Jerry Jones’ handling of Aldon Smith is a depressing reminder for the Dallas Cowboys
Jerry Wayne Jones is 78, and while we should expect him to live to 178 that does not mean he will learn a thing about how to be a better NFL GM between then and now.
He’s never surrendering that title, until the Almighty himself takes it from him. Even then, don’t be surprised if Jerry convinces God to let him run the Cowboys from the great beyond. Jerry is just that persuasive.
The hiring of Mike McCarthy as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys may change a few play calls and formations, but the addition of defensive end Aldon Smith shows nothing really changed.
Smith should be a Seattle Seahawk right now, but instead he will suit up for the 2-6 Dallas Cowboys to play the 7-0 Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Jerry’s Club.
When the NFL’s Nov. 3 trade deadline came and went with the Cowboys retaining Smith was not only a bad sign for the Dallas Cowboys 2021 NFL Draft class, but the state of the organization as well.
The Cowboys should have torn a page from Texas Rangers GM Jon Daniels and flipped Smith, but instead their Pro Football Hall of Fame GM wants to keep him around.
JD deserves considerable scorn and mockery after his last few seasons, but in his long career with the Rangers the one thing he has consistently executed is finding the guy off the “Manager’s Rack” and squeezing out something of value in return.
The Cowboys had that in Smith, a player who missed the previous four NFL seasons because of a variety of suspensions.
They took a risk and signed him for an NFL nothing, and now he’s shown he’s still a player.
“[The potential trade] showed they have faith in me and they want me here,” Smith said Thursday in a media session after practice. “I’m extremely grateful for the Cowboys giving me a chance.”
The Seattle Seahawks were interested in trading for Smith. Granted, they didn’t have too much to offer, but they were a buyer.
A fourth- or fifth-round pick in exchange for Smith would have been a good return on a player who cost nothing for the Cowboys to sign in the previous offseason. Jerry loves fourth-round picks.
The Seahawks opted instead to acquire Carlos Dunlap from the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for a seventh-round pick, and a journeyman offensive lineman.
Smith is better than Dunlap, who is closer to finished than he realizes.
And Smith is closer to Dunlap more than he realizes.
They are both 31, and once a guy crosses 30 they are much closer to the edge of cliff straight into the end of their careers than they understand.
The odds of Smith maintaining the level of production he’s flashed thus far through the first half of 2020 into next year and beyond are low. He may not even be able to maintain it for the rest of the 2020 season.
Since registering four sacks in the first three games, his productivity, and snap count, have steadily decreased.
Then there is the matter of health. Things tend to happen to 32-year-old defensive ends.
Smith is currently nursing a knee injury that is limiting what he can do on the field. He’s currently listed as “limited” on the weekly injury report.
On his weekly radio show on 105.3 The Fan, Jerry said he was not interested in moving Smith.
“I like his focus. I like his attitude. I like his attitude about the future,” Jerry said on the show.
And what of the Cowboys’ future?
Smith’s one-year contract with the Cowboys expires after the 2020 season, and he will be a free agent. This will be his last chance at a bigger NFL contract that he blew from his variety of NFL suspensions.
“I’m not thinking about next season,” Smith said Thursday. “I want to win.”
Aldon, you’re in the wrong place.
The Cowboys are not winning anything other than a top-five draft pick this season. There is nothing Smith can do to change that.
They Cowboys created value in Aldon Smith, and then refused to take full advantage of it.
That’s not on the player.
That’s not on the head coach.
That’s on the GM, who is going nowhere. Not now, or ever.
