CFZ Instead of a soft rebuild, the 2024 season became a kamikaze mission

tm1119

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People need to stop using this “rebuild” talk as an excuse for sheer incompetence. It’s bordering on Stockholm syndrome at this point.

When was the last time the front office legitimately tried to improve the team in the off-season? The need to try to explain what happened this off season with theories about what Jerry is planning is crazy to me
 

Bobhaze

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People need to stop using this “rebuild” talk as an excuse for sheer incompetence. It’s bordering on Stockholm syndrome at this point.

When was the last time the front office legitimately tried to improve the team in the off-season? The need to try to explain what happened this off season with theories about what Jerry is planning is crazy to me
100% agree. You raise a great question…when was the last time JJ was “fully in charge” of a complete rebuild? The two major rebuilds that have happened in the 35+ years of JJs ownership were: 1. The one Jimmy engineered. 2. The one Parcells did. 3. There was a a small transitional kind of “rebuild” from 2013-16 when Garrett was here.

Point is, without a strong influential HC like Jimmy or Parcells, Jerry is clueless how to rebuild.
 

ArtClink

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100% agree. You raise a great question…when was the last time JJ was “fully in charge” of a complete rebuild? The two major rebuilds that have happened in the 35+ years of JJs ownership were: 1. The one Jimmy engineered. 2. The one Parcells did. 3. There was a a small transitional kind of “rebuild” from 2013-16 when Garrett was here.

Point is, without a strong influential HC like Jimmy or Parcells, Jerry is clueless how to rebuild.
But wait just a minute. Jerry is in the pro football HOF. “They” don’t just let anyone in. And did you forget we are the most profitable franchise? That should count for something. Plus our beloved Cowboys fuhrer has a wife that has contributed great artwork to our beautifully designed east/west stadium. Oh and what about Sky Mirror. Was it a grammatical error to capitalize Sky Mirror?
 

tm1119

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100% agree. You raise a great question…when was the last time JJ was “fully in charge” of a complete rebuild? The two major rebuilds that have happened in the 35+ years of JJs ownership were: 1. The one Jimmy engineered. 2. The one Parcells did. 3. There was a a small transitional kind of “rebuild” from 2013-16 when Garrett was here.

Point is, without a strong influential HC like Jimmy or Parcells, Jerry is clueless how to rebuild.
Ehh I’m not sure you are agreeing with what I said tho lol. I’m saying Jerry isn’t rebuilding and has absolutely 0 plan to. I’m saying Jerry is doing things his way and truly believes he’s doing things correctly. Unfortunately for us about 95% of what he’s doing is wildly incorrect

Coaching staff will be sacrificial lambs, all draft picks will be touted as great, a few cheap inconsequential free agents will be signed…we got our Super Bowl roster and the great new coach will lead them. Rinse and repeat Cowboys off season incoming
 

Bobhaze

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But wait just a minute. Jerry is in the pro football HOF. “They” don’t just let anyone in. And did you forget we are the most profitable franchise? That should count for something. Plus our beloved Cowboys fuhrer has a wife that has contributed great artwork to our beautifully designed east/west stadium. Oh and what about Sky Mirror. Was it a grammatical error to capitalize Sky Mirror?
Lol, yeah JJ is in the HOF as a ”contributor”. He certainly made the NFL a machine that prints money and makes the owners completely risk free of any losses regardless of results.

And he is certainly now the biggest contributor to the state of this team on and off the field.
 

slick325

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This last off-season, most Cowboys fans watched mystified as a team that had won 36 games in three seasons lost 6 starters and other key contributors to free agency, and saw them replaced with rookies and dumpster dive free agents in a so called “soft rebuild”. And we were supposed to believe this would just fly on auto-pilot.

And on top of all that, fans were fed a steady off-season diet of gaslighting about cap restrictions not allowing them to sign any of the better FAs. Which was not only false, it was mostly due to the owner’s own dilly-dallying waiting to sign people he already knew he was going to sign.

All the while piling on his lies with the infamous, “I’m all in” statement. Then putting his head coach and entire coaching staff in a hangman’s noose “all or fall” year with a team full of holes. And a first place schedule, making this team twist in the wind with gigantic holes in its roster while playing the better teams in the league.

Soft rebuild? More like a free fall kamikaze mission. How did this season become a suicide mission?
  • Losing some really good players who in fairness we mostly could not have kept. But here’s the mistake: replaced them ALL with either untested rookies or dumpster dive free agents no other team wanted. That’s not a wise rebuild.
  • Instead of signing their big contract WR and QB in the spring so they could turn those extensions into cap space, the owner/GM decides to turn that into a PR game of dragging out negotiations, then when it’s too late for other meaningful FA moves, they sign those guys anyway at the price they could’ve made in May instead of Sept.
  • When given the opportunity to sign a generational RB talent in Derrick Henry, at a very reduced price (about the same cap hit as their third string QB who never plays) this FO didn’t even make a phone call. Then lied saying “we can’t afford him”. Then lied again saying, “He wouldn’t fit our scheme”.
  • When multiple opportunities to draft a RB in the 2024 draft fell their way in rounds 4-7, this FO said “We’re good” with Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn, Royce Freeman, and washed up vets Zeke Elliott and Dalvin Cook. Not surprisingly this is the worst rushing team in the NFL.
  • And finally, with the trade deadline looming and multiple options available to help this anemic offense have at least some weapons to threaten a defense, they have made it clear, they will pass.
Soft rebuild? This season has turned into a very hard pill to swallow as we all watch helplessly as our once talented team heads into a very predictable crash. And the guy 100% responsible refuses to ever take responsibility. Jerry has become the Joker in the Batman series. He would rather “watch it burn“ than ever acknowledge this organization needs someone else in charge of football operations.
Great write-up, Bullet. As usual.
 

big dog cowboy

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There was no "All-In" Lie. Jerry clearly explained what he was talking about when he said it. The fact that people refuse to look beyond one sentence when they listen to people doesn't make it a lie, it just makes the people who ran with it lazy or dishonest.
So much truth right there.
 

