Video: Cavanaugh: Dallas Cowboys Stephen Jones is lying to you, I'll show you

[CowboysFaninHouston]

No, Jeff.....you cant 'buy' players, because other teams have far more available than we do (and it's a two year roll over). Henry for instance wouldnt of come to us because the Ravens had the available CAP over two years (and a better team and chance of winning).

The problem starts with top end contracts to players that arent playing up to those contracts....that's on Jerry for giving the contracts (and paying names and not being able to evaluate future performance).....but it's also on the players.

Yes Jeff we can restructure BUT DAK ISNT GETTING ANOTHER CONTRACT, SO THE DEBT GETS PAID, IN FULL, IN 2027/8.

BS...I call BS.

we had 23M on the cap this year.
r and can easily open it to be 65M.

Henry cost 3M more than zeke....

and philly, has hurts who has 51M cap hit. you want to tell me our wonderful GMs, can't open up 9M of cap. that's the difference between a competitive team who was in the superbowl and reloaded and has 6 of the top 5 position contracts on their roster and us? GB handed a 55M contract to love, and they have 16M in cap space and have 60M cap space next year. how did they do it? you want to argue that 5M is the difference between GB and Dallas?

you want to make this about Dak and it has nothing to do with that. you want to tell me that if Dak signed a 55M or 51M contract, we would be tops in the NFC and heading to the superbowl? that's the entire difference!!!!

no, our GMs don't know how to manage contracts and cap....and you fell for it, face first, fell for it hard. you bought into what stephen and jerry are selling, that we can't afford it because of cap. you are biased and immediately, on cue said "Dak". Jerry and Stephen got you good.

every team kicks the can down the road for a chance to compete TODAY. THIS YEAR.....and you are saying we need to suck, because I hate Dak becaue of 27 and 28, which is 4 years down the line.... and then its 29 and then 30 and then 31 and so on......

s

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Well Jerry's awful.......however,........Example 1 Dak's 2025 contract, Example 2 Dak's existing contract. These moves, especially the latest contract is the death nail and the effects havent even kicked in yet.

C'mon Jeff, we are going to have to restructure just to get JAG's to fill out starting positions in the roster..... we are paying over 50% of the CAP on three players. Jeff, not addressing the fact that those players, especially Dak isnt playing up to the contract (he needs too much).

I will agree with Jeff in that last season was the ALL-IN....BUT WE WERENT GOOD ENOUGH AND TRADING A 1ST FOR HENRY WOULDNT OF CHANGED THAT.

see my other response. you are wrong. you fell hard, face first for what stephen and jerry are selling....we can't afford it, and give your full on bias against Dak, just on cue said "Dak".

how did GB afford a 4 year 55M AAV contract, but 60M contract totally crippled this team and they are down in the toilets!!!! our wonderful GMs couldn't manage 5M difference in a contract!!!!

you can't be more wrong about this.

p.s.
question: do you happen to work for Stephen and Jerry? perhaps on a contract to just echo what they say?

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Oh definitely. My beef with Jeff is that Jerry's problem is exactly that, overpaying for star names that don't play up to the contract.
That video makes the point that we could restructure money (if Jerry wanted), but that's just delaying the pain when he's giving out a dreadful 4 year $60m contract (that won't be extended) ....and still needs a full bag of weapons and protection.

everyone has to deal with the pain. its inevitable. some do it well. some suck at it. but you have a window and you have to compete in that window. suffer the pain and rebuild/reload...

Rams did it and won a superbowl and then yes, paid the piper. but guess what, there is a trophy in their case.
Philly did it, and played in the superbowl and lost to perhaps one of the greatest QB of all time (by the time its said and done). and then reloaded

our GMs can't manage the cap. its not about building a competitive team. its about profits. and then tell people some story and let their biases take over.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Truthfully, as poorly as this team is being run right now, they did manage to win 12 games back-to-back-to-back. I don’t say that as a flex, but rather to highlight that at one point, they actually tried to build this team. However, at some point, they decided to focus solely on building through the draft. Why the change? I’m not sure. There was a time when they held the running back position in such high regard that they invested a 4th overall pick in it. Now, they won’t even consider free agency or spend anything higher than a 6th-round pick.

