CFZ What happened to the “wildcatter” days?

[OGCowboy]

Admittedly or not....you lose some of your aggressive attitude when you get old. I know I did. There always exceptions but I believe generally it’s true.

 

[Reality]

I’m not a business guru by any stretch, but isn’t this kind of profitability the absolute definition of an extremely low risk investment? Averaging a 28% profit in a year is like printing money.

This is why I side with the players in most labor and contract disputes. They are literally putting their future health on the line in an average career of about 5 years to make the biggest money opportunity of their lives. They have real risks. An NFL owner’s risks? It’s hard to see anything risky for them besides acting like Daniel Snyder or the former Carolina Panthers owner who was ousted for bad behavior. Owners can make a 28% profit by literally doing nothing.

The problem with successful businesses is that the more success you have the less changes you are willing to make out of fear of alienating or irritating your consumers.

Traditionally, revenue patterns motivate and push companies try new things and take risks. When your business continues to increase in value every year though, there is no real incentive to change and a lot of incentive to avoid changing anything that could damage that progress.

 

[TequilaCowboy]

Anyone else remember the days when Jerry was the football equivalent of an oil “wildcatter”? A wildcatter is a speculative oil driller who takes great risks to find oil where most would not even consider. Wildcatters take high risks to achieve high rewards. That was the young JJ. Old JJ doesn’t take many risks anymore.

When JJ was a wildcatter, he was the most aggressive GM in the league. It wasn’t always good. Sometimes it was bad. But he was aggressive. Here are some examples.

• Hiring Jimmy Johnson out U of Miami was a great risk
• The Herschel Walker trade
• Signing Deion Sanders as a FA
• Making trades for big play WRs (yes they were bad trades, but he was being aggressive)
• Signing La’el Collins as an UFA (a guy with first round talent but had a criminal inquiry at time of draft)

I know I’m forgetting some moves. Point is. Where did the wildcatter go?

These days, the NFL wildcatters are Les Snead, GM of the rams who has made more aggressive moves than any other GM. Or Jason Licht, GM of the Bucs who aggressively pursued Tom Brady and has made multiple FA signings. Or Brett Veach, GM of the chiefs? Tons of trades and FA moves. Their teams have won the last 3 SBs.

What happened to our wildcatter?

As Little Enos has taken more control of the Cowboys for aging Jerry, they are following the Golden Rule. He who controls the the gold, rules..... Stephen has control of the purse strings and therefore the power to obtain talent. His excuse of money and cap is used when he sees fit. He was no wildcatter, just a spoiled brat with an allowance/trust fund and manages the Cowboys frugally. Looking for cheap talent wherever he can find it. Oh yes, they will pay a couple of people big bucks because they know they have a product and need some shiny objects to sell to the sheeple. Dak is one, and Micah will be another. When you don't know what you doing, you err on the side of caution....extreme caution. Which is what you see now. Not even calculated risks as done by those teams mentioned who have more experienced and knowledgeable GM and FO.

 

[Acceptablename]

Anyone else remember the days when Jerry was the football equivalent of an oil “wildcatter”? A wildcatter is a speculative oil driller who takes great risks to find oil where most would not even consider. Wildcatters take high risks to achieve high rewards. That was the young JJ. Old JJ doesn’t take many risks anymore.

When JJ was a wildcatter, he was the most aggressive GM in the league. It wasn’t always good. Sometimes it was bad. But he was aggressive. Here are some examples.

• Hiring Jimmy Johnson out U of Miami was a great risk
• The Herschel Walker trade
• Signing Deion Sanders as a FA
• Making trades for big play WRs (yes they were bad trades, but he was being aggressive)
• Signing La’el Collins as an UFA (a guy with first round talent but had a criminal inquiry at time of draft)

I know I’m forgetting some moves. Point is. Where did the wildcatter go?

These days, the NFL wildcatters are Les Snead, GM of the rams who has made more aggressive moves than any other GM. Or Jason Licht, GM of the Bucs who aggressively pursued Tom Brady and has made multiple FA signings. Or Brett Veach, GM of the chiefs? Tons of trades and FA moves. Their teams have won the last 3 SBs.

What happened to our wildcatter?

2nd round

 

[Risen Star]

Lord help Bob if he thinks Jerry was actually the father of the idea of trading Herschel Walker.

 

[atlantacowboy]

Anyone else remember the days when Jerry was the football equivalent of an oil “wildcatter”? A wildcatter is a speculative oil driller who takes great risks to find oil where most would not even consider. Wildcatters take high risks to achieve high rewards. That was the young JJ. Old JJ doesn’t take many risks anymore.

