What was Jerrys biggest mistake?

[tecolote]

Gailey, Campo, Phillips and Garrett. Jerry is awful at hiring coaches.

I hope I'm wrong about Garrett.

 

[HankC]

His biggest mistake was to retain himself in the role of General Manager after the departure of Jimmy Johnson. It just keeps on giving!

 

[Nightman]

Jimmy had a team full of players on cocaine on his watch. Yes he had them on their game on the field. But still doesnt take away that 3/4 of his team were drug addicts. Same as university of miami

I think Jimmy was heading for a decline either way. His major assets were his energy, young coaches and inside knowledge of the best college players. His staff had probably recruited half the players drafted in his first 3 years. His coaches would have still moved on and the salary cap still would have had a major impact. I think the Jimmy/Jerry showdown would've come pretty soon after 95 no matter what. Jimmy may have squeezed out one more SB, but the post Triplets era was going to be rough either way.

Jerry screwed up big time also. The Galloway trade turned out real bad, but he was trying to extend Aikman's run. It's hard to break up a Dynasty. Campo and Gailey were bad, as was Carter. In the Romo era the trade for RW was bad, but the contract was the worst.

 

[Eskimo]

The Roy Williams trade.

That single decision is probobly the reason why a team with this many stars failed to reach the superbowl. It's extremely rare that you have a top-tier QB, a top-tier pass rusher, a top-tier left tackle, a top-tier running back, and a top-tier wide receiver and not sniff championship games.

But the Roy Williams trade set everything off. The trade lost valuable draft picks that could be o-linemen or safeties, it touched off the desperation trade-downs and draft picks such as Robert Brewster that resulted in zero players remaining on the team after 4 years, and it chewed up 50+ million that could have been used to sign o-linemen, safeties, etc.

That single decision of basically throwing so many draft picks and so much money in the garbage, tying your hand behind your back, meant that the team couldn't add the players to its roster that they needed to. Think about it, if the league was to penalize a team with a $50 million salary cap penalty and the reduction of a 1st, 3rd, and 5th round pick it would by far and away be the biggest penalty in NFL history. Such a penalty would be viewed as being insanely punitive and people would protest the league offices for such a crazy penalty, they would say a team suffering this penalty could never recover because it would be so onerous... and yet that's what the Cowboys did to themselves with the Roy Williams trade.

All this team needed were a couple average role players in spots like the o-line and safety to shore up weaknesses and put it over the top but those role players never came on the roster because the draft picks and dollars that would have been exchanged for them sit in Roy Williams' and the Detroit Lions' bank accounts.

I agree that the Roy Williams trade was a giant mistake between the cap dollars wasted, the loss of draft picks, dedicating a starting WR job to someone putting up #3 WR numbers and resulting in the premature departure of a good #3 WR Patrick Crayton.

However, I think the problems really began when he became overconfident in his roster following the 2007 season. We had just come off of a great season, we had Anthony Spencer to fill-in for Greg Ellis but we had an ageing OL and pretty bad #3 CB and a hobbled #2 CB. We did the right think by taking Mike Jenkins but we struck out at the RB spot. We gave Barber a huge contract which he hadn't earned when we could have just tendered him. We compounded that error by spending a 1st round pick on a complementary RB who hadn't shown that he could handle the load in college who made his living running outside the tackles. Jerry wrongly concluded the offensive failures towards the end of the season were from lacking an explosive player at the skill positions from the loss of Terry Glenn. He thought Felix was the answer. The truth is we fell apart because the OL's play fell off because of age and this was further compounded with the loss of TO to the ankle injury against Carolina. If we had only decided here to rebuild the OL instead of adding more skill players most of our problems in later years could have been avoided.

If we were able to back up the clock there that offseason and just tendered Barber at a 1st and 3rd round compensation rate we would have been able to avoid giving him that monster contract. Now in the draft we could have still drafted Jenkins but we could have also taken the best OL around with the Felix pick or traded down a bit and then taken the best OL available. We could have still drafted Choice as the backup if we had wanted or did what I wanted to do - draft Jamaal Charles in the second. We could have added a DL in the second round instead of adding another backup offensive player in Marty B. Now if you add those moves and not traded for RoyW during 2008 and you keep your 2009 draft picks and again maybe pick an OL in the first two rounds this may be an entirely different team right now. You also had salary cap flexibility to sign two premier players instead of RoyW and Barber.

Jerry just cannot evaluate talent and the decline in performance as players age catches him every damn time. He just pays way too much for age and the players get fat after their first contract and decline rapidly.

Of course, the right answer to this question was not finding a proper player personnel guy after Jimmy left. He assumed he could handle that role with the input from his hand chosen head coach but that was a formula for disaster as few head coaches are great personnel guys - ideally you need someone a bit isolated from the players for that role and that is why most organizations have a GM and head coach.