I get it—it’s been 28 years, but it hasn’t been 28 years of the product we’re seeing lately. Something shifted. When we needed a quarterback, they traded up for Mo Claiborne, the best corner in the draft, and spent $50 million on Brandon Carr. One could consider both of those moves failures, but failure shouldn’t stop you from being the 'gambler' or the 'oil salesman' who made you successful in the first place. So, I’m not sure what’s going on or why they made the decisions they did this year.

My suspicion is there’s something internal happening, and Stephen and Jerry aren’t on the same page.

 

[CowboyoWales]

BS...I call BS.

we had 23M on the cap this year.
r and can easily open it to be 65M.

Henry cost 3M more than zeke....

and philly, has hurts who has 51M cap hit. you want to tell me our wonderful GMs, can't open up 9M of cap. that's the difference between a competitive team who was in the superbowl and reloaded and has 6 of the top 5 position contracts on their roster and us? GB handed a 55M contract to love, and they have 16M in cap space and have 60M cap space next year. how did they do it? you want to argue that 5M is the difference between GB and Dallas?

you want to make this about Dak and it has nothing to do with that. you want to tell me that if Dak signed a 55M or 51M contract, we would be tops in the NFC and heading to the superbowl? that's the entire difference!!!!

no, our GMs don't know how to manage contracts and cap....and you fell for it, face first, fell for it hard. you bought into what stephen and jerry are selling, that we can't afford it because of cap. you are biased and immediately, on cue said "Dak". Jerry and Stephen got you good.

every team kicks the can down the road for a chance to compete TODAY. THIS YEAR.....and you are saying we need to suck, because I hate Dak becaue of 27 and 28, which is 4 years down the line.... and then its 29 and then 30 and then 31 and so on......

s

Im saying that with holes we've got, we arent winning in the foreseable and YES, a lot of that is down to the contract given to Dak (with his pending 15%+ of the CAP).
We certainly can restructure, but to what end.....just improving to maybe (just maybe, reaching the play-offs).
As for Henry, you really think, given the choice, he would of chosen us over the Ravens?

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Well Jerry's awful.......however,........Example 1 Dak's 2025 contract, Example 2 Dak's existing contract. These moves, especially the latest contract is the death nail and the effects havent even kicked in yet.

C'mon Jeff, we are going to have to restructure just to get JAG's to fill out starting positions in the roster..... we are paying over 50% of the CAP on three players. Jeff, not addressing the fact that those players, especially Dak isnt playing up to the contract (he needs too much).

I will agree with Jeff in that last season was the ALL-IN....BUT WE WERENT GOOD ENOUGH AND TRADING A 1ST FOR HENRY WOULDNT OF CHANGED THAT.

Well let's say some things on Dak's contract.


For one he was a All Pro. No one in league history has given up on a quarterback after a All Pro season. So regardless of what me and you feel about the guy if Jerry or any GM had gotten rid of a All Pro at the Quarterback position that would be considered a terrible move and incompetence. So I won't knock the guy for that. But I can knock the guy for completely alienating and not using the salary cap to his advantage. I will knock him for not addressing the running back position or going into the season with 2 rookies on the offensive line.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Im saying that with holes we've got, we arent winning in the foreseable and YES, a lot of that is down to the contract given to Dak (with his pending 15%+ of the CAP).
We certainly can restructure, but to what end.....just improving to maybe (just maybe, reaching the play-offs).
As for Henry, you really think, given the choice, he would of chosen us over the Ravens?