ArtClink

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Lol, yeah JJ is in the HOF as a ”contributor”. He certainly made the NFL a machine that prints money and makes the owners completely risk free of any losses regardless of results.

And he is certainly now the biggest contributor to the state of this team on and off the field.
Well it seems wrong to hold our beloved fuhrer accountable when we can scapegoat the hc and a few assistants. It’s the Jerry way, followed by a big flashy new hc hire and then totally stripping the new hc of all power, we have another lost season, larger, rinse, repeat.
 

kskboys

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People need to stop using this “rebuild” talk as an excuse for sheer incompetence. It’s bordering on Stockholm syndrome at this point.

When was the last time the front office legitimately tried to improve the team in the off-season? The need to try to explain what happened this off season with theories about what Jerry is planning is crazy to me
Jerry Jones does not rebuild. He's so NFL dumb, doesn't even know how.
 

Plankton

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Ehh I’m not sure you are agreeing with what I said tho lol. I’m saying Jerry isn’t rebuilding and has absolutely 0 plan to. I’m saying Jerry is doing things his way and truly believes he’s doing things correctly. Unfortunately for us about 95% of what he’s doing is wildly incorrect

Coaching staff will be sacrificial lambs, all draft picks will be touted as great, a few cheap inconsequential free agents will be signed…we got our Super Bowl roster and the great new coach will lead them. Rinse and repeat Cowboys off season incoming
FIFY in bold.
 

Doomsday

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Jeff gives a great breakdown of what Jerry and Stephen are actually doing with the salary CAP. I don't think it is a coincidence that they can roll $20 million over into next season and they have $19 million in dead money from Tank, Cooks and Martin. They basically set this entire coaching staff up to fail and knew all along this would be a throw away season. Probably why Jerry got so defensive when the guys on the Fan called him out.

He starts to get into the CAP stuff at the 3 minute mark.
 

khiladi

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The Cowboys got annihilated to end last season. Dak had 5 INTs in the last 5 games and should have had more. The only reason that play doesn’t look as bad is because they played yhe Commanders and Dak as usual, padded his stats in a meaningless game.

People act like opposing defenses didn’t have the script on what Dallas was doing after the bye.

Imagine if they didn’t sign CeeDee Lamb and let Dak play out the season…
 

Quickdraw

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I guess you're seeing what Jerry really meant by "All in" and it doesn't look like it meant what people thought, or expected.
 

doomsday9084

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The only thing I will disagree with is that the team's money is an illusion. They really don't have the capspace to put together a top level team. Their window for a title ended last year. Jerry knew it and is trying to reset things with everything from coaching to salary. His "all in" comment was a lie. Propaganda meant to continue ticket sales during a down year.

Here is what I don't get though. Why re-sign Dak? He is on another short deal. If you are going to take up several years of that trying to rebuild and he is going to be 35 or something on the back side of it, why not just let him go? The reset would have gone much better without giving Dak the biggest contract in NFL history. The team would have been just as fine (or bad, however you want to look at it) with Winston or something.
 

Parcells4Life

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This is why you should root for the Falcons, Eagles, Texans, etc. getting this team to 8-9 would be a disaster.

Best thing is to go 6-11 at best. Sends a message their way of roster building is awful and gets a high draft pick as a result.
 

cristglo

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Several of those players barely contributed last year.
You also had Diggs coming back.
Hankins was never very good here.
Biadz was not thought very highly of.
Smith...we know his issues.
Kearse was so good, he's still not on a team.

Pollard, Smith, Armstrong are really the only 3 of much significance. Maybe Gilmore, but you had Diggs coming back. Pollard wouldn't make much difference behind this blocking. Kneeland showed promise. Who knows what Williams would have grown into with another year. Overshown was coming back after showing promise in preseason last year.

Replacing with youth is fine, often times better than FA experience.

Again, you didn't actually listen beyond the word "in" to see what "all-in" meant. It was not a lie. It's been exactly as he said. You can think that it's terrible, but it wasn't a lie.
Jerry is that you?
 

CCBoy

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Starting this very weekend, the divining rod indicator is this...

Lamb is now a top-three receiver after last week’s game. He goes up against a defense that is allowing the fourth-most receiving touchdowns and is dead last in sacks.

If the coaching staff can't turn this aspect against running game disadvantages, little can be forged as to advantages with the returning injury players...quickly.
 

Kevinicus

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Jerry is that you?
I'm not saying the plan was good. I would have liked some more to be done as well.

Just pointing out that the players that we lost weren't all that significant for the most part, and that the "all-in" comment was clarified at the time, and was an accurate for what they've done, so people shouldn't still be confused about it.
 
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