I wanted to do it,
so that we could basically speak to fans, team, everybody involved.
(01:04:32):
We're putting We're putting things on the line, and by
the way I do feel it, Steven, I'm not in
any way trying to be smug here. I should really
be in your swit shoes with me. Get over and
be the general match.
Speaker 2 (01:04:48):
You know. I listen, I try to pull it off,
but I probably feel I probably feel like I didn't.
Speaker 3 (01:04:52):
You would, you would, but I'm gonna tell you could
win some time.
Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
Let me throw this out at you, Joey. This this
is crazy crazy, I know this is I can't even
imagine it happening. What if I said to you, Jerry,
cowboys gonna lose again and as a result, you're gonna
find yourself feeling the need to make a change. And
Jerry Jones decides, one day down the road in the
(01:05:20):
near future, assuming that he doesn't achieve the success that
he covets, that he's gonna hire a primetime Dion Sanders
as a head coach. That would be crazy. Is Jerry
Jones crazy enough to do something like that someday?
Speaker 4 (01:05:40):
No, but he does know how to spell well enough
and not answer a hypothetic.
Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
Last question.
Speaker 3 (01:05:48):
First of all, you sord to say you are familiar
with our.
Speaker 4 (01:05:56):
I'm gonna use it the love affair that we have,
and I have always admired him both on and off
the field. Some of the best stories that I have
to tell about my time in sports have been of
Dion type stories with Dion and Michael and those guys.
Speaker 3 (01:06:18):
But Dion, I remember.
Speaker 4 (01:06:20):
The one that I love the most is he came
in to sign his big contract twelve million dollar bonus.
At the time, I had put a total cash out
of my cash twelve million down to buy the Cowboys,
twelve million to buy the Cowboys. Now I didn't have
to come up with four hundred and fifty, but I
(01:06:41):
used all of my cash before I gave that to
Dion Sanders. I went back to my hometown, Little rock
Row City, nor La, Ron, and I walked down my
old street and I walked down it when that quarter
and that dollar used to be everything. Walked down there
saw some old chips on tree and on a telephone
(01:07:01):
pole that I knocked out. I turned around and walked
back because I wondered had something gotten over me? Had
I completely lost it to be thinking about paying a
man twelve million dollar bonus to do it.
Speaker 3 (01:07:15):
I walked by my old house.
Speaker 4 (01:07:17):
Went back over, got on that plane that was then
this is now I'm going for it, went over and
met Dion at the stadium.
Speaker 3 (01:07:27):
Never forget came in great.
Speaker 4 (01:07:30):
To see the whole time we were waiting to go
on stage and announce that he was going to be
a cowboy. He spent playing with that boy and all
he could pay attention to, had all these people around.
It was that boy, and I said, that's hard. I
want to be around right there.
Speaker 2 (01:07:49):
Very last question, the legacy of Jerry Jones. We throw
stuff like that out, people come up with their own definition,
their own phrases, their own thoughts. From your lips to
everybody's ears. When all is said and done and we're
(01:08:11):
talking about the legacy of Jervy Jones, what do you
want it to be in the eyes of the many?
Speaker 4 (01:08:21):
Well, first of all, I I don't want it to
be that much in terms of that, but in the
sense of.
Speaker 3 (01:08:33):
This word.
Speaker 4 (01:08:36):
He was a player. He played all the games. He
was he was into it. And it might be over
soah Cap, it might be over TV, it might be
against the giants.
Speaker 3 (01:08:52):
He played the game player.
Speaker 2 (01:08:56):
What an honor. Hey, thank you so much, so thank
you so much. The one and only Jeffy Jones right
here with Stephen A. Smith and Stephen A. Smith show
over there that digital whereas of YouTube, and of course iHeartRadio.
I loved it. I know y'all will as well. I
know y'all did as well, So thank y'all for joining
u us. I'm signing off. I'm out here at the Star,
I'm getting ready to go and get another tour. Go
(01:09:17):
to the cafeteria. They got a fabulous cafeteria. They got
a fabulous studio. They got a practice facility there. They
got shots around the spot, restaurants around the spot.
Speaker 3 (01:09:26):
I got a.
Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
Busy evening ahead of me, y'all. It starts now. I
hope y'all enjoyed the interview. Until next time, stephen A
signing off peace of love.
Speaker 3 (01:09:34):
Everybody be safe.
You know, there's certain places that I just belong. I
just feel whole. It just feels like it was calling me.
It just feels like.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Where's stephen A? Where's stephen A? So I decided to
show up at the Cowboys and guess who I'm hanging
up with today?
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Did you take a wrong turn?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
You could be nice to me? You could be nice.
Stephen A. Smith's showing What's up? Everybody? Welcome to the
latest edition of The stephen A. Smith Show. I will
(00:49):
call this a special edition. Even though I'm usually coming
at you three times a week over the digital airwaves
of YouTube, and of course iHeartRadio. This is a special
edition because I'm usually want to give you an opening monologue,
I might give you a closing remark, I might talk
about a whole bunch of things, but not today. I'm
not wasting a second of time talking to you all
(01:10):
on my own because I have a very very special guest.
He is the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, himself, the man,
the myth, the legend of one and only Jerry Jones.
What's upbody? How you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Man? Well, it is special to be space.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
How you doing? It's great, It's great to be here
with you. Let's get this out of the way right now.
It's great to see you. It's great. You look good,
you seem like you're feeling good. How are you feeling
about your Cowboys this upcoming season.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Sir, well, I feel a lot better than some of
the critiques that maybe I'm getting more than they are,
but I'm sensitive to. But frankly a little surprised. I'm
surprised that it isn't more apparent to fans that we
(01:59):
put we put an outstanding team together. I think the
team is in better shape to roll than it was
last year, really, and I do. And we got criticized
in the off season about that we weren't out after
the big names in free agency. We were criticized because
(02:23):
we had some special or have had special contracts for
some key players with frankly, in my opinion, most of
the thing to watch for on those key veteran players Lamb,
of course, Dark Prescott and maybe even Parsons. The key
(02:46):
things remember about them is, except for Lamb, that's not
this year, that's not two thousand and four. That's about
the future from two thousand and four. I'm talking about
the discussion the contract of those type of things. And
of course I'm wearing it on my slave a little
bit because I actually save it.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I am a pleaser, Okay. It bothers the hell out
of me to.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Really get critiqued and criticized, especially if they're getting there
the red meat and they're getting in there where I'm
double sensitive about it. But there's not many things about
the Cowboys that I'm not sensitive about it.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Right, Well, it's hard to see because I mean, you look,
every time I turn around. You got to smile on
your face. And you should, by the way, because a
franchise that's worth over ten billion dollars, practically double of
what the average salary of the average franchise in the
NFL is worth. That's a lot to smile about. But
I'll go back to you when you talked about getting
to the red meat and being sensitive, specifically when you
(03:49):
talk about the Dallas Cowboys. Here's way I've been critiquedway
I've been critical. I thought you should have win and
got Derek Henry. I thought that monster of a running
back out of the back field with somebody that could
be a security blanket for somebody like that person. That's
the only thing that I thought about when it came
to you guys and what I thought you were lacking.
