Video: Fish: Aikman as GM? A new NFL angle for Cowboys legend

[Big D]

If you thought letting a head coach learn on the job was bad, bust this!

 

[Silly]

I recall when Deion Sanders was talking about coaching the Cowboys. I thought why not. He was a winner. Give him a chance and see what he can do. He could not have been any worse than what we have already seen. Cowboys really do need a new GM. Why not Troy?

 

[Doomsday101]

Aikman would take zero **** from Jerry!!

which is why Troy would not last long as GM. I can understand people saying we need a GM but seem people forget the GM works for the owner, now do you think Jerry would sit back on things he does not agree with? GM would not last long

 

[conner01]

Certainly there are legit questions about anyone taking on a position they haven't held before. But there is no way to answer them until it is tried. Below are some thoughts that might give you hope.

• I would trust Troy's evaluation of talent and team building over Jerry's.
• Troy is a straight shooter. If players know they have to deal with Troy's decisions, they don't push the boundaries. Plus it deters those who just want to come here to get paid.
• Troy has been in contact with everyone in the league during his years as a broadcaster. It might make it easier for other organizations to deal with someone other than a Jones when it comes to trades, etc..
• Troy's statements to the media would be far more coherent & direct than Jerry's

Jerry doesn’t evaluate talent, the scouts do

 

[conner01]

You can change coaches or the results of a coach fairly quickly
You make a mistake on a GM and it takes years to correct
There are way to many much more qualified people in the player acquisition side of football
Many of which have spent years scouting players and working with proven GM’s
Player acquisition is the most important job of a GM
Not press conferences

 

[KingintheNorth]

But you’d take Troy?

I'd take an independent thinker who would not be beholden to Jerry and be accountable for their decisions.

A few years ago I would have hated the idea of Aikman moving from broadcaster to GM. Ridiculous idea I thought.

I've told this story before here but I have friends who work in scouting and player personnel departments. When the 49ers hired John Lynch I called one and asked what the heck were they thinking.

He told me I was looking at all wrong. Lynch, a smart guy on his own, his dad ran sports radio stations, went to Stanford, etc., had spent the last several years seeing the inner workings of every NFL team as they do their prep and interviews the days leading into broadcasts. He saw what the successful teams were doing and what the poorly ran franchises were doing. He's been fairly successful in his short time as a GM.

When I listen to Aikman, I see and hear some of that. He spends a lot of time talking about what coaches and teams are doing, how they are getting better, what their plan is. I certainly do not know for a fact that Aikman will be good but I definitely get the sense he wants to be good at it.

The fact that he wouldn't solely depend on Jerry for his livelihood (he has his own money), would make me more optimistic than promoting a former Arena league coach who either agreed with or stayed quiet on some of the awful personnel decisions we have made the last few years.

 

[McKDaddy]

Jerry doesn’t evaluate talent, the scouts do

Which they turn over to the GM and the GM evaluates their evaluation, right? Keep in mind this is only the drafting portion of talent evaluation.
Currently Jerry writes the checks to re-sign or give extensions apparently with no input from anyone else. Clearly he is misevaluating talent & dollar value on too many players.
Also an independent qualified GM would work with the coach to hold players accountable without fear of them just going around the coach to Jerry.

 

[jterrell]

Never understood why people think Troy could do the job
Great QB and person who as a player strived for perfection
But what about him makes people think he has any clue about personnel or building a team?
I would hire Troy as a HC, but I think he would be a better fit there because he does strive for perfection which is a good trait at HC

Yea, I mean I just don't know. The ONLY draftee he was ever tied to was David LeFleur. Which probably isn't really on him but he did give the guy a blessing.

Aikman's broadcast work is solid as a rock but he's a throwback in every sense. I'm the kind of person who wants forward thinking people as coaches and GMs.
Especially if paired with the stodgy Stephen Jones.

Will McClay is a scouts GM. He likes athletic profiles. He's a really good counterbalance to just taking every guy from Bama. That balance in Dallas has produced good results overall even if there were some big misses. --see Taco.
They need to just name him GM and let him do the job for a couple years minimum.
If that fails then you go make someone the highest paid GM in the sport.
But someone with a keen eye for talent and who knows current collegiate ranks.
Aikman has been solely7 NFL focused and that makes for a very poor GM generally.
I don't need a gm that knows what was, I need one to know what will be.

 

[conner01]

Which they turn over to the GM and the GM evaluates their evaluation, right? Keep in mind this is only the drafting portion of talent evaluation.
Currently Jerry writes the checks to re-sign or give extensions apparently with no input from anyone else. Clearly he is misevaluating talent & dollar value on too many players.
Also an independent qualified GM would work with the coach to hold players accountable without fear of them just going around the coach to Jerry.

I think mcClay and the coaches have much more impact on Jerry than fans think
Jerry likes to make a splash but in recent years he seems to be following the board during the draft
Even with a GM players still know Jerry writes the checks so stopping players from going around a coach or any GM requires Jerry to stop it

 

[Ranched]

LOL. Talk about fake news. Jerry giving up the GM position is like the Queen giving up her royalty!

 

[TexasBacon]

If I'm Troy I turn this down in an instant if the offer ever comes. The second Aikman has any success Jerry will fire him due to Aikman getting credit, and Jerry won't stand for that.

Well, Jerry might legitimately be dead or senile by the time all of that played out and resulted in success. And if he's not I highly doubt he'd risk pissing the fans off by doing what we was perceived of doing to Jimmy again and especially doing that against Troy freaking Aikman. The fans would murder Jerry if he tried pulling that crap with Troy.