When JJ was a wildcatter, he was the most aggressive GM in the league. It wasn’t always good. Sometimes it was bad. But he was aggressive. Here are some examples.

• Hiring Jimmy Johnson out U of Miami was a great risk
• The Herschel Walker trade
• Signing Deion Sanders as a FA
• Making trades for big play WRs (yes they were bad trades, but he was being aggressive)
• Signing La’el Collins as an UFA (a guy with first round talent but had a criminal inquiry at time of draft)

I know I’m forgetting some moves. Point is. Where did the wildcatter go?

These days, the NFL wildcatters are Les Snead, GM of the rams who has made more aggressive moves than any other GM. Or Jason Licht, GM of the Bucs who aggressively pursued Tom Brady and has made multiple FA signings. Or Brett Veach, GM of the chiefs? Tons of trades and FA moves. Their teams have won the last 3 SBs.

What happened to our wildcatter?

He got hamstrung by his son and salary cap.

 

[Bobhaze]

As Little Enos has taken more control of the Cowboys for aging Jerry, they are following the Golden Rule. He who controls the the gold, rules..... Stephen has control of the purse strings and therefore the power to obtain talent. His excuse of money and cap is used when he sees fit. He was no wildcatter, just a spoiled brat with an allowance/trust fund and manages the Cowboys frugally. Looking for cheap talent wherever he can find it. Oh yes, they will pay a couple of people big bucks because they know they have a product and need some shiny objects to sell to the sheeple. Dak is one, and Micah will be another. When you don't know what you doing, you err on the side of caution....extreme caution. Which is what you see now. Not even calculated risks as done by those teams mentioned who have more experienced and knowledgeable GM and FO.

He got hamstrung by his son and salary cap.

Yeah Stephen Jones has so far been a guy who seems to be all about saving cap space for some ethereal future moment that is not yet here. SJ is the most annoying of rich kids. He was placed on third base by his Daddy and thinks he hit a triple.

 

[blueblood70]

I agree blue- the Cooper trade helped the team a lot in 2018. I think we’re arguing different points. I actually would welcome another aggressive move to improve the team. I’m just baffled at why JJ is so much less aggressive than the GMs winning SBs these days. He used to be way more aggressive.

Compared to guys like Les Snyder, Jason Licht and Brett Veach, JJ is passive.

who knows

maybe a super low testosterone count ) or his offspring are advising him improperly, protecting their nest eggs...maybe hes an abused elderly and being held hostage by his family and forced to be a puppet ) JK

 

[JoeKing]

Yeah Stephen Jones has so far been a guy who seems to be all about saving cap space for some ethereal future moment that is not yet here. SJ is the most annoying of rich kids. He was placed on third base by his Daddy and thinks he hit a triple.

Your words tell me you don't think the Jones boys will ever get the Cowboys to another Super Bowl.

 

[75boyz]

As Little Enos has taken more control of the Cowboys for aging Jerry, they are following the Golden Rule. He who controls the the gold, rules..... Stephen has control of the purse strings and therefore the power to obtain talent. His excuse of money and cap is used when he sees fit. He was no wildcatter, just a spoiled brat with an allowance/trust fund and manages the Cowboys frugally. Looking for cheap talent wherever he can find it. Oh yes, they will pay a couple of people big bucks because they know they have a product and need some shiny objects to sell to the sheeple. Dak is one, and Micah will be another. When you don't know what you doing, you err on the side of caution....extreme caution. Which is what you see now. Not even calculated risks as done by those teams mentioned who have more experienced and knowledgeable GM and FO.

Really Good post.

 

[Blackrain]

Anyone else remember the days when Jerry was the football equivalent of an oil “wildcatter”? A wildcatter is a speculative oil driller who takes great risks to find oil where most would not even consider. Wildcatters take high risks to achieve high rewards. That was the young JJ. Old JJ doesn’t take many risks anymore.

When JJ was a wildcatter, he was the most aggressive GM in the league. It wasn’t always good. Sometimes it was bad. But he was aggressive. Here are some examples.

• Hiring Jimmy Johnson out U of Miami was a great risk
• The Herschel Walker trade
• Signing Deion Sanders as a FA
• Making trades for big play WRs (yes they were bad trades, but he was being aggressive)
• Signing La’el Collins as an UFA (a guy with first round talent but had a criminal inquiry at time of draft)

I know I’m forgetting some moves. Point is. Where did the wildcatter go?