I don't think Henry was ever coming here to me everyone knew Henry was gonna be a Raven. Now I won't defend this front office but this narrative we missed out on him is just something to harp on about. All because he moved to Dallas? Ravens had a better offseason and a better team IMO. It was a natural fit.

But I will knock them for not even trying. Didn't even reach out. I said it in the offseason all of these guys Mixon, Barkley, Swift, Henry, Aaron Jones.....it didn't have to be Henry....this was the deepest running back free agency class in a long time. And it favored the "bargain shoppers" like Stephen and they didn't even try except Zack Moss. And they lowballed him on a cheap deal. This is the incompetence that's plaguing this franchise.

 

[CowboyoWales]

everyone has to deal with the pain. its inevitable. some do it well. some suck at it. but you have a window and you have to compete in that window. suffer the pain and rebuild/reload...

Rams did it and won a superbowl and then yes, paid the piper. but guess what, there is a trophy in their case.
Philly did it, and played in the superbowl and lost to perhaps one of the greatest QB of all time (by the time its said and done). and then reloaded

our GMs can't manage the cap. its not about building a competitive team. its about profits. and then tell people some story and let their biases take over.

So we should of rebuilbut t properly this year and not behind Dak. I think you want to go back and read my position at the time of the contract negotiation....I was advocating a career ending contract, which gave us a 'last hurrah'....but Dak's greed to hit fa again has put the death nail in any hope.
Too many holes, too little time to restructure.

 

[CowboyoWales]

Well let's say some things on Dak's contract.


For one he was a All Pro. No one in league history has given up on a quarterback after a All Pro season. So regardless of what me and you feel about the guy if Jerry or any GM had gotten rid of a All Pro at the Quarterback position that would be considered a terrible move and incompetence. So I won't knock the guy for that. But I can knock the guy for completely alienating and not using the salary cap to his advantage. I will knock him for not addressing the running back position or going into the season with 2 rookies on the offensive line.

That's it, you support your QB and by extension what Jerry did....me, I blame Jerry and the no.1 present issue is that he gave a crippling contract extension when he didn't need to.

 

[CowboyoWales]

I don't think Henry was ever coming here to me everyone knew Henry was gonna be a Raven. Now I won't defend this front office but this narrative we missed out on him is just something to harp on about. All because he moved to Dallas? Ravens had a better offseason and a better team IMO. It was a natural fit.

But I will knock them for not even trying. Didn't even reach out. I said it in the offseason all of these guys Mixon, Barkley, Swift, Henry, Aaron Jones.....it didn't have to be Henry....this was the deepest running back free agency class in a long time. And it favored the "bargain shoppers" like Stephen and they didn't even try except Zack Moss. And they lowballed him on a cheap deal. This is the incompetence that's plaguing this franchise.

Nobody is saying Jerry is useless with a emphasis on being relevant rather than being a winner. But that is predicated by him giving ridiculous contracts to the names rather than players.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

That's it, you support your QB and by extension what Jerry did....me, I blame Jerry and the no.1 present issue is that he gave a crippling contract extension when he didn't need to.

I don’t support anything. I said all offseason don’t sign Dak. Mutually. I said let him play out that deal. All offseason. When they got smacked up by Packers I said trade them all and start over. So “my support” for the QB is me supporting him because he has a star on his helmet.

They chose not to fire anyone and not rebuild. Ok. Now get Lamb and Dak done as quick as possible since it’s clear you aren’t letting them walk. You guys argued all offseason about letting Dak walk and I was telling you they weren’t going to do it. Everyone knew it. They intentionally walked to sign them so they could use the excuse they had no money.

Realistically they were never giving up an All Pro at qb. It’s never happened and Jerry wasn’t gonna be the first to do it.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Nobody is saying Jerry is useless with a emphasis on being relevant rather than being a winner. But that is predicated by him giving ridiculous contracts to the names rather than players.

