When and how did the Cowboys become a well run organization?

[Dale]

When we began seeing less Larry Lacewell and more Will McClay.

 

[Bob-Lillys-War]

Will McClay did the complete rebuild , that was 2014 .

Red clapper got here 2009 and did nothing ...

 

[Hoofbite]

It's just my opinion, but I think the biggest change in the Cowboys is they have been drafting better the last several years.

I think that happened because Jerry and company started letting the player personnel staff and scouts decide who to draft.

Outside of a couple of picks, most of the picks the Cowboys have made have been rather "blah" on draft day compared to the past and many of those "blah" picks turned out to be really good players.

As for luck .. they were somewhat lucky in drafting Prescott in the 4th (they expected Romo to be here a few more years) and drafting Jaylon Smith with a 2nd (especially after losing on other high-risk and/or injured pick gambles).

Drafting better is part of it, but the biggest change has been their approach to the salary cap. It's not like they intended to draft poorly, but they damn sure thought they were ahead of the curve in regards to the cap and had no intention on even entertaining another approach. Remember Steven laughing at the idea of "cap hell" back in 2012, spending money they didn't have just to prove the league wrong for confiscating cap space, and then Dallas basically spending nothing for years on end? I do.

It didn't work. In spite of all the hypothetical situations where everything goes according to plan (when hardly anything ever does), borrowing from the future has always been a piss-poor approach. It's the NFL equivalent of a MLM scheme. Sounds great, but only suckers buy into it. Those years of spending nothing were payments on previous year's failures. The team you see now is what happens when you stop taking out, "interest free loans".

Cap management is where the front office has improved most.

 

[Dale]

Jerry got lucky. He wanted paxton lynch and connor cook over dak. If he takes either of those 2 guys we are in a totally different place

Sure, but isn’t that the nature of the draft? Jimmy once wanted a linebacker over Emmitt.

 

[Hennessy_King]

Sure, but isn’t that the nature of the draft? Jimmy once wanted a linebacker over Emmitt.

No but it was because of other teams that we missed on them. Jerry never had a shot at them.

 

[DandyDon52]

Make a NFCCG for the first time in two decades and we can talk about how well they are run. Being "well run" means they have all phases covered - drafts, free agency, contract handling, coaching, etc.

At every point since the last SB, this team has failed in at least one of the areas above and cost themselves. I mean if this team makes the playoffs again and then bows out before or in the divisional round, can we claim they are "well run"?

At this point, after 20 years, I need actual results, not feel good stories.

exactly, people saw this giants game and are thinking SB, but they wont be playing the giants
in the playoffs lol

 

[DandyDon52]

Sure, but isn’t that the nature of the draft? Jimmy once wanted a linebacker over Emmitt.

yeah but that is out of context lol. Jimmy wanted Emmitt, he tried to recruit him to come to miami,
and emmit said he passed too much and went elsewhere.
Jimmy knew defense was more important, and wanted to build a good defense, and as we all know
today RB is one of the easier positions to fill.
When that LB was taken before his pick he went right to emmitt.

People go on about the tripletts winning the sb's but it was the great defense they had and also
the great special teams they had. Then the offense became great too. But when they werent
the defense and special teams still helped them win games.

 

[Fizziksman]

when we started drafting offensive line.

 

[mardwin]

Credit to McClay and Stephen for turning the ship around. Kudos to Jerry for getting out of the way.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Then no teams should ever get credit for 4th round picks.

at least franchise QB's especially when Jerry wanted Paxton Lynch and kept telling us Romo had 5 more years. Anyone with half a brain knew he was nearly done.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Must go back to this thread in January . That's when we'll know if things truly changed. We miss the playoffs or it's one and done again and it will be the same old thing.

 

[eastsideboy]

Steven and will. Will helps build it. Steven runs it. You're right the old cowboys are dead. Thank God.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Make a NFCCG for the first time in two decades and we can talk about how well they are run. Being "well run" means they have all phases covered - drafts, free agency, contract handling, coaching, etc.