(04:10):
Answer me that question, why didn't you go after Derek Huntry.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
First of all, we might have a little difference as
to what we were lacking the most. It is very common,
matter of fact, the rule that when you look at
a coming season, you've got some soft spots in a
football team or in any team, I think, and so
(04:35):
it's a question of where do your resources, where do
they need the areas that need the most attention. And
candidly I thought in Zeke that we really had an opportunity.
I know that how badly he wanted to get back
with the Cowboys. I personally thought that his work there
(04:59):
in New England was better than maybe a lot of
other people evaluated it. I thought he did carry the
mail in some critical times for them. And by the
way I saw those old boys getting up with that
Jimmy Brown look, the way those players used to look
when I was watching them on television, and did look
(05:20):
like they had just hit a brick wall an old
Jimmy's I saw some of that still in the way
that New England with Zeke got the job done in
the running game, I have more belief that Zeke gives
us what we need in our short yardage than maybe
(05:40):
a lot of fans do.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
You clearly didn't have any doubts about Ceedee Lamb. He's
clearly one of the best wide receivers in the world. Nevertheless,
when everybody and their grandmother looked at it and said,
this is his market value four years, about one hundred
and thirty six million, about thirty four million per year,
what have you? We sort of knew that ultimately the
conclusion and that was reached would be reached. Yet it
(06:03):
took you practically all summer and all off season to
make the deal happen. Why was that?
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Now, let me get this tray.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Yes, sir, we're not We're questioning whether or not I
had the same evaluation of C. D. Lamb because I
was a little slow, in people's opinion about get him
in on paper. Okay, when he got on paper, did
(06:31):
you see how much went on paper?
Speaker 1 (06:33):
You do?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Now?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
The same guy that was slow is the one that
wrote that number on that paper and signed it.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
There was never any question.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
About how we felt ce d Lamb was as a
football player or what he could do to basically help
our team.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
But tevery that's what feeds into my question. We know
you didn't doubt it. We can see that. So somebody
is looking at Jeby Jones and it said, this man
knows what he's doing, he knows what a talent he has.
He knows he's going to sign this guy. What takes
them so long? So how do you answer the question
about what took you so long when you knew exactly
what he was worth and what you were going to
(07:15):
do in the end.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
I haven't and I'm not trying to be cute, but
I don't see any rewards or I don't see any
penalties on your timer on does he get on the
field and is he on the field when he ought
to be out there? And so I had no urgency
at all about getting him to the field field. Now,
(07:40):
I'm sensitive about what fans and all of the ones
that are against the Cowboys as well as all the
ones that are for the Cowboys, and I want to
look good as well as anyone else. But it was
important for us on every aspect to really try to
husband as much of the resources that would go in
(08:05):
Lamb's direction. It was critical for us to husband one
thousand dollars of fifty thousand dollars one hundred thousand dollars,
because in our system, that's that much more that we've
got to pay Parsons, or that's that much more for
us to pay that young offensive lineman that we want
(08:26):
to renew his contract three years from now. It's a
zero sum game. And by the way, this is in
the world's smallest fiddle.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Here.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Boy, I'm so lucky to get to do this. But
also know that just because you have one thousand dollars
in your bank account, have you ever thought that you
may owe three thousand dollars back over here in bills?
And so when you see that and you say, well,
I've got the money, I'm going to go do it.
(08:55):
Unless you look around the corner a little bit, you
may not be able to do it. I'm looking at
all times, certainly the short term part of any contract
with any player, but I'm also looking a longer term.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
I have to.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
I have to look three years down the road, if
you will, sometimes maybe five years.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Down the road.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I have a very good feel, as good as anybody
about what the future is going to be for the
teams in the NFL regarding revenue, I understand it very well.
I've spent thirty five forty years doing almost nothing but
thinking about NFL, the revenues.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
This is your thirty six year coming up. This is
your thirty six year, thirty six year.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
And by the way, I coveted being in the NFL.
I was looking at it four or five years before that.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
One of the piece of the charges at the time,
if I remember.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Correct exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
My point, without being long winded, is this is a
long range life that you have to deal with in intermittent,
short term decisions. In many cases, CD's contract had everything
to do with how importantly was to the future of
the Dallas Cowboys. It had everything to do with rewarding
(10:13):
him for how he had evolved as a key player
for the Dallas Cowboys. But it also had everything to
do with how he was gonna fit in our picture
years down the road.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
By the way, this is Stephen A. Smith show. You
ain't being at it. You could be as long with
it as you want to. You're gonna don't worry about anything.
It's gonna be in there. We're not cutting kicking on,
We're not We're not We're not cutting out anything, but
let me transition from Ceedee Lamb to your quarterback. And
I'm going to be very delicate with what I'm asking
because we all know what's going on with Dak Prescott
(10:48):
and there are things I'm smart enough to know that
while a negotiation has taking place, you understand saying only
a fool talks about their own negotiations while their negotiations
are taking place. I would know that from personal experience
right now. But I have to ask you. You talk
about looking ahead and looking to the future, how much
of that thought process is applicable to your quarterback? Considering
(11:10):
what the quarterback market has dictated with everybody from Trevor
Lawrence to Joe Burrow to Jordan Love, the list goes
on and on. How much does that factor into your
thinking knowing what the market says it is about the
most important position in football, which is the quarterback position.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Well, I'll tell you this, You've nailed it with your
question and the ground that you have to cover again,
Dak is a long term decision for the Dallas Cowboys.
I think Dak one of his unique things is that
(11:50):
he's going to be able to his makeup what he is,
his skill levels, what he is as a person, and
a quarterback will age well. As you look at quarterback
age and viability. I think it will age well as
he moves into the next five or ten years of
(12:10):
his life. I think he's the kind of quarterback that
gets better and better. That we certainly know that time,
oh father time, that it makes a big difference as
we get older. But quarterback is a place that that
experience can manifest itself and wins. Also the hard times,
(12:34):
the mistakes that have been made, if you've got the
right kind of makeup, that's a plus. You need rewarded
for having gone through that, because you not Steven A
I'm pointing to. I'm talking about Dak Prescott. You know
how to use a hard time and turn it into
an asset.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
He does that. It's one of his qualities.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Well, so evidence is there of that, though, Jerry, Because
I'm thinking about postseason, I know that he's been absolutely
phenomenal in the regular season. He wins in September, October, November.
