Objectively, how does Jerry compare with the average NFL owner?

[SinceDayOne]

Jones is not the worst. Better than Daniel Snyder for sure. IMO better than Stephen Ross. No worse at this point in time than Jimmy and Dee Haslam. Better than Ford family up in Detroit. Up until a couple of years ago I would have said he was better than Mike Brown. But Mr Brown has finally gotten his act together. In summary I would say he is certainly in the bottom 25% for sure.

 

[GINeric]

As we all know, Dallas, Washington and Detroit are the only NFC teams to have never made it to the conference title game since 1996. So we don't need to rehash that thing for the 1000th time.

That being said, it's worth it to discuss Jerry overall compared to the 31 other owners. Sure, we want wins rather than money, but there's no denying Jerry has done a fantastic business job growing the Cowboys to the world's most valuable sports team, having the highest ratings and having America's biggest NFL fan base despite Dallas' terrible playoff record since 26 years ago. If he could do all that despite sucking in wins, imagine how utterly dominant the Cowboys would be if they actually were making deep playoff runs regularly?

And also, under Jerry, we've had some fine drafts, even post-Jimmy. We got Diggs, Lamb, Parsons, Ware, Dez, Frederick, Witten, Romo, Dak, etc. It's not A+ drafting, but it's certainly not a C-.

So, objectively, grading Jerry in comparison to the other 31, is Jerry in the 50th percentile of owners? 80th? 20th?

To answer your question in my opinion, Jerry has brought 3 Superbowl trophies to the Dallas Cowboys and has also contributed in many different ways to the NFL in general.

An average NFL owner would not be capable of accomplishing half of what Jerry has accomplished. So Jerry is obviously WAY above average.

 

[john van brocklin]

Without the help of Will McClay and relying upon the FO, the Cowboys would likely be cellar-dwellers.

True words spoken !

 

[acr731]

To answer your question in my opinion, Jerry has brought 3 Superbowl trophies to the Dallas Cowboys and has also contributed in many different ways to the NFL in general.

An average NFL owner would not be capable of accomplishing half of what Jerry has accomplished. So Jerry is obviously WAY above average.

So Jerry gets a pass on 26 years of failure because of the early success? Holy hell....

In that case lets give the Ford family a pass because the Lions won championships in 1952, 1953, and 1957. Cleveland gets a pass too since they won it all in 1964.

 

[Cowpolk]

Owner he’s probably the best. GM tho… guy couldn’t win a championship in the arena league

He has 3 Superbowl wins in the NFL

 

[acr731]

He has 3 Superbowl wins in the NFL

Yep, it was all Jerry. Jimmy Johnson did nothing other than stand around on the sidelines.

 

[plymkr]

As we all know, Dallas, Washington and Detroit are the only NFC teams to have never made it to the conference title game since 1996. So we don't need to rehash that thing for the 1000th time.

That being said, it's worth it to discuss Jerry overall compared to the 31 other owners. Sure, we want wins rather than money, but there's no denying Jerry has done a fantastic business job growing the Cowboys to the world's most valuable sports team, having the highest ratings and having America's biggest NFL fan base despite Dallas' terrible playoff record since 26 years ago. If he could do all that despite sucking in wins, imagine how utterly dominant the Cowboys would be if they actually were making deep playoff runs regularly?

And also, under Jerry, we've had some fine drafts, even post-Jimmy. We got Diggs, Lamb, Parsons, Ware, Dez, Frederick, Witten, Romo, Dak, etc. It's not A+ drafting, but it's certainly not a C-.

So, objectively, grading Jerry in comparison to the other 31, is Jerry in the 50th percentile of owners? 80th? 20th?

I would say bottom 10% to 5%. His drafting has been about a B. His findings in UDFA rookies is an A+. Acquiring Romo, Austin in UDFA is awesome. Where Jerry struggles is building a team. He has proven he can draft and find diamonds in the rough. He also has proven that he can not build a complete team around said stars. So I would rank Jerry the Owner and the GM in the bottom 5% because his team building skills are not good. He can not compliment the stars he does find with a team to support them. If you're eliminating the playoffs as a talking point that's cool. But another aspect is coaching and that's my main beef with Jerry the owner is he doesn't hire good coaches or doesn't get out of the way of his coaches. That shoots him down to the 5% ranking.