Yeah I don’t even care about his contracts he hands out. That’s the least of my concern. It’s the roster building that’s an issue. It’s inconsistent. Every team struggles with the salary cap. You think Eagles don’t have highly paid guys? But they use the cap to their advantage like most teams. It sucks to hear but the Cowboys have no idea how to manage the cap. It’s embarrassingly bad. Daks contract counted against our cap for 20 million last year…did you see how adrift they were? You didn’t? Because they weren’t and haven’t been. If you told me Cowboys would let Dak go and use that savings to build a team sign me up. But anyone who watches this team knows they wouldn’t do that. When these guys talk listen but also watch what they show you. Stephen said he’s all about the pie. If one guy doesn’t take it they will give it to the next one. If Dak doesn’t take his piece? Biadiz, Armstrong and Fowler would’ve took it.

 

[CowboyoWales]

see my other response. you are wrong. you fell hard, face first for what stephen and jerry are selling....we can't afford it, and give your full on bias against Dak, just on cue said "Dak".

how did GB afford a 4 year 55M AAV contract, but 60M contract totally crippled this team and they are down in the toilets!!!! our wonderful GMs couldn't manage 5M difference in a contract!!!!

you can't be more wrong about this.

p.s.
question: do you happen to work for Stephen and Jerry? perhaps on a contract to just echo what they say?

What I'm buying is that we aren't winning with Dak, especially as he's on a 4 year deal. Restructure all you like, but there's no extension to further spread the money. Dak's on 17% of the CAP as opposed to the 11%, 8%, 8% of the 12-5 seasons, now it may be a co-incidence, or it may just be that Dak needs too much assistance to be a successful $60m per QB.

 

[CowboyoWales]

I don’t support anything. I said all offseason don’t sign Dak. Mutually. I said let him play out that deal. All offseason. When they got smacked up by Packers I said trade them all and start over. So “my support” for the QB is me supporting him because he has a star on his helmet.

They chose not to fire anyone and not rebuild. Ok. Now get Lamb and Dak done as quick as possible since it’s clear you aren’t letting them walk. You guys argued all offseason about letting Dak walk and I was telling you they weren’t going to do it. Everyone knew it. They intentionally walked to sign them so they could use the excuse they had no money.

Realistically they were never giving up an All Pro at qb. It’s never happened and Jerry wasn’t gonna be the first to do it.

You're actually making an excuse for Jerry. There's plenty of us that could see Dak's AllPro season was behind (what for Jerry was) an All-in season and that when the restructured CAP had to be accounted for and we had better opposition to play Dak would regress to his norm.

 

[CowboyoWales]

Yeah I don’t even care about his contracts he hands out. That’s the least of my concern. It’s the roster building that’s an issue. It’s inconsistent. Every team struggles with the salary cap. You think Eagles don’t have highly paid guys? But they use the cap to their advantage like most teams. It sucks to hear but the Cowboys have no idea how to manage the cap. It’s embarrassingly bad. Daks contract counted against our cap for 20 million last year…did you see how adrift they were? You didn’t? Because they weren’t and haven’t been. If you told me Cowboys would let Dak go and use that savings to build a team sign me up. But anyone who watches this team knows they wouldn’t do that. When these guys talk listen but also watch what they show you. Stephen said he’s all about the pie. If one guy doesn’t take it they will give it to the next one. If Dak doesn’t take his piece? Biadiz, Armstrong and Fowler would’ve took it.

The Eagles are a better run organisation and are able to garner longer contracts.
We have a GM that looks at the name first. That 4 year contract is a killer, all because of the name. I imagine Jerry believes (in his warped way of thinking), that these heavily paid stars will play up to their contracts

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

You're actually making an excuse for Jerry. There's plenty of us that could see Dak's AllPro season was behind (what for Jerry was) an All-in season and that when the restructured CAP had to be accounted for and we had better opposition to play Dak would regress to his norm.

