Why do the players love Jerry Jones?

[shabazz]

I can’t think of better boss them Jerrah. He takes care of the players not just the stars. Jerry helped Quincy Carter out after football.

I have zero issue with Jerry the humanitarian and Jerry the Businessman. my only wish is that he would delegate authority to a real general manager that is a football guy.

I could forgive the ridiculous interviews and his corny sound bites if I knew he was leaving the managing and coaches to the people who actually do it for a living.

 

[MountaineerCowboy]

I can’t think of better boss them Jerrah. He takes care of the players not just the stars. Jerry helped Quincy Carter out after football.

That’s cute.

I perfer my owner prioritizing winning over taking care of grown adults.

 

[plymkr]

If I can produce average results and be paid above average or market setting salary then I would love my boss too. I just saw an interview where Jerry was addressing the Sam Williams arrest. Jerry made a joke that Sam is “maturing” because he was driving 60 mph(in a 35 mph zone with a gun and drugs) as opposed to 90 mph (when he got in the car accident last season). Are you kidding me? That’s the very definition of enabling behavior.

The players love him because he enables their unprofessional, bad behavior while paying them lots of money. It’s been a problem for 30 years. Jimmy was “bad cop” to Jerry’s enabling and then when Jimmy left Troy took over the bad cop role. When Troy retired we haven’t had anyone to counter Jerry’s enabling.

 

[plymkr]

That’s cute.

I perfer my owner prioritizing winning over taking care of grown adults.

Me too. I prefer my owner to prioritize winning over the players liking him personally.

If Jerry needs people to depend on him or love him then go be volunteer at a clinic or be foster parent.

 

[DallasEast]

Because Jerry can be a narcissist and still treat the players on the team nicely.
He's not a cutthroat owner/GM when it comes to the players.

^ This. Most individuals have several personality traits. Jerry Jones is not an exception.

It is wise for observers to acknowledge every statement or action of a person. This helps determine how that person self-identifies, how they think, and interact with friends, family, acquaintances and even strangers. Focusing on a single facet never presents a fuller picture of that someone's personality.

 

[KJJ]

They love him because he pays them and he coddles them.

 

[Kwyn]

That's an interesting assessment. What has the multibillionaire sacrificed?

Well, I don’t think we’re here to debate the merits of capitalism but, perhaps “risk” would be a better word. When he bought the team he used all of his cash, sold his rights to a local tv station in Arkansas and then went into debt with loans for the rest.

He wasn’t born rich.

 

[Kwyn]

As a capitalist Jerry is fantastic. As a human Jerry is a small, sleezy, petty, vindictive, selfish adulterer.

Sounds like Jimmy but replace “capitalist” with “coach”.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Cowboys weren’t on the brink of bankruptcy. They were in a negative cash flow of reportedly about a million a month. Due mainly to the current status of how badly the team was playing with poor attendance and the current economy. A business on the verge of bankruptcy doesn’t sell for almost double what the previous owner had just paid 5 years previously.

And for the record there was several other bids which were higher including those from Lakers owner Dr Buss and Mavericks original owner Carter. But Bum went with Jethro cause he knew his intentions to fire Tom which he had a hardon since he couldn’t fire under arrangement with Tex and Murchinson. Plus Jethro was a cash deal and Bum who was facing bankruptcy with his Savings & Loans ( not the Cowboys) needed cash infusion.

Hiring Jimmy was the benchmark to turning the winning ways around which in turn parlayed the upcoming success on the field to eventually his brilliant revolutionary revenue streams which ultimately placed him in position where success on the field wasn’t necessary to maintain and optimize revenue paving the road for him running Cowboys Football as he wanted without being penalized at the gates.

The rest is history. The new stadium and the stadium sponsorship rights he sued for opened the flood gates in which would never challenge his “ socks to jocks” style. Unfortunately for Cowboy fans we were left without the power we had in the late 80’s to bring about change.

Jethro Jone$ was on his way to being one of the greatest owners but his ego got in the way. Fortunately for him his business expertise hedged his bets but our performance and success has suffered as a result .

I would agree being a long time fan from the early 60’s like yourself we can view the Cowboys from a historical perspective . And I’m always going to cherish the early eras not only because of the success on the field but the class organization we were respected for. Unfortunately we no longer have a Football operation that is a model for the rest of the league outside the financial boardroom. For that I’m not proud. But my hope resides now in our third ownership , which I probably won’t outlive , that the next one will bring back the respect and glory most of us grew to love decades ago.