 

[darthseinfeld]

If the ultimate goal is winning super bowls, his ranking would be bottom 10%.

But its not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is profit

 

[morat1959]

To answer your question in my opinion, Jerry has brought 3 Superbowl trophies to the Dallas Cowboys and has also contributed in many different ways to the NFL in general.

An average NFL owner would not be capable of accomplishing half of what Jerry has accomplished. So Jerry is obviously WAY above average.

Stephen?

 

[shabazz]

How are any of us fans supposed to be objective?

 

[tyke1doe]

to preface this lets continue but I have nothing against you-just a friendly argument

Thank you.

1- if Jerry had bought the Browns or Jax or any other team they wouldnt be the marketing dynamo that Cowboys are and probably not much better than they are now. Cowboys were leading the league in marketing when Jerry bought them. He just took advantage of it. Dont really see the genius in this . Just a business move.

True. But, the Cowboys weren't at their peak either. Tickets weren't selling out like they are now. In fact, I found out that I could get season tickets back in 89. But I didn't live in Dallas and wasn't about to travel to Dallas from, well, another Southern state.
Now, I don't think you can get season tickets.

2- when I say specific give me (without googling it) something Jerry has done that genius. He did raise ticket prices this week 20%. Is this another genius move since it gives him more profit or just greed.

How am I going to do that? Most of our information about the Cowboys come from secondary sources. I would have to be on staff to give you information other than publications or what others have said. Your requirement is unfair.
Be that as it may, I cited the Forbes article. Look, I'm not a Jerry Jones GM fan. Personally, I don't think we'll see another Super Bowl in Jerry's lifetime (or maybe mine). And that HIGHLY FRUSTRATES ME!!! But I do think he's a great owner based on how I defined owner.

3- I get your profit point but Jerry has to control everything with the team and thats the problem. He shouldn't also be on the coaching side. Murchinson left that to Schramm/Landry. Jerry cant. His ego has to get credit for everything. He tried the same thing with the whole NFL. He tried to control the other teams leading to the letter signed by ALL 31 other owners to him telling him to get lost or they will try to get him kicked from the NFL.

I agree with you here.

again I really could care less about the profit/marketing side. All I care about is winning. Jerry keeps on getting in the way because the team can only win if Jerry gets 100% of the credit for it. If he was less involved and didnt build Jerryworld but we played in the Cotton Bowl and were world champions 3 times in last decade I'd be happier than now

Fair enough. But we're fans. Owners are owners. And they want dat cheddar! LOL!

 

[plymkr]

Technically speaking, an owner's job is to make sure his/her company remains in existence, make sure his company turns a PROFIT, and make sure it remains relevant so it can continue to make a PROFIT!
No one is better than Jerry Jones in doing that.

While it is true that the Cowboys were America's Team before Jerry Jones, Jones revived the franchise. Whether you want to call it serendipity, blind stupidity or intentionality, he had the foresight to hire Jimmy Johnson and AGREED to the trade of Herschel Walker, which catapulted the Cowboys to three Super Bowl wins and restored their popularity and, honestly, expanded upon it.

The Cowboys today are living off the fumes of the 90s dynasty. I know people want to hate him in totality, but you MUST give him credit for the part he played in hiring Johnson and restoring the shine on America's Team.

Furthermore, Jerry Jones is a MARKETING GENIUS. Remember, he is the reason the NFL is the powerhouse it is as a league today, and his marketing prowess is the reason Jerry Jones is in the Hall of Fame.

Please read:

Jerry Jones risk allows Cowboys to become the leader in the growing women's sports apparel market

Jerry Jones helped revolutionize the modern NFL

Excerpt from the latter link:


This isn't some rinky-dink sports tabloid writer or wannabe blogger saying this. This is FORBES - the premier business magazine in the United States!