In the month of December, I think his record is
like twenty one and eight, but then January comes the
record is four and eight. And last time I checked,
when you started here, thirty six years ago. It didn't
take you long to get a first ring, then a
(13:16):
second ring, and then the third ring inside of four years,
and the Dallas Cowboys were loaded with a level of
success that we still revealed to this very day. At
what point do you look at your quarterback and say,
when you're gonna give it to me in January.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
You're so good, You're so good.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
No, I mean it, and I appreciate it because you
literally have gone through the steps of thinking that I've evolved,
not just over the last weeks, months, but over the years.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
There is a case.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Where you have to think that something's gonna happen that
hasn't happened yet.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Eyes you're sitting.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Right there with everybody else having measured the experience. In
that case, I look at his basic great qualities, and
then I fundamentally see someone that is getting better. I
think he got better with Mike with a coach naim
(14:24):
directly as his offensive coordinator. I think he has improved
since the day that he got here. If you really
want to look at.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
It, so you think he was better last year with
Mike McCarthy as both the head coach and the play
caller than he was when Kellen Moore was his the
offensive coordinator.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
Well, without diminishing our demeanion, Kevin Kellen, he was definitely
better last year, definitely and by the way, room to
get better, room to grow.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
I think that's a fact.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
The other thing is that he's got last year in
a heart and this framework of reference. He's got that
and the disappointments that went with it, some of the
positive that went with it. He's got that to use
this year. Physically, Yes, I think he's getting better. I
(15:15):
do want to recognize though that as you get older
then some of that is diminished. This is a position, though,
that that long term experience can really pay off for you.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Now here's the way that I look.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
At it completely is that when you look at what
he brings to the table as opposed to the alternative,
the alternative is not a one year attornetive alternative.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
It's a several year alternative.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
So when you look at the prospects of the likelihood
of him over the next five years knocking on that door,
I like those odds, and that to me is where
you go you pulled the trigger on it. Now, it's
very important that we have a way to reconcile this
(16:08):
with DAK because we've had the benefit of a lot
of supporting cast with DAK over the last five, six
seven years.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Yes, would you give us that?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yes, I would in a heartbeat.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Okay, So we've had a lot of supporting cast. There's
no question that with DAK having been very well paid
over the last four or five.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Years, one hundred and fifty seven point four million dollars
over the last four years.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Over the last four that's right.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
There's no question that I got some of that off
my credit card.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Now, whereas I spun some money that I didn't have
very common in the NFL, matter of fact.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
In common with you, because that's right, you did when
you first bought the cap.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Well, it is, it very much is. But you certainly
I'd like to say I do then too. But I
had a passion that I wanted to get involved that
I scratched then that I'm not scratching that passion as
much right now. I'm trying to be real practical at
least in this explanation to you. But the facts are
(17:15):
that not only have we had great supporting cast around DAK,
we have also spowned some of the money that we've
got to spend on Dak in the future that went
in on his last contracts. That's the way the cap works,
and that's usually when you have a high priced quarterback
(17:37):
what you do. So we have the challenge of not
only recouping what we have spent on him over the
last four years, we've got to add that to what
we're going to be paying him for the future. Now
that's not Dak's problem only in that it's the Dallas
Cowboys problem because that money is not gonna be there
(18:01):
to spend on supporting cast. And so we've got to
ask herself, can we have the kind of success that
Dok deserves, We deserve, his teammates deserve, our fans deserve.
Can we do that and get in the range to
afford Dak? I think we can.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I want to take just a few seconds to make
sure everyone knows out there, it's the first week of
the NFL season, and I could have been more excited.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
I couldn't be more excited.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
I have been waiting for this for months, obviously, as
all of you have as well. You know why, because
the best part is that prize pects has got you covered.
That's right, You see while all these big time games
are happening. Prospects is gonna make sure you have an
opportunity to cash in.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Prospects is a daily fantasy sports app where you can
select two or more of your favorite.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Players and then pick more or less when it projected
in game stats. Okay, and it's not just football, oh no, no, no,
no no, it's got It has something for every sport
you love to watch, from Major League Baseball to the
WNBA to tennis and everything in between. You can pick
my homes andw Reese and one Soto all in the
(19:13):
same entry, y'all.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I make my picks insumit early.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
All in less than sixty seconds and get this sign
up with code that say yes, and Prospects will give
you fifty dollars instantly when you play your first five
dollars lineup. You don't need to win your lineup to
receive a fifty dollars bonus scaranteen. All you have to
do is play a five dollar lineup on Prospects and
you'll get fifty dollars instantly.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
So go to Prospects dot com right now, pick ball,
pick less. It really is that easy. I'm gonna throw
some numbers by you. I'm gonna tell it that your direction.
From twenty and sixteen to twenty and nineteen, your Dallas
Cowboys rank dead last in cash spending, dead last. From
(19:59):
tw one twenty twenty three, you're ranked thirtieth. People talk
about you today in terms of the trend continuing because
as of mid August last month, you're ranked dead last
and twenty twenty four cash spending. This is what they say.
I wonder when you look at yourself being the brilliant
businessman at drug because nobody can deny it. I'm just
telling you, I'm gonna I'm gonna editorialize it this moment
(20:22):
nobody could deny what a brilliant business Don't go I'm
gonna go over board. But I will ask this question,
how would you describe yourself as a businessman right now
with one of these three words brilliant, frugal, or cheap?
What would you say best describes you as a businessman
(20:43):
at this moment in time, in today's n FL climate.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
Yeah, that's fair. Uh, that's a very fair uh question
to ask. I grew up being taught uh to have
a big front door and a small back door, get
a lot in and let as little out as you can.
(21:09):
That was fundamental.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
What I would.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
Tell you is that if you look at any team
in the NFL over a period of time, we spend
the same amount of cash we do, we just defer
it in different ways or at different times. Now, I
don't want to waste my or your time here, but
I will tell you there are many ways to try
(21:36):
and win a Super Bowl. Many ways. Sometimes your coach,
your coaches that you've gotten, have a preference for this
size player, They have a preference for this emphasis on
the talent, on the team where it is, formations, all
of those kinds of things. So that has to be
reconciled with the coaching philosophy and if you will coaching
(22:00):
techniques that are there at that particular time. The more
continuity you can have in that, then the better you
can manage the salary cap, the better you can do that.
We've had some really good continuity since Dak has been here.
We had Jason Garrett and then we had Mike who
(22:21):
came in with Kellen Moore over and working more closely
with Dak. That is paying all for us, But we
really did in Dak's early years because we didn't pay
under his initial contract at the level that Dak performed
(22:43):
because he was a fourth round draft pick. So by rights,
he wants to play, not catch up. He just wants
to let's get up snuff, Jerry, and let's go. I
get all of that, and I do. We have done
that over these last four or five years. We've got
our work cut out for us over these next several
(23:04):
years to reconcile being able to do what Dak deserves,
what he might be able to get someplace else. Well,
it's the same time put together a supporting cast around him.
That's got to be done with some young players. That
can't be done with just cherry picking out here in
free agency and getting high priced players running back that
(23:27):
you mentioned earlier. I'm a little reluctant to mention names.
I'm seeing that it's called tampering.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
There we go.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
But my point is that you can't have it all.
I was right after I got the Cowboys. I flew
over to where I was living, right after announcing I
was going to buy the Cowboys, and I flew over
on a little LERI jet and the car to picked
me up, and I had a reporter on that plane
(23:55):
with me and the car that picked me up was
a five year old.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Muddy Bronco Ford Bronco. That's the time.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
And the guy said, this is irrational. It doesn't make sense.