At every point since the last SB, this team has failed in at least one of the areas above and cost themselves. I mean if this team makes the playoffs again and then bows out before or in the divisional round, can we claim they are "well run"?

At this point, after 20 years, I need actual results, not feel good stories.

 

[eastsideboy]

Op is right about everything. But don't worry next off season we fans will still be begging for big money bust free agents.

 

[Brax]

It's just my opinion, but I think the biggest change in the Cowboys is they have been drafting better the last several years.

I think that happened because Jerry and company started letting the player personnel staff and scouts decide who to draft.

Outside of a couple of picks, most of the picks the Cowboys have made have been rather "blah" on draft day compared to the past and many of those "blah" picks turned out to be really good players.

As for luck .. they were somewhat lucky in drafting Prescott in the 4th (they expected Romo to be here a few more years) and drafting Jaylon Smith with a 2nd (especially after losing on other high-risk and/or injured pick gambles).

even a blind squirrel find a acorn occasionally, 23 years and counting nothing has really changed just a steep learning curve.

 

[eastsideboy]

2014 is the answer.

That was Will McClay's first draft.

That was also the draft where Jerry was talked into selecting Martin instead of Manziel. This was the first visible example of Stephen Jones having input and Jerry listening.

Bingo

 

[noshame]

Clearly Jerry is listening to different people as Dale said earlier. Somebody convinced him to build inside out. We are moving in the right direction, we will make the playoffs, and that's where the final question will be answered .

will we be out-coached? The team has bought into the family concept, they will just need direction as we progress. Is Jason the man, I hope so, for all out sakes.

 

[GhostOfPelluer]

They aren’t perfect yet, but the improvement has been noticeable. Better run than most, especially when you talk about personnel and talent acquisition.

Jerry still makes it harder on his football ops folks because of his innate need to dominate the headlines- but that’s part of what makes him a successful businessman. It just adds unnecessary ish for the football folks.

Coaching is a fair criticism, even if it is overblown at times. I’d say we’ve had good enough coaching to be top 10 in the league, but not any better. That’s why Garrett is coaching for his job this season.

 

[PAPPYDOG]

Jerry got lucky. He wanted paxton lynch and connor cook over dak. If he takes either of those 2 guys we are in a totally different place

Yep Romo is still the QB and we have already won our 6th Superbowl and working on our 7th.
Do you really believe that the main reason we have won the last 3 years is Dak?
Check the roster look up a guy called Zeke,Martin,Smith,Dlaw,Coop,Dez,Byron,Fred,Wolfman, then you might find Dak's name lingering around....

 

[Rockport]

We all know the history of the Jerry Jones Cowboys. Hires Jimmy Johnson, does fantastic. After Johnson gets fired, the next 10-20 years were all about Jerry's ego. Some horrible drafts, crappy free agent decisions, bad coaching hires, overpaying washed up vets trying to chase the past, etc. The moment of clarity that was the Parcells hire brought in Ware, Witten, Romo, etc. but that kind of washed away as the team slid back into Jerryness.

Its painful as a Cowboys fan to admit but for a lot of the period from 1993-2013 or so, the Cowboys were not a well run team.

Something happened though. I can't really put my finger on a date. There is no one in the organization that I can say was hired that caused the turnaround. That said, they now:
- Draft extraordinarily well. Don't let a few missed picks bother you. Drafting is hard and even the best at it have their share of misses. If you can get a hit 50% of the time you are really good.
- Don't overpay people on the downside of their careers.
- Started hiring younger, out of the box thinkers (Moore, Richard)
- Stopped chasing free agents who were going to get overpaid

What happened? Are they just lucky? Is Stephen Jones really a genius and is taking over? Is there some really smart guy buried in the organization like a Gil Brandt that is making everyone look good? Did Jerry just learn how this all works?

The thing that we, as Cowboy fans should be encouraged by is that what is going on doesn't look like a flash in the pan. This looks like an organization that is well run and that means its sustainable. I know everyone hates the Squealers and Cheatriots but those organizations have a total of 2 losing seasons between them this century. Even in this age of parity, its possible to have sustained success.

2010 when Garrett became HC. That’s when it changed.