These days, the NFL wildcatters are Les Snead, GM of the rams who has made more aggressive moves than any other GM. Or Jason Licht, GM of the Bucs who aggressively pursued Tom Brady and has made multiple FA signings. Or Brett Veach, GM of the chiefs? Tons of trades and FA moves. Their teams have won the last 3 SBs.

What happened to our wildcatter?

He's a wild catter in the second round of the draft scouring the planet for all of football's problem children at a good deal.

In free agency He's a scaredy cat and doesn't do what's necessary to get the team over the top so between these two scenarios of misery we are always left a piece or too short of putting the whole puzzle together

 

[Bobhaze]

Your words tell me you don't think the Jones boys will ever get the Cowboys to another Super Bowl.

Pretty much. I mean I hope I’m wrong. Lady Luck needs to be our friend.

They have done a pretty good job in the draft with McClay’s influence so it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility. They just need to be more proactive in their roster building which they currently don’t appear inclined to do.

 

[nate dizzle]

He got hamstrung by his son and salary cap.

This.

If there was no salary cap, I have little doubt that this team would have a dozen or more SB's under their belt at this point. Jones may be a lot of things, but I don't believe he's cheap.

 

[Hardline]

When you drill too many dry wells instead of glory holes you tend to get gun shy.

 

[jsb357]

did trade for Cooper that was aggressive and worked out short term.

 

[John813]

Guess it depends on the definition of short term.
Was here for 3.5 years, and they traded him for day 3 picks after making him one of the top paid WRs in the league. Team soured on him his last year here.

 

[Montanalo]

Anyone else remember the days when Jerry was the football equivalent of an oil “wildcatter”? A wildcatter is a speculative oil driller who takes great risks to find oil where most would not even consider. Wildcatters take high risks to achieve high rewards. That was the young JJ. Old JJ doesn’t take many risks anymore.

When JJ was a wildcatter, he was the most aggressive GM in the league. It wasn’t always good. Sometimes it was bad. But he was aggressive. Here are some examples.

• Hiring Jimmy Johnson out U of Miami was a great risk
• The Herschel Walker trade
• Signing Deion Sanders as a FA
• Making trades for big play WRs (yes they were bad trades, but he was being aggressive)
• Signing La’el Collins as an UFA (a guy with first round talent but had a criminal inquiry at time of draft)

I know I’m forgetting some moves. Point is. Where did the wildcatter go?

These days, the NFL wildcatters are Les Snead, GM of the rams who has made more aggressive moves than any other GM. Or Jason Licht, GM of the Bucs who aggressively pursued Tom Brady and has made multiple FA signings. Or Brett Veach, GM of the chiefs? Tons of trades and FA moves. Their teams have won the last 3 SBs.

What happened to our wildcatter?

Great topic, @Bobhaze.

In a few words, I believe the organization has become more risk averse -- most likely, the direct influence of SJ and Will McClay. I don't know that JJ is less a wildcatter; just a bit more constrained

As someone that dedicated their working career to the oil and gas industry, I have always felt the terms "wildcat" and "wildcatter" have been somewhat tarnished by Hollywood and swashbuckling images of James Dean in the classic movie "Giant" or, perhaps, Bruce Wills in "Armageddon". Images of a "shot-from-the-hip", throw caution to the wind sort of speculator.

In the early days of the oil industry, that description probably fit pretty well. There is no better example than "Dad" Joiner and his discovery of the super-giant East Texas oil field in 1930. Persistence was probably the best way to describe Joiner. The Daisy Bradford #3 well, drilled only a few hundred feet from his second well (and, a dry hole) resulted in the discovery, at that time, of the world's largest oil field.

Today, a wildcat well still refers to a well drilled in a new area or a well that tests a new geologic horizon. The wildcatters of today are generally shrewd business men that are equally adept at raising capital as they are developing an oil field.

 

[jsb357]

Guess it depends on the definition of short term.

I'm more concerned with the definition of "worked out".

 

[KJJ]

Free agency, the salary cap and trades not equating to success put an end to Jerry’s wildcatter days. It stopped paying off.

 

[JoeKing]

Pretty much. I mean I hope I’m wrong. Lady Luck needs to be our friend.

They have done a pretty good job in the draft with McClay’s influence so it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility. They just need to be more proactive in their roster building which they currently don’t appear inclined to do.

That's just foolish. Welcome to my ignore list. I will no longer waste my time reading your poisonous drivel.

Edit: Damn it, you're a mod!