You're on a jet, and you fly on a jet,
yet you get off on a muddy fifty five Ford.
What's wrong here? And I said, not one thing. You
can't have it all. The way you get to drive
a jet is to drive a five year old muddy
fifty five forward.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
It's just a question of which way you want to go.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
With you, I said, do you have the faith that
in this day and agent, I'm not talking about dak here,
I'm just speaking in general, this culture of NFL players,
the youth that comes associated with it, the times that
we're living in, do you have faith that play is today?
Would get that breakdown that message that you just articulated.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Oh, I don't know that they would get it when
it comes to the rationale when you're talking to them
about their money. They may get it when they look
at the overall concept of the team, or may get
it when you look at the overall players in the NFL.
(25:11):
But Steven, when it's your money, my money, your money,
we have a little bit less rational or we have
a little bit less tolerance for let me show you
a reasonable reason why this isn't going to work. There's
not enough to go around to get us both where
(25:31):
we want to go. That usually falls on some deaf
ears when you're talking about mine in your negotiation, and
that's not the issue. But that's one of the issues.
There's always time or always a way to make it work.
Let's just don't work it on my time. Let's just
don't work it on my contract. I get that, I
(25:54):
really do get it, and I'm sympathetic about that.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
But that's just part of what you have to work is.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
The flip side looking at them and saying, but you
are playing for the Cowboys. This is the brand, the
number one brand in all of sports. As much as
I hate to admit it, Jerry Fir is the number
one brand of sport. Jerry Dad, I said it for
public up.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Make it the number one brand.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
I know, I know you told me that on several occasions.
The Cowboys, the star on the helmet, the billion dollar
playpen that is at and T Stadium, Jerry's World, as
folks affectionately call it. Do you believe that that allure
is something that should come into consideration when you're talking
to any player about playing for this franchise.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Well, I talk it. I certainly do.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
And I'm one of the best ambassador you've ever seen
for the Dallas Cowboys and the Star. I can be
because I literally sacrificed and gambled what was an idiot
move to be involved with the Cowboys. I actually had
(27:05):
some money and I gave it all and then signed
up to two or three times that to buy the
Dallas Cowboys. So I'm living, breathing person that believes in
the Star. In addition to that, because of the way
things have gone over the last thirty something years, no
(27:27):
one can talk about how good the NFL is for you,
or how good and for that matter, of the Cowboys,
or how good this game is and how it benefits you.
No one has benefited anymore than I have. And so
that I am a good practicer of that. And I
(27:49):
will tell you that if you will look around the
corner a little bit, not all have it right this second,
because it's sure wasn't here immediate when I got involved
with the Cowboys. Matter of fact, most things I've ever
been in my life didn't have immediate killer benefits or
(28:13):
killer returns. If you can, as a player look around
the corner a little bit, look years down the road,
I think you will see some of the benefits of
the Dallas Cowboys. One of the things that I guess
I'm the most rewarded by, not proud of rewarded by,
is that I'm partners with many of our ex players.
(28:36):
I'm partners with players that played here twenty and thirty
years ago, and we do things together financially, we do
things together to get involved in their careers.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
They're my life.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Just like being with anybody twenty years ago, if you
had a intense relationship, if you had a great experience,
those guys become your buddies. And when they come in
and they're a little wounded, buddies help buddies. Or when
they come in and got an opportunity, then let Old
(29:11):
Jerry get involved with you a little way. By the way,
those same guys, I can't tell you the time they've
reached out and helped Old Jerry in these last thirty.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
They swear by you.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
When I have been on a knee, and believe it
or not, I get on knee, I do well do
many times. Many times I've stumbled, and I've had help
from my ex players, if you will. So that's what
happens when you spend your life together. Now, that is
a fact. I'm not personally gonna be around forever, but
(29:42):
that is a fact. So do I try to share that?
Do I not share it? But do I try to
talk that when I'm visiting with the player about it's
better to be here. There's no state income.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Tax in Texas.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
I'm fully aware as you.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Are well aware of it.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Do it out in California or anyplace else and you
won't take home as much. All of that has a place. Now,
you've got to understand something. I'm sitting here. I've given
a lot of my life and I'm going to tell something.
Nobody appreciates what a football player, the things that have
gone through him. I know the times when it didn't
(30:21):
look good. It happens to everybody. I know the times
when you're hurt. I get it all. So I admire
the guys that play this game, but I would like
for them to enjoy life after football, and the Cowboys
enable you to do that. We've got some guys that
are good on television doesn't just take you baseball players
(30:42):
or basketball.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
I mean, I beat them up constantly, but I get
what you're saying. They're good when they're not going they're
going up against somebody other than me because I don't
let cowboys beat me.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
And well, let me say this, and I've got that.
But also the opportunity is there playing for the Cowboys
if you will listen and know how to use it.
You gotta know how to spread the cowboy peanut butter
on the cracker and it'll help you down the road.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Hold that right there, because that's a perfect segue into
getting into you, because I want to talk a little
bit more about Jeffy Jones, not just the Cowboys. You're
watching the Stephen A. Smith Show right here. We'll be
right back in a minute after we take care of
our sponsors. Welcome back to the Steven AX Smith Show
(31:33):
right here with the digital airways of YouTube and of
course iHeartRadio Iron with the one and only Jerry Jones,
owner for the Dallas Cowboys. I mentioned this is entering
your thirty sixth season as owner for the Dallas Cowboys.
How much time do you walk around feeling like you
(31:54):
have left you elluded earlier to Dak Prescott, Ceedee Lamb
and looking ahead and ahead, Michael Pauses and others. But
that's somebody speaking about the luxury of time. I've seen
you in the past quoted, You've quoted yourself, I don't
have much time. What's your mentality like right now?
Speaker 4 (32:14):
Well, I had a great friend in his motto, I'm
on a bar, and that said, I don't have time
to have a bad time. It ain't on my schedule,
righty schedule. And so having said that, I.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Like Michael Irving, but I'm not gonna say that was it.
But it sounds like, let's give it to me. But
still I can count. And I will say this. I
was involved in a medical issue about ten years ago,
and uh, the radiologist came in and I was in
under assumed name in this hospital, not my name, and
(32:55):
he said, mister Chambers. He said, I just wanted to
meet you, and he said you have the brain of
a thirty year old. And I said, my wife was
sitting there. I said, you get that, honey. I said,
I want you to listen.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
That good. You're the doctor.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
And I haven't let them up about it since that
particular time. Now I don't know about that. I'm busier
than busier than I have ever been. I get to
do more exciting things than I ever have. There's no question,
Steven that this team I could have never ever guessed it.
