So what's next? A flood of free agents running to Dallas because they really admired the way Jones handled this? A happy locker room that really wants to lay it all out for the Jones family because they did right by Romo? That idea is reducing down the intellect of players and indicates you believe that they have zero sense for this being a business.
Had he been traded, nobody would have faulted Jones.
Players don't care unless the organization has proven to be dishonest and disrespectful. It doesn't work the other way around.
If it did, nobody would want to play in New England.
As I said above, the goodwill only matters when the money is there, too. My point was that it wasn't a negative the way you suggested when you said we'd been 'exposed as a weak organization that panders to its players.'
Where it does play a role is in negotiations like the Smith negotiation, where he publicly said he took less because of the way the team stood by him. It probably also played a role in La'el Collins coming here, since he was betting on that paying off for him down the road. So, you're wrong if you think the goodwill/badwill train only runs one way.
There are a lot of players who have said over the years that they've had issues with Belichick and New England. That's not to suggest their way isn't effective. Just that it's got it's own drawbacks.
Overall, the issue if we cut Romo is foregoing a draft pick we should have acquired here. That's a huge negative, as I said.