That's why I laugh when some fans say Jerry saved the Cowboys and they possibly could have moved to another city. The Cowboys had a great fan base...a legacy that was started by Tex and Tom. We had 3 bad years. All it would have took to bring them back was to win again. Jerry originally did that by bringing in Jimmy. But the team would have survived without Jerry. We might have gotten a better owner. Maybe we wouldn't have had those three SBs or we might have gotten more. Jimmy was going to the NFL eventually anyway. He was the hot commodity at the time. What I find funny is the fact that those SBs which happened 30 years ago should excuse Jerry for the way he's run the franchise since then.

 

[Cowfan75]

Because you only need to have one good year, say the right things and get paid more money than you could spend in a lifetime. Bonus if you get injured at the end of that one good year. Jerry thinks about fam more than winning, and he will protect players from mean 'ol coaches.

 

[VaqueroTD]

I get that a lot of fans cannot stand Jerry Jones. But if Jerry is such a POS, then why do his players love him so much? At the Press Conference announcing that DeMarcus Ware is going into the Ring of Honor, Ware called Jerry his "Dad." When asked about Jerry, Ware said, "The truth of the matter is he is an awesome person."

See the 13:21 mark on this video.



I remember Larry Allen talking about Jerry in reverential terms in his Hall of Fame speech, and calling Jerry a great man. Multiple HOF Cowboys have said the same thing about Jerry. Very few of them talk about Jimmy in the same way. Even Troy Aikman, who is very close to Jimmy, talks about feeling betrayed by Jimmy when he left the Cowboys. He talked about how Jimmy demanded sacrifice from the players, but wasn't willing to make a sacrifice himself.

I'm not in awe of Jerry Jones. I don't know the man, and he's not been very good at getting back to a Super Bowl after the teams Jimmy built got old. But I don't think Jimmy deserves the honor some want to give him. I acknowlege Jimmy's talent. But he backstabbed Jerry and his players. And before that, he backstabbed the President of the University of Miami. He backstabbed his wife, unceremoniously dumping her after she supported him through his career. Jimmy is a thoroughly dishonorable man.

But player after player after player after player continue to sing the praises of Jerry Jones the man. Fans may be justified in being unimpressed with Jerry the GM of the Cowboys. But if you believe the players who have played for him, he is a much better person than Jimmy Johnson, and maybe some fans ought to be willing to acknowledge that Jerry must have done something to earn the honor, respect and love of those who've played for him.

Maybe easier to understand this with your own work experience and boss dynamics. Everyone at some point probably had that one direct report who was a hardarse, but the boss's direct report always played the nice guy role even though they might have been driving your direct report. LOL

Pretty similar dynamic with Jerry and Coaches, although much more in Jimmy's case because Jimmy was a pure hard arse. Almost to the point of abusive. I wouldn't expect any player to cherish their Jimmy memory more than their Jerry memory. LOL

Troy is right about the feeling of abaondonment. He pushed his team to the edge, and then took off because he couldn't work it out with the owner and also burned himself out. Jerry's ego was at fault too, but Jimmy could have been the better man on this. Troy is also one of the few still close to Jimmy because as the QB and Leader, he understood the necessary evil of Jimmy's methods.

Bill Parcells was probably the best at still having that mentor-student, father-son bond even though he was a hard arse. Then you have the coaches who didn't have enough respect to play that balance and Jerry stood out, maybe even undermined. And that's where I think a lot of our issues have come from even though drafting, scouting, FA signing, etc have all much improved since the late 90's.

 

[john van brocklin]

I get that a lot of fans cannot stand Jerry Jones. But if Jerry is such a POS, then why do his players love him so much? At the Press Conference announcing that DeMarcus Ware is going into the Ring of Honor, Ware called Jerry his "Dad." When asked about Jerry, Ware said, "The truth of the matter is he is an awesome person."

See the 13:21 mark on this video.



I remember Larry Allen talking about Jerry in reverential terms in his Hall of Fame speech, and calling Jerry a great man. Multiple HOF Cowboys have said the same thing about Jerry. Very few of them talk about Jimmy in the same way. Even Troy Aikman, who is very close to Jimmy, talks about feeling betrayed by Jimmy when he left the Cowboys. He talked about how Jimmy demanded sacrifice from the players, but wasn't willing to make a sacrifice himself.