(33:35):
When I bought the Cowboys, I got I live, was
living a dream. I got to do something that I
thought about a better part of my adult life. And
there was nothing that hurt me at the time I
got sued. I had three one billion dollar lawsuits hit
me at the same time I bought the Dollars Cowboys
(33:58):
nineteen eighty nine, ninety one, and it was like it
was like I was Jimmy Brown running and They're bouncing
off of me.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
I was worried, worried about getting the Cowboys solving and
getting them to where they'd work.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
I was easily some of the pitfalls that were out there.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
But it caused me to really try things, and it
caused me to do some things and they worked, and
I said, man, I'll do that again, and I'll do
that again. And the bottom line is, and it's an
inspiration for me on folly passion.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
I could have.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
Never been anything that I've been involved in over the
last thirty years had it not been for the Cowboys.
It made me something that I was not and caused
me to have some confidence, caused me to try things,
caused me to really be around inspirational people. I love
this stuff and it has inspired me in Consequently, here
(35:07):
i am eighty two and the business have ever been
in my.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Life, the busiest You've ever been. Obviously the most noted
owner in the sport, most popular owner in the sport,
if not the world of sports. Nobody debates that, but
they do look at the fact that it's entering twenty
nine years since you guys have played in an NFC
championship game or got into a Super Bowl. Now here's
(35:31):
what I've said. I've looked at numerous rosters you've put
together and I said, damn it, they got the talent.
He did his job. There. The critique, however, I would
throw in seven head coaches since you last won the
Super Bowl and only five playoff wins in that span.
(35:53):
You hear that number, you hear those stats. What comes
through your mind?
Speaker 4 (35:56):
How do you feel The big thing that I'm disappointed
in is that I got a chance to have a
player on the Cowboys at the same time Tony Romo
and we didn't.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Get a super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
Now that's a shortcoming of what did I not do
that contributed to that too?
Speaker 2 (36:18):
And four in the playoffs his record.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
And my point is, yes, disappointing, but you really can't
do for me what I do if you don't go
over and dwell on at the same time you've evaluated
your shortcomings, You've got to reach over and grab you
a little of the good things that have happened to you.
(36:43):
And I truly have had it so good in my lifetime.
I've had great parents, I've been around some of the
greatest friends in the world.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
People have enabled me.
Speaker 4 (36:55):
My best thing is that I've had ten different people
in my lives give me grace, forgive me, give me grace,
help me. When you got all of that fussing about
not winning a Super Bowl last year, I want to
clear you out of the way. Lightning is going to
strike me. I've had it too good. Now that's how
(37:18):
I do it. That doesn't suffice for the responsibility I
feel to our fans and to the people that are
great sports folks and great fans. But I will say this,
it gives me a lot of resolve. No one that
knows me would think that you take any of these
(37:42):
evaluations about sports teams, and I say that almost sounding condescending,
and I'm not take anything tangible valuable. No one would
understand more than the people around me that I'd give
all that for a first down at the right time time,
I'd give it all for a touchdown at the right time,
(38:03):
or certainly a win, much less in a championship game
or a Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
Nothing has changed. I was stupid.
Speaker 4 (38:12):
I gave took a bigger risk than anybody I've ever
heard about to get to be involved in the NFL
and football. So I didn't get here for money. I
didn't come for money. I came here to win.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
But you also, this is what has had people just
a bit you know, perplexed. I don't know what the
right word for a bit befuddled. You come into the
National Football League, you take the chances, you took. What's
one of the first things you did. You got rid
of Tom Landry, You took a big risk, you brought
(38:47):
in Jimmy Johnson. The world was against you, and you won.
But some people thought you held on to Jason Garrett
too long. Other people look at you with Mike McCarthy.
Now they're wondering if you're holding on to him too long.
Bill Belichick was out there to open morek at this
past season, six time super Bowl champion. They look at you,
that Tony Romo, you loved him to death or what
you wanted to hold on into it. I mean, Dak
(39:07):
basically got that by default because if Tony Romo was
healthy enough it could play, Dak Prescott wouldn't have been
starting this work year. You wasn't having that because as
much as you loved as much love as you have
for Tony Romo, there's evidence that the same Jerry Jones,
who was a shrewd businessman and did whatever it took
to win, hasn't necessarily been the same guy in that
regard when it comes to certain members of his personnel
(39:31):
that he has an affection for. What do you say to.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
That, Well, two things.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
I'm glad you didn't mention Lou sail or Juan Ada
because you've done your homework on me.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Okay, I'm in pressed.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
Well, thank you very much. But having.
Speaker 4 (39:47):
Along those points, uh, the same same person, same guy
that was sitting here that bought the Cowboys, same guy
that uh you know Paul tagged. You asked me one
time after we'd won our Super Bowls, He said, would
you head a committee to coach up owners on how
(40:09):
to hire coaches. You've done so well that I'd like
for you to head the committee. And I said, Commissioner,
I need to be out in the audience. I've run
out of teammates. I don't know how to hire a coach.
And so I was cutting and shooting. And you're absolutely right.
(40:31):
Ignorance can be blessed at times. And certainly coach Landry
I made certainly a pr mistake, but probably he had
many years that he could have been a great coach
in the future for the NFL, and far be it
for me to even judge that.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
But here is the point.
Speaker 4 (40:52):
The same thing, the very same thing that made those
decisions there make them now. The only thing is that
I would say that I haven't taken the risks of
the magnitude of the risks that I took early. I've
(41:13):
slowed down on that risk part of it a little
bit because I like what we're doing with our philosophy
of developing young players now that wasn't been here, that
hasn't been here for the last thirty years, but it's
certainly been here for the last five or ten years.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
The salarycap has altered.
Speaker 4 (41:34):
The way that I look and rationale putting a team together.
That salary cap sometimes some of the same thing. You know,
different people have input when you move a general manager
in and out, and frankly we've had owners move in
(41:54):
and out of the NFL as well.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
Different people look at.
Speaker 4 (42:00):
Lay of the land different than I do. And so
the idea that I'm going to be living with whatever
I do twelve years now, ten years from now, that
idea may have impacted the decisions that I make today.
I'm sure they are, and so I can look and say,
the same guy's doing it, the same guy willing to
(42:23):
change that guy in the mirror step. And I have
made so many mistakes a period in my day. I've
made them, and I know that most people do make mistakes,
but I've made some that took me years to recover from,
and so there's no sure thing in those decisions. I
(42:46):
do feel, and this may be where the rub comes.
I don't feel at that level of decision making for
this team, for this situation is there's someone better than me.
Don't to think though that I don't change philosophy regarding
our football team is wrong.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
Well, I agree with that, and I totally believe you
when you say that, But I will say in terms
of I know that you will modify, you will try
to change. But you're the owner, you're the president, you're
the GM, You run the show, you make the decisions.
If somebody was in the position that you're in, but
they answer to you, and they went twenty eight seasons
(43:29):
without making it to a conference championship game, let alone
the Super Bowl, what would you do.
Speaker 4 (43:34):
Well, I would say the one most responsible for it
is the guy they're answering to me. And that's what
I've said from the very beginning. There's no slipping away
from it. The buck stops, it does stop. It stops
right here. And that doesn't mean much if it's just
for show, or that doesn't mean much if there's not
(43:55):
some tears and some sweat and blood that goes with it.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
What about those who argue is not a consequence? Is
at the end of the day, you're not going to
remove yourself, so you don't really have to pay the
price for whatever mistakes you make because you're not getting
rid of you as most of us wouldn't get rid
of ourselves.
