5 things from Jerry Jones’ annual state of the Dallas Cowboys at the NFL Scouting Combine
Owner Jerry Jones held court for roughly 70 minutes Friday night, delivering his annual state of the Dallas Cowboys during a press conference on the team bus outside the Indianapolis Marriott at the NFL Scouting Combine.
An admittedly defensive Jones touched on a wide range of topics, including the changes coach Mike McCarthy has made on offense, quarterback Dak Prescott being a mistake-eliminator and the status of running back Ezekiel Elliott.
And Jones said he was ready when asked about his frustration level of now going 27 years since the Cowboys last won a Super Bowl and about being eliminated in the playoffs in consecutive seasons by the San Francisco 49ers following 12-5 campaigns.
“I don’t get discouraged when you say, ‘You haven’t been to a Super Bowl in X years,’” said Jones, waxing philosophically. “I do not do that because I could’ve won the last five and still might not get to another Super Bowl and I ought to be working my butt off to get to the next Super Bowl as if I had lost five or four. That’s reality.”
The reality for Jones and the Cowboys is they will begin the process anew in 2023 starting with head coach Mike McCarthy’s planned for changes for the offense, including him replacing Kellen Moore as offensive coordinator.
He said they will make the Cowboys and Prescott better while being arguably the biggest moves the team makes this off season to hopefully end the 27-year Super Bowl drought.
“The natural thing to do is to look at how to give more to what Dak can be was to call on what Mike can bring to the table and the way he is addressing it,” Jones said. “I think that by him putting more of what he can bring with his background into the offense. He’s in his fourth year. He’s had the years that he’s had with our personnel and he’s had the real, real experience of coming up short at the critical times...and being able to adjust for what we should be doing to try to help us if you will beat San Francisco and get to the championship. I think we’ve put it right on it and that is a way to make Dak better.”
Five things from Jerry Jones on the state of Cowboys:
Dak Prescott can get better as he ages
Jones didn’t address a possible contract extension for quarterback Dak Prescott.
But he has no thoughts about a Cowboys team without Prescott for years to come because he believes he has a chance to get better with age like seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady.
“I don’t want to dare do this to Dak or me or anybody. But I think just as Brady became better and better and more impactful on how they won as he got into his career, I think that really [Dak] has those qualities. I think he can get better. When I see something on the field that would logically tell you you need to start looking ahead, ie ... past Dak. I don’t see that kind of thing happening the next few years. And I say years.”
Jones said he is non fazed by Prescott’s career-high 15 interceptions because improving on mistakes is what he does best. It is the foundation of his leadership skills and reasons why they believe they can win with him.
“He has the physical skills to do this at the level to win us a Super Bowl,” Jones said. “Does he do it with some of the same nuances that several of these other quarterbacks do it? No, he doesn’t. He’s got some things that he can work on and be more effective. Let me put it like this: Dak is a born mistake eliminator. If I pick somebody that I’d say, ‘Now go out there and correct your mistakes, improve or do that?’ I would rather start with him as raw material than anyone I’ve been around at that position. The surest thing I know is he can eliminate mistakes.”
Cowboys could make splash in free agency
The Cowboys still believe in building the roster through the draft and with young players.
It’s even prudent for them to do so with Prescott making top-of-the-market quarterback money and the difficulty of putting top players around him.
“We want to get all the help around him, but as we know when you have a competitive paid quarterback in the NFL, then you’re not going to be able to get the most skill around him,” Jones said. “You’re going to have to pick your spots. You can’t pay that position at that level, take that much of the available dollars and then put the exact thing around him.”
But Jones made it clear that the team will strike big for the right player in free agency to help put them over the top.
“I want to tell you, don’t dismiss us doing something special with the right veteran free agent,” Jones said. “At any place. I would, in a New York minute, if I think that it fits more than a short-term situation for us.”
Jones says new offense will allow young players to be more productive
Jerry Jones didn’t throw former offensive coordinator Kellen Moore under the bus, but he believes the changes on offense under McCarthy will help younger and compromised players be more productive and make an impact.
“We really did hope that we could have some young players last year, really some of the lesser name players that could really step in there and do what we wanted to do,” Jones said. “As we look at our offense this year. One of the things that I’m wanting to see is how we can take players that we’re counting on that might be younger, that don’t quite get to where we wanted them to go and I want an offensive system in place that make them productive.”
Jones was pointing to the disappointing play of receivers Jalen Tolbert and Michael Gallup. Tolbert, a third-round pick in 2022, played in just eight games and caught just two passes.
And Gallup, who signed a five-year, $57.5 million deal before the season, missed the first three games rehabbing a torn ACL and never quite returned to form, catching just 39 passes and four touchdowns.
“If we learned anything from last year, let’s take players that are drafted in middle round or the early earlier the middle round. Let’s understand that we might not get exactly what we’re looking for there,” Jones said. But how about on offense that can use them the way they are. And let’s get let’s get in and make those guys work. But we we know that there’s a chance that a Gallup might be a little slow out of the gate. We know that. I expect us to adjust for that and realize that we might be dealing with that.”
Tony Pollard will be back on the franchise tag or with an extension
The Cowboys will place the franchise tag of $10.1 million on running back Tony Pollard if they can’t sign him to a multi-year deal by March 7.
The latter is the goal for Pollard but keeping him on the roster for 2023 is the Cowboys’ primary focus.
“That franchise tag is there and should be judiciously used for the right spot,” Jones said. “It’s usually there to get people to come on and make an agreement and so I really don’t want to say it’s a done thing. You don’t know where you are until the deadline comes and goes, but right now, certainly Tony’s a big part of our plans. He an integral part of moving forward.”
Jones said the loss of Pollard to a fractured ankle in the second quarter was the turning point in the NFC divisional playoff loss to the 49ers.
Not one play can make a difference but Jones said missing a guy in a critical spot would give you a picture of what life would look like for the Cowboys without Pollard then all he has to do is look out how things “changed for us” against the 49ers.
The Cowboys can keep Ezekiel Elliott
There has been an assumption that bringing Pollard back would mean the departure of two-time rushing champion Ezekiel Elliott, who has $16 million cap hit next season.
Elliott will likely be asked to take a pay cut or be cut.
Jones wants to find way to keep Elliott on the roster despite his declining numbers the past three season. He said when healthy, Elliott remains a productive player and makes a great tandem with Pollard at running back.
“I know I’ve got a reputation for being reluctant to look at great players as they go into the later years of their careers but I don’t need [an] empathy or I don’t need a feeling of, ‘Look what he’s done for us,’ to turn on the tape and look at what a difference maker he was last year right through the end of the year,” Jones said. “He made plays. He made runs that had we not made them it could have been more negative than it turned out.
“If I could replicate the feeling that I had before Tony Pollard got hurt and the feeling I had with Zeke a good weeks of practice behind him and ready to go into the playoffs. I dial that up right now. That very feeling I would not try to improve on that right now.”
Jones intimated that the money the Cowboys saved by trading receiver Amari Cooper last year could help them keep Pollard and Elliott.
This story was originally published March 4, 2023 at 8:23 AM.