Him even doing this in the first place is an entirely different story....

 

[McKDaddy]

I think mcClay and the coaches have much more impact on Jerry than fans think
Jerry likes to make a splash but in recent years he seems to be following the board during the draft
Even with a GM players still know Jerry writes the checks so stopping players from going around a coach or any GM requires Jerry to stop it

agreed. but putting someone in that title would signal a change.

 

[jterrell]

I'd take an independent thinker who would not be beholden to Jerry and be accountable for their decisions.

A few years ago I would have hated the idea of Aikman moving from broadcaster to GM. Ridiculous idea I thought.

I've told this story before here but I have friends who work in scouting and player personnel departments. When the 49ers hired John Lynch I called one and asked what the heck were they thinking.

He told me I was looking at all wrong. Lynch, a smart guy on his own, his dad ran sports radio stations, went to Stanford, etc., had spent the last several years seeing the inner workings of every NFL team as they do their prep and interviews the days leading into broadcasts. He saw what the successful teams were doing and what the poorly ran franchises were doing. He's been fairly successful in his short time as a GM.

When I listen to Aikman, I see and hear some of that. He spends a lot of time talking about what coaches and teams are doing, how they are getting better, what their plan is. I certainly do not know for a fact that Aikman will be good but I definitely get the sense he wants to be good at it.

The fact that he wouldn't solely depend on Jerry for his livelihood (he has his own money), would make me more optimistic than promoting a former Arena league coach who either agreed with or stayed quiet on some of the awful personnel decisions we have made the last few years.

Lynch has been in SF 4 years.
His 4 draft classes have rated soft to very poor.
His very first draft pick was Soloman Thomas. He backed that up with a 2nd R1 guy, Reuben Foster.
He went out and got Jimmy G for a high 2nd and paid him like a franchise guy. He's completed more than 6 games only once in his 4 seasons in San Fran.

The 49ers have won 6, 4, 13, 6 games in his 4 years.
They made 1 Super Bowl but I wouldn't call the Lynch period successful by any measure.

Anyone who thinks Aikman is more deserving of a GM job than McClay is just foolish. McClay earned every job he got in Dallas by crushing the role before.
He was a winner as AFL coach and then he was the most effective scout.
They promoted him to pro scouting and Dallas began plucking cheap, FA like Laurent Robinson.
They moved him to be over the draft and that turned around to provide fairly immediate returns as well.

McClay's GM-ship the last 4 years strongly outperforms Lynch's.

 

[Dalmations202]

I really like McClay, but his job is player evaluation......ie from my perspective he really seems to be a Director of Scouting and Player Personnel, and he is good at it.

I asked this question before, because I see a GM as the guy who picks the coaches. The guy who develops the plan to get to the Superbowl. The guy who works with the cap specialist, and lawyers on contracts. The GM is the guy who watches a game and sees a need and a player, and has the contacts to make a deal with any other team. The GM should be the one who holds all accountable, and lets the owner know where the team is on its progression to the SB, or if they need to blow it up. The GM is the one who has the vision and has to be able to work with everyone -- Coaches, Owners, Players, Money guys (cap specialist), and other GM's to get his team to the top. He is the guy who is accountable for any of the failures -- and the reason that when Jerry fails at the GM role, we get 25 years of mediocrity. Because the GM is responsible and accountable, he needs the power to put into place the pieces needed to complete the mission. Jerry can't fire himself, and won't hold himself responsible. Jerry is an awesome owner, who sucks as a GM.

McClay is a Jones type GM without the title. Not necessarily a legit GM if I were the owner.

Troy would need to be a different GM type for sure.

 

[CouchCoach]

This is laughable. The control of the Dallas Cowboys will have to be pried from the cold dead hands of Booger. He is incapable of being a hands off owner.

To acquiesce his position of GM would be admitting failure and his ego will not allow that.

Add to this, how do we know Aikman would make a good GM, because he wants to be one? I've heard him promote some real stiffs in his years in the booth. If he was being real, I don't know if he would help the club.

However, there is that mantra "Anyone but Booger'!!!

 

[Fmart322]

Aikman wouldn't last a year. Jerry wouldn't allow it.

 

[DandyDon52]

Troy may make a good gm, if he got to hire the HC, and also he might not.
Just being a good player who won SB's does not mean he would be a good gm or HC.

 

[sean10mm]

Aikman is rightly a franchise hero, but at this point he can barely mumble his way through talking about games, never mind actually manage a team.

 

[Doomsday101]

Troy may make a good gm, if he got to hire the HC, and also he might not.
Just being a good player who won SB's does not mean he would be a good gm or HC.

I agree there are no guarantees he would be. However I think much like John Lynch the experience as a player but also working in the booth allowed him to expand contacts around the league pertaining to coaches and assistant coaches as they interact with these people. I think there is a certain about of insight gained by working within the league in the broadcast booth

 

[jterrell]

I recall when Deion Sanders was talking about coaching the Cowboys. I thought why not. He was a winner. Give him a chance and see what he can do. He could not have been any worse than what we have already seen. Cowboys really do need a new GM. Why not Troy?

This is just a really really bad take on every level.
Deion ran his first HS program into the ground by cutting corners and full on recruiting high school kids from out of state.
He ended up at Jacksonville State because he couldn't get a D1 gig.

So yes he could have easily done worse.

Troy is Jason Garrett minus the experience. Naming him GM would be hilariously bad.
The Dallas Cowboys do not need to bring in guys who have zero scouting/GM/contract negotiation experience.
They need to promote McClay to the GM title.
Troy can certainly find an NFL job if he wants and even here, but not as the GM.