Speaker 4 (44:10):
Well, of course, but that is absent a little deal
call paying that price. You think for one minute the
way our season ended last year. Are there is anybody
on this earth that bothered any more than me?
Speaker 3 (44:27):
No one.
Speaker 4 (44:28):
There's been no one that looks back that really can
live with how long it's been since we've been with
the Super Bowl? Do you think that I literally do
go in here and say, well, but how many people
have won three Super Bowls?
Speaker 3 (44:43):
Okay? Do you think I say? Of course, I do not.
I do not say.
Speaker 4 (44:46):
That I look at it as that was then, this
is now. But I do look at it that way
in that sense that ten years ago we obviously didn't
win a Super Bowl. We had a different code that
was then, this is now, Let's go do it now. Now.
I've done this and things away from football all my life,
(45:08):
and I have discarded. I have gone in different directions,
and I've gone in different businesses. The guy in the
mirror is the man that I change out.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
It's interesting because even though I bring up the lack
of success in terms of a championship, when you bring
up the name Jerry Jones to anybody in the NFL.
Do you know, I haven't had I haven't found one
single person associated with the NFL that has denied that
you're worthy of the Hall of Fame. Everybody acknowledges that
(45:39):
you're worthy of the Hall of Fame. Everybody acknowledges what
you've done for the NFL, broadcast, right TV, right deals.
You know, the marketing, the merchandising, all the things that
you've done to elevate the profile of the National Football League,
the committees that you've been on that you've spearheaded. And
(46:01):
I know several officials within the NFL, for teams, league office, players, associating, etc.
All say we are Jerry Jones an incredible debt of
gratitude for what he has done for the National Football League.
In your eyes, what have you done for the National
Football League?
Speaker 3 (46:21):
Well, I know this.
Speaker 4 (46:26):
I've got to say, it's what the National Football League
and frankly football has done for me. And I go
to those meetings with as much ziping my step and
as much excitement as I was going to them thirty
(46:46):
years ago.
Speaker 3 (46:47):
When we have a meeting right now, this thing inspires me. Early.
That inspiration caused me to if you will be.
Speaker 4 (47:02):
Very aggressive, be very aggressive. Well, I was motivated to
be aggressive. It was called the hounds were after me.
The dead hounds were after you. On the other hand,
I had, by getting to participate in sport in formative years,
I learned that this day, too, shall pass. I had
(47:27):
to really call on myself to be a football player.
Speaker 3 (47:32):
It hurt me.
Speaker 4 (47:33):
My trainer one time, is from Virginia, said Jones, You've
got to have the lowest tolerance for pain of any
kid we've ever had to school. I said, well, grinding,
it hurts me morning. It does the rest of them.
Speaker 3 (47:45):
Damn it.
Speaker 4 (47:45):
I deserve a medal to be out here. It shakes
me up when I get hit. Well, my point is
it called on me. I lived in daydreams. I would
walk around before the practices and I would dream about
being something else, And for that matter, I would dream
about owning a football team. I saw Art Modell on
(48:08):
the cover I think it was Looker Life magazine, and
there he had moved from the advertising over to be
the owner of the Cleveland Browns. And they said, here
comes an advertising TV man into the league.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
What is he going to do?
Speaker 4 (48:23):
And he was sitting there with two beautiful children and
a Hollywood wife who was a movie star. And I
told my buddy I was riding with on the team, Butts,
that's me, that's me, That's who I want to be,
right there?
Speaker 2 (48:36):
Modell Art Modell, the same person, the same Art Modell. Okay,
if I remember correctly, that was pushing for the league
to once take a pay cut with the broadcast rights deal,
and you afford him and ultimately one that same Art Modeal,
that same.
Speaker 4 (48:49):
Art Modell, who I of course admired and.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
Still admire. And it was rough. He was very critical.
Speaker 4 (48:59):
And he told me when I was trying to get
the votes to vote against accepting a pay cut from
the rights phase, the networks had come to us wanted
a pay cut, And he shook his finger in my
face and he said, do you realize we've got to
make payroll and plan two and three years out? And
(49:20):
you're saying, maybe don't have a contract.
Speaker 3 (49:22):
Do you know what?
Speaker 4 (49:23):
You don't know what it's like to have to do that, Jerry.
All I did know was that if I was going
to get my nose blooded, that I might as well
put it off because I might get hit by a
car and not have gotten that nose blooded while I
was on earth, so to speak. So I was putting
(49:44):
it off. I didn't have an answer, is my point,
and so I would tell you that was an impressive thing,
made you want to get in and do the very
best that you could. But my point is that I
love the National Football League. No church, no family of uh,
(50:09):
no school, no business. No person can be what God be.
The athlete be the talent they are if their ass
is hanging out and they don't have no money. And
so that's the way that the NFL was and it needed.
The model was not working, and the model does work.
(50:35):
And consequently, one of the things that makes it work
is it's financial foundation. And that's why we're always looking
at that. And if you so, I'm not ashamed of that.
I'm not ashamed of that at all. What's missing here
is the fact that maybe someone thinks that because I
don't want to win a ball game, I don't want
(50:58):
to win a Super Bowl as much as I want
to make a buck, that's bull stuff. That really is,
That's not the way it works. Anybody really knows me
is that I'd trade two thirds a third of whatever
percent you want to call what the Cowboys are supposed
to be worth to get us to get one of
(51:19):
those Super Bowls.
Speaker 2 (51:20):
Because I'm not going to lie to you. I wanted
to ask you that question. I know the answer because
you and I have gotten to know each other over
the years, and I'm honored to say that, but I
have to ask. I had to ask. I'm glad you
just answered that for me, because I'm thinking ten billion
dollar valuation. Average salary in the NFL is worth about
five point seven billion. A couple of franchises that have
been so for over six billion, but you're worth over
ten billion dollars. But I was asking myself, he's making
(51:42):
so much money, he's enjoying so much success. Is this
the definition of winning? To Jeviy Jones? And you just
answered that question.
Speaker 3 (51:49):
I'll say one other time.
Speaker 2 (51:50):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (51:50):
I told my team, but we just opened we just
finished training camp, but we opened training camp, and I
told my team coaches.
Speaker 3 (52:01):
Yeah, I could be anywhere in the world I want
to be. I could be. I don't want to be
anywhere else. I want to be right here with y'all.
Speaker 4 (52:10):
I want to be out here and I want to
be agonizing with us vicariously, not in your shoes. Guys,
I don't want any of that, but I want to
agonize with you in your pursuit to become an NFL
player and be a part of the Cowboys, because I
want to be a part of that feeling when we
(52:31):
walk out there together and win it. Now, money, money
is not that. That's different, Stephen, much different than that.
And so but I'll tell you this, if money helps
ease the pain, it do?
Speaker 3 (52:50):
It really does.
