In defense of Stephen in the Gregory negotiation

CB0711

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For what it’s worth, and I know this is all just a business, but I am personally furious at Randy Gregory. The Cowboys…and most particularly the Jones family…stood by this guy for years waiting for him to “mature”. How ungrateful can a person be? He is a piece of **** as far as I’m concerned. I hope he goes off his drugs and fails miserably in Denver. And I am so glad we didn’t sign this headcase.
 

firewater

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I’m critical of this front office but I think Gregory deal falling through is a blessing in disguise.
 

manster4ever

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For what it’s worth, and I know this is all just a business, but I am personally furious at Randy Gregory. The Cowboys…and most particularly the Jones family…stood by this guy for years waiting for him to “mature”. How ungrateful can a person be? He is a piece of **** as far as I’m concerned. I hope he goes off his drugs and fails miserably in Denver. And I am so glad we didn’t sign this headcase.


Calm DOWN....you said it yourself: it's just business. IF he is the horrible person you claim he is then you should be relieved not so PO'd. Think about it.
 

Diehardblues

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It's being reported that "Jerry is livid" about the language being put into the contract.

So that's probably a good sign it was the right thing to do.
Someone has actually heard from Jethro. He’s been hiding for a couple weeks. Lol
 

manster4ever

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It's being reported that "Jerry is livid" about the language being put into the contract.

So that's probably a good sign it was the right thing to do.

Oh GOD yes....couldn't have said it better myself. Look at it this way: he still owes all of us DOZENS of ruined days like he's had today. This team has ruined one helluva lot of our days the last 26 years. Makes me smile to think he's "livid" today. LOFL
 

Rogerthat12

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FN5zzz6XwAU6xci
 

CB0711

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Calm DOWN....it's just business. IF he is the horrible person you claim he is then you should be relieved not so PO'd. Think about it.
Yeah…he FINALLY shows he can get on the field and make an occasional play after 7 years of nothing but patience from the organization…and he basically spits in their faces…and I’m supposed to be happy with that? I’ll take my 15 minutes of righteous anger while still being glad that nutcase is gone.
 

kevm3

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If you are going to change the language, Present it to him from the beginning! Don't have him agree and then put it in later. That's not doing business in good faith. There's no need to defend Stephen Jones. None.

I don't know how people can defend Stephen. He's the reason we've been getting spanked in free agency. He likes to treat players like he has all the leverage, but he's finding out that he doesn't have the negotiating power he thinks he does and players either bolt or they demand more money.
 

kevm3

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Yeah…he FINALLY shows he can get on the field and make an occasional play after 7 years of nothing but patience from the organization…and he basically spits in their faces…and I’m supposed to be happy with that? I’ll take my 15 minutes of righteous anger while still being glad that nutcase is gone.

He agreed to less money until they sprung that clause on him. You don't change clauses at the last minute.
 

J_Allen

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I'm glad he's gone. That amount of money for someone who gets six sacks a year? Yeah, kick rocks. Take your stupid penalties with you.
 

charron

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CowboysZone LOYAL Fan
The cowboys dodged a bullet and should not have even considered signing him for 13/year.
 

Daillest88

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Hmm so I’m seeing that clause is in every contract the cowboys have besides daks. Rumor his agent was pushing him to go to Denver also
 

MarcusRock

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Nah. If the meat and potatoes of the deal is the money and years, you don't come back later and say, "Oh, that meat and potatoes comes with strings attached." If the team wanted insurance, it needed to be part of the money discussions because it's directly relevant and then Gregory's side can counter with, "Insurance costs," because it does. So if you're going to spring less guarantees on someone and not counter with a give-back of some sort then someone with leverage almost has no choice but to use it.

No one faults the team for wanting the assurances, just negotiating money and leaving out a very relevant detail to insert later.
 

Creeper

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Of course the Cowboys have a right to protect themselves regardless of what the clause said. But they were negotiating with a member of their team, or at least a guy they wanted to play for them. Shady tactics to insert last minute clauses are what you do in a divorce not a marriage. The Cowboys should have made it clear to Gregory right from the start that there would be a requirement to behave or forfeit some of his contract and they could have explained this in the context of how much the invested in him and supported him during all those troubled years. If this was an important factor in the deal, the Cowboys should have been open and up front about it. If Gregory felt otherwise then he could have said it would not work before the deal was finished.

The Cowboys broke trust by pulling a last minute negotiation AFTER the deal was agreed to. Gregory's reaction should have been anticipated.
 

eromeopolk

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I see some are blaming him for his 11th hour contract verbiage that lost Gregory to Denver but that is a common negotiating tactic and how can he be faulted for trying to protect the club with a player with a spotty history?

I don't like Stephen but in this case, I will defend what he did, not really knowing what the 11th hour terms were but this team does not have a history with that so it had to be to protect the team.

Most refer to it as the "Columbo Close" and the timing of it is crucial. It is named for his "oh, one more thing" which was the real thing all along. It must be used when the buyer is already amenable to the close, objections have all been addressed and they want to do this.

I had it used against me many times and grew to expect it because it speaks to you are already in agreement and have just about taken ownership, you won't back out now. However, it does not allow for previous options being in place...like Denver with a matching offer on the table. I think that one caught them off guard.

You can bet this wasn't some last minute item they'd forgotten about, this was in the plan all along but it had to be played at the right moment. Do you think it was lost on them than in the last game of his contract year he behaved as he did on the field? His history with a tearful admission that he'd let his Mom down only to repeat that over and over again?

Think shades of Terrell Owens on his best behavior with one year renewable contracts until he got his three year deal. Say hello to the real Owens.

And this is a player that blew a drug test the week of the draft after being considered a top 15 pick. They had ample warning and the media would have been merciless with the cap situation and working it out to keep this guy should he go off the rails again. And something about Gregory made them nervous.

I really think Stephen did the right thing in this instance and if this 11th hour verbiage was behavior related and Gregory balked at that, that's all I need to know. He might be good in Denver but he had already proven what he could be in Dallas.
Stephen, Jerry, and All the Arlington Jonesboys have not done the right thing in 26 years.

1. The league does not punish marijuana like it did 5 years ago
2. Stephen sent Demarcus Ware to Denver and he got a Super Bowl ring. So what do you think Ware actually told Gregory about the legal marijuana state of Colorado and the signing of Russell Wilson like the Signing of Peyton Manning when he was in Denver? "Go west young man"
3. Every NFL player wants to get to the 2nd contract. Therefore Gregory has already paid the Arlington Jonesboys by playing on a rookie deal for 5 years including a 1 year extension of the deal. So Stephen shot himself by being greedy for more good will after goodwill was given (see extension).

So the Arlington Jonesboys gave away their best player in Amari Cooper (since 2018) to lose their DE.
 
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