I'm not in awe of Jerry Jones. I don't know the man, and he's not been very good at getting back to a Super Bowl after the teams Jimmy built got old. But I don't think Jimmy deserves the honor some want to give him. I acknowlege Jimmy's talent. But he backstabbed Jerry and his players. And before that, he backstabbed the President of the University of Miami. He backstabbed his wife, unceremoniously dumping her after she supported him through his career. Jimmy is a thoroughly dishonorable man.

But player after player after player after player continue to sing the praises of Jerry Jones the man. Fans may be justified in being unimpressed with Jerry the GM of the Cowboys. But if you believe the players who have played for him, he is a much better person than Jimmy Johnson, and maybe some fans ought to be willing to acknowledge that Jerry must have done something to earn the honor, respect and love of those who've played for him.

You can be a decent or good man and still be a terrible GM.
I hate the job Jerry has done as GM the last 28 years, but I don't know him personally.
He like most of us is a mixed bag.
He has his attributes and his flaws.

 

[5Stars]

Nope, authority can not be delegated...and isn't.

What? This makes no sense at all! Of course authority can be delegated. It's called being in charge.

 

[CowboyFanInLexKy]

Easy..... Jerry doesn't pay based on performance... He pays basically on character. His roster isn't built on performance. It's built on character.

 

[kevm3]

They probably love him because he's a players advocate and creates a laid-back atmosphere where you can get paid and there's not much pressure to perform.

There was some player on the Patriots a while back that contrasted the training they did under Belichick versus what he saw from the Cowboys and why they had the advantage.

The goal here isn't to win. It's to sell tickets and merch and to 'sell stories'. Didn't Jerry recently say he liked some player's story on our team? I would love to be at a job where I got paid obscene amounts and the pressure was low.

 

[Jumbo075]

I have zero issue with Jerry the humanitarian and Jerry the Businessman. my only wish is that he would delegate authority to a real general manager that is a football guy.

I could forgive the ridiculous interviews and his corny sound bites if I knew he was leaving the managing and coaches to the people who actually do it for a living.

Jerry has delegated the contract negotiation to Stephen Jones, who has been in the Cowboys front office for his entire adult career after graduating with a Chemical Engineering degree from Arkansas in 1988. I don't know if you realize how smart you have to be to get a degree in Chemical Engineering. He learned contract negotiation from someone you've already acknowledged as a brilliant businessman - Jerry himself. If Stephen Jones is not qualified to be an NFL front office executive, having worked in the Cowboys front office for all but one year after he graduated from college, then who is?

By the way, if 34 years in the NFL, plus the induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame doesn't quality Jerry as a football man, pray tell what does? Occasionally, when Stephen can't get a contract done, Jerry steps in and gets the deal done, like he just did with Zack Martin. Jerry also takes the heat when parting with players like DeMarcus Lawrence, Dez Bryant, DeMarco Murray and Ezekiel Elliott - meeting with them personally instead of delegating that crappy job to someone else.

Jerry has delegated the player evaluation to Will McClay. Jerry asks probing questions to determine if his football people are absolutely convinced of their decisions - like he did in the draft room when they had the discussion between Mazi Smith and perhaps taking an offensive lineman. When McClay insisted Mazi was the best choice for the team with conviction, Jerry blessed his choice and moved forward. Similarly, no matter how much he wanted to draft Johnny Manziel, he deferred to the talent evaluators, and chose Zack Martin instead in 2014.

Every single Head Coach he has had, including Jimmy Johnson, has told everyone that Jerry never interferes with coaching, depth chart or game day decisions. Every single one. What was Jimmy's beef with Jerry? He brought an oil sheik into the locker room. What was Parcells beef with Jerry? He acquired the 3rd best wide receiver in the history of the NFL without asking Bill's permission. He didn't force Bill to play T.O. But T.O. was so obviously superior to any other receiver, that of course Bill played him.

What else do you want Jerry to delegate? I suspect you just don't want him to be the front man for the organization, and be the mouthpiece for the Cowboys. Other than that, the only "football" thing Jerry does is deflect bad press away from his players and coaches, and be the hatchet man for star players. He absorbs the criticism for others. Otherwise, he generally rubber stamps the decisions of his "football people." Or maybe you resent his relationships with the players. Whatever. I honestly don't understand what else fans and media want Jerry to do - other than die. I've see those posts, and the people who wish for his death should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[Diehardblues]

Just because you’re well educated and been in the business all of your adult life doesn’t mean your one of the better football guys to be a GM or VP.