Speaker 4 (52:51):
I This guy called me and he said we're supposed
to cut the questions off on a radio show. It's
been a few years back. He said, you know, he said,
how does it feel a guy, if you're a statue
your pocketbook? How does it feel to have gotten it
stuck up your you know what?
Speaker 3 (53:07):
Like that?
Speaker 4 (53:08):
And I said, well, I've had it stuck up there
when I didn't have money, and I've had it stuck
up there when I have some. Feels better when you
got a little money. It's lubricated.
Speaker 2 (53:18):
Oh my lord, you just used the word lubrication. Oh
my lord. Before I listen, I got a few more
questions before I let you get on out of here.
Michael Parsons, we brought up Seede Land. We brought up
Dak Prescott. We know this doesn't have to be the
year that Michael Parsons has taken care of. I'm one
of those dudes that have been on the record saying
I believe he's the face of the franchise. I think
(53:40):
he's a monster. I say that in the most complimentary
way imaginable. I think the brother is special, and I
think he personifies what you should want the Cowboys to be.
That's how I feel. But that's just little old me. Well,
how does Jerry Jones feel about Michael Paarson's.
Speaker 4 (53:56):
Well, saving as usual, You've got a hint of your
own clue. But seriously, I saw where Mike Zimmer, our
new defensive coach, former coach at Minnesota, said he's brilliant,
called him brilliant. Uh, Mike, Michael Parsons. Michael Parsons is
(54:20):
probably the best athlete that I've ever been around. That's
as a player as well as being involved with Dallas Cowboys. Uh,
he's so unique. He's multifaceted. And what does that mean. Uh,
he's got a lot of angles that he looks at things,
just like he's got a lot of angles that he
(54:41):
used to put pressure on that quarterback. So he is
very special and he is uh, he's one of my
picks now, Steven and the rest of them will clay.
They picked some guys, but Mike is the guy that
I pick. I'm joking when I say that, because that's
how proud I am of it. I believe that he's
(55:05):
just started. And yes, I don't want to save face
of a franchise, because it takes a lot of faces
to make it roll.
Speaker 3 (55:15):
He's special.
Speaker 2 (55:16):
You're going from a three four to four to three
on defense with Zimmer as the coach. Now, obviously you
think he's going to flourish even more on the Zimmer
than he did under Quinn.
Speaker 4 (55:25):
I think he can because this probably will give him
unfair a little bit and critiquing those defenses, but it
probably gives them a better chance to put somebody else
in play to put some pressure thereby making it a
problem to just double team Michael all the time or
(55:45):
triple team or just scheme against him.
Speaker 2 (55:48):
How did you feel when DeMarcus Lawrence, who I like,
I'm very fond of, but he showed up on national
television on first Take super Bowl week and he said,
we were a bit tired. You know it's a heavy load,
essentially alluding to playing for the Cowboys. There's a lot
that comes with it. It ain't the typical franchise. Michael
Parsons I spoke to him that night on the air.
(56:10):
He didn't take kindly to that at all. He said, well,
he didn't want to hear that at all. He didn't
want to hit that at all. How shocked were you
when you heard that DeMarcus Lawrence has said that? And
how'd you feel about it?
Speaker 4 (56:19):
Well, frankly, I didn't pay give it the kind of
serious uh consideration. Maybe it deserved. This thing is different.
The Cowboys are different. U. There is a lot of visibility,
uh the uh.
Speaker 3 (56:39):
But taking a.
Speaker 4 (56:40):
Toll on your competitive juices is not characteristic of DeMarcus Lawrence.
He will go after him until they've gotten in the
dressing room, got the street clothes on now. So you
got to pay attention when he basically makes a comment.
But in general, I have always thought that attention is inspirational.
(57:05):
I played for a team in college that when we
would practice, there would be days when two thousand people
would sit on a grass knoll fifteen feet from our drill,
And for me, I was a little down the line early,
but it would make me play like I was in
a Bowl game out there on a Tuesday afternoon or
(57:26):
a Wednesday afternoon. So that that kind of interest, that
kind of cheering you on was inspirational, and I always
thought that did that when we had our big crowds
at training camp. A lot of people early didn't want
to have crowds at training camp. I thought it was
great and inspirational. You just want to in that drill,
(57:49):
you want to try to excel in that drill in
front of all those people.
Speaker 3 (57:53):
I think that it's inspirational.
Speaker 2 (57:55):
Some of the players that you've outwardly just shown such
an incredible lifevel of love and affection for mirrored that
kind of thinking. When we mentioned a playmaker who would
doubt that he thought attention was an inspirational we know
he think the playmaker, Michae Levin thought attention was inspirational.
Emmitt Smith, attention was inspirational. Troy Aikman, a quiet storm
(58:17):
still a three time Super Bowl champion, Attention was inspirational.
To Charles Airleys of the world. The list goes on
and on. No one says that about Dak Prescott, your
quarterback that's in line to get fifty five or sixty
million dollars a year. Jerry Jones, how do you feel
about that?
Speaker 4 (58:37):
I came along at the right time. I got a
chance to be a part of this thing called le NFL.
I didn't waste any time. I mean I didn't let
it in gras go under my faith. I grabbed it
and I had a lot of running with.
Speaker 3 (58:55):
The ball to do after I grabbed hold of it.
Speaker 4 (58:59):
I think that we all are at a special place
in time. Let's run it up the flagpool. Let's run
it up the flagpool. The game itself is hard work.
It takes little boys, big boys, fat boys, slim boys.
(59:21):
It takes all kinds now when they get in that huddle,
everybody gets together and they kind of bleed alike, and
they're on a team, they're a part of it.
Speaker 3 (59:31):
But all of that goes on.
Speaker 4 (59:32):
We're sitting here in Texas, and I'm telling you right now,
football is a part of the earth and the trees
around here.
Speaker 3 (59:40):
It's here, that's all.
Speaker 2 (59:41):
It is different.
Speaker 4 (59:42):
And girls have gone to heard about two days all
their lives. In many cases, football is a life around here,
and most of it is hard work. Most of it
is mundane. Dare I say that, But it's hard work
in mundane. But guess what we do. We take a block,
(01:00:05):
and we take two big boys bumping into each other,
and we make it into the Coliseum of Rome, and
we make it like the Roman Gladiators, and we put
my town against your town. Here here in Texas they
do that, put my school against your school. In our case,
it's the Browns against the cowboys out there. With that
right there, we embellish it and make it bigger than life.
(01:00:30):
Everybody benefits from that, and I'm you helping, and that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
Well, I don't apologize for it because you all deserve it,
even though these fan base get on my nerves. But
that's a different story for another day. I will say this,
I think Dak Prescott is a star. I think he's
a big time player in the regular season. I think
in the postseason he's got some proven to do. And
I think he has to have the kind of attitude
you just articulated in order for him to get over
(01:00:53):
the hump. One of my last couple of questions is this.
