Good read on the state of things in Big D. Pretty good read if you want to read it all.
http://cowboyszone.com/2014/04/evolution-jerry-jones-garret-era.html
Article concludes with this:
An examination of the history of operations since the 2010 offseason reveals several distinct patterns and trends:
1. There has been a concerted effort to jettison aging players, overpriced players, players that do not fit Garrett’s RKoG model, and players that do not buy into the overall philosophy that Garrett has for his team.
2. The Cowboys drafting has improved.
3. Without sacrificing the level of talent, the roster has become significantly younger (from one of the oldest teams in 2010 to one of the youngest teams in 2013).
4. The frequency of terrible trades/signings has been drastically reduced, though some would argue that they have not been eliminated.
5. The tendency to overpay players out of loyalty or as payment for past performance has been curtailed.
6. Jerry Jones appears to listen to Garrett and company more when making decisions, and he is also ceding more and more control to Garrett.If the criticisms of Jerry Jones in 2010 were valid, then his recent track-record shows plenty of change and improvement.
I believe that there are signs of progress.
Has Jerry done a complete 180? No, but there are signs of progress.
Should Garrett get credit for all progress? No, but he is an influence in the right direction. IMO, Garrett pushes to do things the right way and is joined by Stephen Jones and probably others in the organization. I think Stephen Jones and the people that work for him on the salary cap issues have been in favor of being conservative for a long time. Garrett just adds 1 significant voice to their side.
I think the catastrophe with the Ratliff situation followed up by the drastic injury issues might have pushed Jerry over the edge and forced him to get on board with the Garrett/Stephen side of being conservative. My guess is that Garrett/Stephen were not in favor of the 2nd new contract that Jerry gave Ratliff a couple of years ago.
Since Garrett has been the Head Coach, they had been getting younger and shedding the big contracts.
Gone:
Roy (WR) Williams
Barber
Bigg
Gurode
Bradie James
Keith Brooking
Sensabaugh
Newman
Ware
Ratliff
Hatcher
Austin
The questionable moves during Garrett's tenure:
2nd new contract for Ratliff
Trade up for Claiborne
Signing Carr to a big contract
Romo's contract
IMO, I'll take those questionable decisions any day over:
Trading a 1st, 3rd and 7th (the 1st and 3rd were not enough, they needed a 7th).
Giving Roy Williams a new contract for 9M+ per year after the trade.
Trading two 1st for Joey Galloway
Giving Miles Austin a 9M per year contract when he probably would have received about half that much as a free agent.
Drafting Shante Carver in the 1st round.
Not drafting Randy Moss.
Drafting Ekuban in the 1st round.
Etc..
The only remaining players over 30 are Romo, Witten and the long snapper. I think Free is right at 30.
The salary cap situation is going to be better in 2015 than it has been in long time. The dead money will be at it's lowest in several years with an expected number of about 5.5M as compared to 30M just a couple of years ago.
Summary: Jerry is not going anywhere. It seems that Garrett is the best Head Coach for Jerry. A coach like Parcells causes Jerry to need to make a big splash to get attention (i.e signing TO, etc.). A coach like Wade puts up Zero resistance to anything that Jerry wants to do (i.e. trade for Roy Williams).