 

[links18]

His biggest mistake was to retain himself in the role of General Manager after the departure of Jimmy Johnson. It just keeps on giving!

Depends on how mistake is construed. For Jerry it all starts with him as GM. It is a given. It is part of the goal. So for Jerry, being GM can't be a mistake. It may be a mistake in terms of the team's success; but it is not a mistake for Jerry.

 

[Questfor6]

IMO not drafting Randy Moss. He wouldve prolonged the careers of Irvin, Aikman, and Emmitt. When they announced Ellis' name i was devistated.

I'll never forget that, I was like 11 yrs old at the time and the biggest Randy Moss homer you had ever seen. He was the only guy I ever cheered for on an opposing team playing my high school. When Taglibue said Greg Ellis I literally broke out crying over them skipping on Moss. I can't blame Jerry for that though if you want to blame someone for them skipping on Moss you need to blame Michael Irvin because of his off the field issues at the time they obviously didn't want him to be Moss's mentor, but little did we know Michaels career would end that next year.

 

[muck4doo]

Not signing you as GM, obviously(though i like your fishing skills). Is it just me or does it seem like this question comes up way too much? Kind of getting tired of it.

 

[visionary]

Staying GM.

Quoted for truth
Close thread

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

Signing contracts with Nike and Pepsi.

 

[Red Dragon]

I would say his greatest one was not doing his best to keep Jimmy Johnson around. That being said, there's still no guarantee that the Cowboys would have won any more Super Bowls after 1993 with Johnson than they did with Switzer.


Second-worst? Not drafting Randy Moss. That in itself led to the Joey Galloway trade, which itself was a bad mistake also.

 

[Red Dragon]

Signing contracts with Nike and Pepsi.

And this is bad because.........?

 

[Red Dragon]

Not signing you as GM, obviously(though i like your fishing skills). Is it just me or does it seem like this question comes up way too much? Kind of getting tired of it.

Absolutely. I really wouldn't be surprised if there have literally been 4,000 Jerry-criticizing threads on CowboysZone up to date.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

And this is bad because.........?

The League and the Commish at the time Paul Tagliabue told him not to sign with Pepsi or Phil Knight and that he'd never win another Superbowl if he did.

 

[Red Dragon]

The League and the Commish at the time Paul Tagliabue told him not to sign with Pepsi or Phil Knight and that he'd never win another Superbowl if he did.

You're being sarcastic right? (about that being the reason why Dallas hasn't won a Super Bowl since)

 

[Risen Star]

Thinking he can run the football operations for an NFL team.

 

[Risen Star]

Actually the better answer would be letting his ego get in the way of the success of the team. I think even he knows he sucks as a GM. He just doesn't care. It's better than the alternative of ~gasp~ winning with someone else getting the credit.

 

[Mr Cowboy]

Jimmy's departure and the way it happened.

If Jerry would have been patient and not mess with Jimmy, he may have at least one more SB trophy, Jimmy would have rode into the sunset and Jerry would have hired his next coach.

But ever since the dreaded day when they decided to break up, Jerry has tried everything he can, (unsuccessfully), to prove that he can build a championship team, and win a super bowl.

 

[Aven8]

I agree with the OP. Moss was a huge mistake, and yes I agree Aikman would have played for a couple more years had we made that pick.

I also agree with the Roy Williams trade (although I was all for it at the time). Who could really know? The Galloway trade is Aikmans fault. He told Jerry to go get him. Who knew he would blow out his knee in the first game of the season?

Jimmy was never planning on staying for very long. He is a Gypsy of coaching. He's never coached at the same place for very long, and what else did he have to prove?

As for Jerry the GM he's had his ups and downs. But what I do love about him is he is never scared to gamble, or spend money. I like that.

Now for his need to feel "comfortable" when it comes to his HC's is another thing. He's made only two quality hires, and his latest project might be the worst of his career. IMO Campo was a better hire because he at one time was actually a great football coach. If he proves me wrong I will gladly eat crow, but I don't think so. Like a lot of posters keep saying, give him more time, you will see. I've seen enough, and I'm tired of waiting. It's been far too long of mediocrity for 15 yrs or whatever. I don't want to wait any longer!

 

[Alexander]

The Roy Williams trade.

That single decision is probobly the reason why a team with this many stars failed to reach the superbowl. It's extremely rare that you have a top-tier QB, a top-tier pass rusher, a top-tier left tackle, a top-tier running back, and a top-tier wide receiver and not sniff championship games.

I have to agree, at least in terms of mistakes he has made recently. The Jimmy Johnson situation was the all-timer, but that would just end this discussion.

It was the wrong thing to do at the wrong time. That subsequent draft, which people laughingly tried in vain to consider him part of, is what is crippling this franchise. Even the two ones for Galloway did not lead to that kind of ripple effect.

 

[gimmesix]

Not promoting Jimmy to GM.

I don't think Jimmy was ever interested in being a GM.