We saw Jordan Love come out of nowhere and play
lights out in the last half of the season last
year and in the playoffs against you guys, we sort
of Eagles acquired sa Kwon Barkley in the offseason to
add to a formidable offensive team. We sort of Detroit
Lions elevate themselves to relevancy basically winning their first playoff
(01:01:17):
games is nineteen fifty seven for crying out loud, We
see the San Francisco forty nine as making a statement
keeping ayuk, keeping their team intact. They don't intend on
going anywhere. What's the path to success for the Dallas
Cowboys in twenty twenty four considering what I just outlined, So.
Speaker 4 (01:01:37):
We have drafted some very very outstanding football players that
should have gotten on the field more last year than
they did. We bring in some free agents and they
still may be struggling to get on the field. They
need to get on the field. We also drafted some
pretty good ones this year. When you are fighting the
(01:02:01):
salary cap bulch and you want to have the supporting
cast around Dick and have it around CD and possibly
even Micah, those young players are the ticket. They've got
to come in and take up some of that slack
for lack of sury cap.
Speaker 3 (01:02:22):
That's where we are.
Speaker 4 (01:02:24):
Last year we had some that should have been on
the field. They'll be out there. Plus some of our
young ones get on the field. Oh I know that says, boy,
there they are counting on some rookies, counting on some
young players. Okay, some's got to give, some's got to give.
We do want to keep these guys, and at the
same token, we've spunked the money.
Speaker 3 (01:02:46):
How do we do all of that?
Speaker 4 (01:02:48):
You do it by keeping it in your pocket during
the high price free agency. You do it by hopefully
developing young players, and you don't by keeping the premium
guys that you can possibly keep.
Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
I pointed out, I think the mistake that you've made
the biggest mistake is holding off for coaches too long.
Bill Belichick was out there last year, you elected not
to go that routing. You kept Mike McCarthy in place.
Is he on the line let me say twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (01:03:17):
Four, Yeah, let me say this. Nobody's out there, you say,
and I agree with you and Bill my gunness, what
an outstanding coach at all. But nobody's necessarily out there
that I could have made this decision or not that decision.
Mike McCarthy is an outstanding coach. We've had twelve win
(01:03:40):
seasons for the last three years now.
Speaker 3 (01:03:42):
I agree with you. I agree with you.
Speaker 4 (01:03:46):
That we have not had the playoff success that you
would have wanted to have with a Super Bowl winning
coach and Mike McCarthy. But I'll tell you firsthand, he's
got outstanding ways with players. He's an outstanding coach. As
hard a working coach as I've ever been around. He's
an outstanding coach. What you're seeing though from me is
(01:04:10):
just the way that I'm doing it right now. Certainly
I did not renew a lot of contracts. There's nothing
to keep me from renewing a contract out here this afternoon. Uh.
This is just the way that I wanted to do it,
so that we could basically speak to fans, team, everybody involved.
(01:04:32):
We're putting We're putting things on the line, and by
the way I do feel it, Steven, I'm not in
any way trying to be smug here. I should really
be in your swit shoes with me. Get over and
be the general match.
Speaker 2 (01:04:48):
You know. I listen, I try to pull it off,
but I probably feel I probably feel like I didn't.
Speaker 3 (01:04:52):
You would, you would, but I'm gonna tell you could
win some time.
Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
Let me throw this out at you, Joey. This this
is crazy crazy, I know this is I can't even
imagine it happening. What if I said to you, Jerry,
cowboys gonna lose again and as a result, you're gonna
find yourself feeling the need to make a change. And
Jerry Jones decides, one day down the road in the
(01:05:20):
near future, assuming that he doesn't achieve the success that
he covets, that he's gonna hire a primetime Dion Sanders
as a head coach. That would be crazy. Is Jerry
Jones crazy enough to do something like that someday?
Speaker 4 (01:05:40):
No, but he does know how to spell well enough
and not answer a hypothetic.
Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
Last question.
Speaker 3 (01:05:48):
First of all, you sord to say you are familiar
with our.
Speaker 4 (01:05:56):
I'm gonna use it the love affair that we have,
and I have always admired him both on and off
the field. Some of the best stories that I have
to tell about my time in sports have been of
Dion type stories with Dion and Michael and those guys.
Speaker 3 (01:06:18):
But Dion, I remember.
Speaker 4 (01:06:20):
The one that I love the most is he came
in to sign his big contract twelve million dollar bonus.
At the time, I had put a total cash out
of my cash twelve million down to buy the Cowboys,
twelve million to buy the Cowboys. Now I didn't have
to come up with four hundred and fifty, but I
(01:06:41):
used all of my cash before I gave that to
Dion Sanders. I went back to my hometown, Little rock
Row City, nor La, Ron, and I walked down my
old street and I walked down it when that quarter
and that dollar used to be everything. Walked down there
saw some old chips on tree and on a telephone
(01:07:01):
pole that I knocked out. I turned around and walked
back because I wondered had something gotten over me? Had
I completely lost it to be thinking about paying a
man twelve million dollar bonus to do it.
Speaker 3 (01:07:15):
I walked by my old house.
Speaker 4 (01:07:17):
Went back over, got on that plane that was then
this is now I'm going for it, went over and
met Dion at the stadium.
Speaker 3 (01:07:27):
Never forget came in great.
Speaker 4 (01:07:30):
To see the whole time we were waiting to go
on stage and announce that he was going to be
a cowboy. He spent playing with that boy and all
he could pay attention to, had all these people around.
It was that boy, and I said, that's hard. I
want to be around right there.
Speaker 2 (01:07:49):
Very last question, the legacy of Jerry Jones. We throw
stuff like that out, people come up with their own definition,
their own phrases, their own thoughts. From your lips to
everybody's ears. When all is said and done and we're
(01:08:11):
talking about the legacy of Jervy Jones, what do you
want it to be in the eyes of the many?
Speaker 4 (01:08:21):
Well, first of all, I I don't want it to
be that much in terms of that, but in the
sense of.
Speaker 3 (01:08:33):
This word.
Speaker 4 (01:08:36):
He was a player. He played all the games. He
was he was into it. And it might be over
soah Cap, it might be over TV, it might be
against the giants.
Speaker 3 (01:08:52):
He played the game player.
Speaker 2 (01:08:56):
What an honor. Hey, thank you so much, so thank
you so much. The one and only Jeffy Jones right
here with Stephen A. Smith and Stephen A. Smith show
over there that digital whereas of YouTube, and of course iHeartRadio.
I loved it. I know y'all will as well. I
know y'all did as well, So thank y'all for joining
u us. I'm signing off. I'm out here at the Star,
I'm getting ready to go and get another tour. Go
(01:09:17):
to the cafeteria. They got a fabulous cafeteria. They got
a fabulous studio. They got a practice facility there. They
got shots around the spot, restaurants around the spot.
Speaker 3 (01:09:26):
I got a.
Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
Busy evening ahead of me, y'all. It starts now. I
hope y'all enjoyed the interview. Until next time, stephen A
signing off peace of love.
Speaker 3 (01:09:34):
Everybody be safe.
Host
Stephen A. Smith
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.