We see what a difference hiring a proven winner HC like Parcells and McCarthy brings but we don’t think a proven GM or VP would make a similar difference ?

C’mon Man. Yea, the Jone$ have fared better than some around the league but why wouldn’t we want more?

I understand we are stuck and trying to do the best they can but why must we defend what they’ve done this era and not critique . Doesn’t mean we aren’t rooting them on and hoping for the best.

Do Cowboy fans really not want a front office like some of the more successful teams around the league . We want those coaches . But not their GM’s or VP’s .
I call BS!!!

 

[DandyDon52]

I can’t think of better boss them Jerrah. He takes care of the players not just the stars. Jerry helped Quincy Carter out after football.

he didnt help mentally ill joseph randall. Just fired him and said bye.

 

[DandyDon52]

Jerry has delegated the contract negotiation to Stephen Jones, who has been in the Cowboys front office for his entire adult career after graduating with a Chemical Engineering degree from Arkansas in 1988. I don't know if you realize how smart you have to be to get a degree in Chemical Engineering. He learned contract negotiation from someone you've already acknowledged as a brilliant businessman - Jerry himself. If Stephen Jones is not qualified to be an NFL front office executive, having worked in the Cowboys front office for all but one year after he graduated from college, then who is?

By the way, if 34 years in the NFL, plus the induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame doesn't quality Jerry as a football man, pray tell what does? Occasionally, when Stephen can't get a contract done, Jerry steps in and gets the deal done, like he just did with Zack Martin. Jerry also takes the heat when parting with players like DeMarcus Lawrence, Dez Bryant, DeMarco Murray and Ezekiel Elliott - meeting with them personally instead of delegating that crappy job to someone else.

Jerry has delegated the player evaluation to Will McClay. Jerry asks probing questions to determine if his football people are absolutely convinced of their decisions - like he did in the draft room when they had the discussion between Mazi Smith and perhaps taking an offensive lineman. When McClay insisted Mazi was the best choice for the team with conviction, Jerry blessed his choice and moved forward. Similarly, no matter how much he wanted to draft Johnny Manziel, he deferred to the talent evaluators, and chose Zack Martin instead in 2014.

Every single Head Coach he has had, including Jimmy Johnson, has told everyone that Jerry never interferes with coaching, depth chart or game day decisions. Every single one. What was Jimmy's beef with Jerry? He brought an oil sheik into the locker room. What was Parcells beef with Jerry? He acquired the 3rd best wide receiver in the history of the NFL without asking Bill's permission. He didn't force Bill to play T.O. But T.O. was so obviously superior to any other receiver, that of course Bill played him.

What else do you want Jerry to delegate? I suspect you just don't want him to be the front man for the organization, and be the mouthpiece for the Cowboys. Other than that, the only "football" thing Jerry does is deflect bad press away from his players and coaches, and be the hatchet man for star players. He absorbs the criticism for others. Otherwise, he generally rubber stamps the decisions of his "football people." Or maybe you resent his relationships with the players. Whatever. I honestly don't understand what else fans and media want Jerry to do - other than die. I've see those posts, and the people who wish for his death should be ashamed of themselves.

So your saying that jerry and stephen having lifetime jobs given to them by the owner who gave himself the job of GM, and there is no accountability,
and they havent been fired and cant be fired, or even chewed out lol is a "OK" scenario to you and should work as good as what the other teams have.

Also no one is saying stephen isnt smart in some ways, but a degree in CE does not qualify a person for a job on a pro football team.
Jerry had no qualifications to be GM, he just wanted the title and thought he was smart enough to do it.

Meanwhile decades later it is apparent they both are lacking in the jobs they didnt earn but were gifted.

The only thing good I can say about them is failure for decades doesnt seem to bother them, and they are not quitters, they never give up.
Not that either of those qualities says something good about them.

Actually it shows that they dont have the good sense to quit (in spite of their degrees and brain power) and that the failures dont bother them
as much as it would a "normal" person.

 

[DallasEast]

It is for 30 other NFL teams .

In my opinion, that number should be 31 instead of 30. The Green Bay Packers franchise cannot be excluded from the observation for being shareholder owned.

The shareholders elect a 45-member board of directors. The board selects a seven-member executive committee. The executive committee oversees its front office personnel. The front office hires and fires head coaches. Etc., etc.

It is, literally, the most elaborate form of delegated authority in not just the National Football League but all professional team sports leagues (at least in North America).