If you want to hold him accountable for Dak's contract that's fine. There were also people who said don't draft him and don't sign him for 40 million a year. WE all sit on this computer with nothing invested and giving our opinion so i'm sure plenty of people said don't sign Dak. I get it. Do your victory lap because so far you look good. But this is not the norm for Dak. I don't even really want to get in the Dak argument because you've been proven to not be honest in the conversation and you have this warped view of the guy being worse then he is so no point in going back and forth there.

But i'm not giving you a personal opinion or an excuse. I'm telling you how the NFL works. I've seen it for 30 plus years in this salary cap era. If you are a quarterback and you make a All Pro you will not leave your team. Its just what it is. Doesn't happen. You can dislike it but it just doesn't happen is all i'm saying. Right or wrong.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

The Eagles are a better run organisation and are able to garner longer contracts.
We have a GM that looks at the name first. That 4 year contract is a killer, all because of the name. I imagine Jerry believes (in his warped way of thinking), that these heavily paid stars will play up to their contracts

Well this is just what the NFL is.

Let's be real here the contracts Jerry hands out aren't any different then what anyone else does. Every team hands out 4 year contracts and every team has to overpay for players.

But the prime issue here is Jerry sat here all offseason and watched Lamb and Dak's value increase after waiting and waiting. And he did it on purpose so he wouldn't have any money to use in free agency. Or his son I don't know what's going on with the front office dynamic I think Stephen Jones plays a bigger part then many people know but just a theory of mine.

 

[Creeper]

First, the CAP is real and to say otherwise ignores the facts. But this is a separate issue than what is happening in Dallas. In Dallas is not the CAP that is the problem, it is the philosophy of the Cowboys management that is the problem.

Go back to the 2024 offseason. It sure looked like the CAP space was tight. Too tight to sign a big time DT. But that's because Jerry dragged his feet giving CeeDee a new contract, and extending Dak. Had he done those two things in March, even giving them the contracts they got he could have cleared $20 million in CAP space. The problem is, Jerry did not want to go all in. Jerry does not want to spend on high priced free agents because he thinks he can build a team on the draft alone. He has been wrong for years but he is still committed to his thinking.

The problem in Dallas is incompetence. There is no shortage of that. One could argue that building through the draft is a reasonable strategy - reasonable, not perfect. But if you believe in this strategy then your draft picks should have more valuable to you than to a team that likes trading draft picks for established players, right? Yet Jerry trades his picks away like candy. A 4th for Mingo? A 4th for Lance. He takes a 5th for Cooper? Gives away a 6th for a DT that lasted 2 games? If get get your players from the draft, then one would think the more picks you have the better your chances of getting players for your roster.

People are saying Dallas could clear $120 million in CAP space this offseason. Sure they can. Look at the Eagles. They have about $200 million in voided years on their books. Except the Eagles are fine with building a team to win a Super Bowl and then suffering a couple of years of bad football down the road. That's what they did after their last Super Bowl. Now they have loaded up again and are shooting for another SB while Jerry is still stubbornly sticking to his philosophy that has been proven not to work.

I think it is good for Dallas to have a bad year this year. If they were successful Jerry Jones would think he way works. I am only sorry they are having a down year with all the injuries which we all know he will use as an excuse.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Im saying that with holes we've got, we arent winning in the foreseable and YES, a lot of that is down to the contract given to Dak (with his pending 15%+ of the CAP).
We certainly can restructure, but to what end.....just improving to maybe (just maybe, reaching the play-offs).
As for Henry, you really think, given the choice, he would of chosen us over the Ravens?

what I am saying is we have holes that can be filled. Cap is not the biggest issue. cap is easily managed.
and lets not forget CD contract, Diggs contract, Lawrence contract and so on...you said it before, paying out contracts that then they don't perform....well here we are.... (maybe CD is performing).

I don't think Henry would have chosen us, but we never made the call. he said it too, they never called. our stupidity. at least kick the tires, but we showed no interest. ZERO. why?