Jerry's downfall is that he is too involved in day-to-day management of the football team, player personnel and contract negotiations. And because he is married to being both owner and GM (see his "socks and jocks" comment), he makes bad decisions. I've always said Troy Aikman - as much as I liked him - should have been gone in a trade long before his career was done. Anyone who paid attention could see the handwriting on the wall. Same for other players like Deion Sanders (who wouldn't have been signed if Jimmy Johnson had remained coach), Jason Witten and Tyron Smith. We seem to hold on to players too long - beyond their appropriate trade value because we always think we're a player away from the Super Bowl so we must keep everyone in tact.

Then we acquire players who just aren't good for our team, e.g., Terrell Owens, Greg Hardy, Pacman Jones, Roy Williams, etc., because with Jerry, it's about acquiring talent.

It's good that he wants to acquire talent (that's the good owner part), but he's terrible at understanding how talent fits into a team (that's why, IIRC, Jimmy Johnson never wanted Deion Sanders because Deion's influence ruined the team's work ethic. For an example of this, see Troy Aikman's comments on how other players acted based on Deion's attitude).

So, while I think we're going to suck for a while because Jerry refuses to relinquish his role as GM, there's no question that under Jerry Jones as owner, both the Cowboys and the league have prospered monetarily. And THAT is what an owner is supposed to do - make sure his company remains relevant and turns mega profit.

Since Jerry has entered the league, the cash registers for the Dallas Cowboys have never stopped Cha-chinging!

All good points. That's why Jerry should put in a system that Jerry handles all the business side of things and he hires a football guy to handle the coaches, players and on the field stuff. Like we had in the early 90s. But Jerry wanted credit for everything and that's why he's a failure as a sports franchise owner. We always break Jerry down as either Jerry the owner or Jerry the GM. Well you make a good point, there's a 3rd part of Jerry. Jerry the businessman. So in my opinion
1. Jerry the owner- bottom 5%
2. Jerry the GM- bottom 5%
3. Jerry the businessman- 100% best in the NFL, HOFer, arguably the GOAT of nfl history.

So as a normal fan Jerry the marketing genius does not equate to wins and losses. It equates to Jerry making more money which is something I don't care about. On mondays I don't go to work and brag about Jerry's income and value. I want to brag about the Cowboys winning. So when my friend are heckling me about the Cowboys losing and I fire back, "well my team is more valuable then yours", it just doesn't matter.

 

[sandbridge77]

Great owner hope he lives till he’s 300, says the rest of the league!

 

[tyke1doe]

All good points. That's why Jerry should put in a system that Jerry handles all the business side of things and he hires a football guy to handle the coaches, players and on the field stuff. Like we had in the early 90s. But Jerry wanted credit for everything and that's why he's a failure as a sports franchise owner. We always break Jerry down as either Jerry the owner or Jerry the GM. Well you make a good point, there's a 3rd part of Jerry. Jerry the businessman. So in my opinion
1. Jerry the owner- bottom 5%
2. Jerry the GM- bottom 5%
3. Jerry the businessman- 100% best in the NFL, HOFer, arguably the GOAT of nfl history.

So as a normal fan Jerry the marketing genius does not equate to wins and losses. It equates to Jerry making more money which is something I don't care about. On mondays I don't go to work and brag about Jerry's income and value. I want to brag about the Cowboys winning. So when my friend are heckling me about the Cowboys losing and I fire back, "well my team is more valuable then yours", it just doesn't matter.

Good line!

 

[plymkr]

Good line!

Thanks. I appreciate your post from earlier. Jerry is a marketing genius. Definitely can not argue that.

 

[conner01]

Without the help of Will McClay and relying upon the FO, the Cowboys would likely be cellar-dwellers.

Without the help of bellicheck and Brady the pats would be too. Doesn’t the owner get credit for hiring the people he hires? The majority of owners aren’t football people so that would mean they are all tied for last lol

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

As we all know, Dallas, Washington and Detroit are the only NFC teams to have never made it to the conference title game since 1996. So we don't need to rehash that thing for the 1000th time.

That being said, it's worth it to discuss Jerry overall compared to the 31 other owners. Sure, we want wins rather than money, but there's no denying Jerry has done a fantastic business job growing the Cowboys to the world's most valuable sports team, having the highest ratings and having America's biggest NFL fan base despite Dallas' terrible playoff record since 26 years ago. If he could do all that despite sucking in wins, imagine how utterly dominant the Cowboys would be if they actually were making deep playoff runs regularly?

And also, under Jerry, we've had some fine drafts, even post-Jimmy. We got Diggs, Lamb, Parsons, Ware, Dez, Frederick, Witten, Romo, Dak, etc. It's not A+ drafting, but it's certainly not a C-.

So, objectively, grading Jerry in comparison to the other 31, is Jerry in the 50th percentile of owners? 80th? 20th?

that is quite lob sided drafting. i did a break down of our drafts prior to 2020, and in 43 defensive picks in the 15 years prior we had one impact player picked in the draft, namely Lawrence and that's stretching it. past two years we got Diggs and Parsons, and lets not forget that our target wasn't parsons, it was one of the top two CBs and if they were there we would have taken them. even when we had the chance at parsons, we passed and traded down. it worked out, but if you really thought so much about a player, then you take him and not risk it. however, we lucked into Diggs and Parsons.

but on the opposite side of the ball, we have picked players like Zeke, Pollard, Smith, Martin, Fredrick, Lamb, Dez, Dak, schultz, etc.....

we have been so much better on the offensive side, mainly IMO because it sells jersey's, it sells tickets. its offense and its more glamourous....that's the focus of the entire organization, offense because it sells and defense is always an after thought.

and Jerry is a terrible GM

 

[eromeopolk]

As we all know, Dallas, Washington and Detroit are the only NFC teams to have never made it to the conference title game since 1996. So we don't need to rehash that thing for the 1000th time.

That being said, it's worth it to discuss Jerry overall compared to the 31 other owners. Sure, we want wins rather than money, but there's no denying Jerry has done a fantastic business job growing the Cowboys to the world's most valuable sports team, having the highest ratings and having America's biggest NFL fan base despite Dallas' terrible playoff record since 26 years ago. If he could do all that despite sucking in wins, imagine how utterly dominant the Cowboys would be if they actually were making deep playoff runs regularly?

And also, under Jerry, we've had some fine drafts, even post-Jimmy. We got Diggs, Lamb, Parsons, Ware, Dez, Frederick, Witten, Romo, Dak, etc. It's not A+ drafting, but it's certainly not a C-.

So, objectively, grading Jerry in comparison to the other 31, is Jerry in the 50th percentile of owners? 80th? 20th?

This post is why the Arlington Jonesboys and Jonesboys fans have replaced the Dallas Cowboys and Cowboys fans.

The Dallas Cowboys are not compared to other NFL Teams nor other NFL Teams GM's. The Cowboys are compared to the Dallas Cowboys. When you are America's Team the only standard is the standard you have established for yourself. Jerry Dumbo GM Jones compared to Tex Schramm is a failure. Jerry Dumbo GM Jones compared to Jimmy Johnson/Bob Ackles/John Wooten (the men that actually developed the 90's Cowboys Dynasty) is a failure.

Cowboys season goals are to get to the playoffs, win in the playoffs, go to the Super Bowl, and win the Super Bowl. Because that is how the Dallas Cowboys became America's Team. America loves winners. Jonesboys love being relevant and comparing themselves to the below average/mediocre teams in the NFL. How does the Arlington Jonesboys and Jerry Dumbo GM Jones compare to the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick, the modern day Tom Landry and Gil Brandt combined?

 

[charron]

Mostly the same with 1 exception. We hear from Jerry regularly. The other owners are otherwise very similar.

 

[CouchCoach]

He cannot be a great owner and a bad GM as he hired the GM. The primary job of the owner is to hire the GM and what other owner would put up with his GM making his face the face of the franchise?

What other owner would put up with a GM that only does the jobs he wants to do and does not devote full time to making the team better?

What other owner would allow his GM to not only allow distractions but help create them for his team?

What other owner would allow his GM to dictate the culture of the team?

What do other owners expect their GM to be doing with the draft coming up?