Jerry Jones has been the general manager of the Dallas Cowboys since 1989, and the fact that he hired himself for the job has not, in his own eyes, detracted from his track record.
“I’ve done it all. So I have a vulgar amount of confidence that f***, if anybody can figure out how to do this, it’s me,” Jones told Cowboys longtime reporter Clarence Hill in a surprisingly profane interview for AllDlls.com.
Like other owners who have served as a team’s primary football operations executive in their spare time, such as the late Raiders boss Al Davis, Jones has faced criticism for his personnel decisions. Jones was criticized this offseason for keeping head coach Mike McCarthy after the team failed to reach the Divisional Round of the playoffs for the third time in four seasons.
Jones faced more criticism when wide receiver CeeDee Lamb opted out of his contract long-term, which ended Monday when the All-Pro agreed to a four-year, $136 million contract extension.
He continued to thwart Hill, insisting that no one could do it better than him.
CeeDee Lamb and Jerry Jones Attend Michael Rubin’s 2024 Fanatics Super Bowl Party
“I’ve been out there since Sunday and worked my ass off a lot, a lot,” Jones said. “And there’s nobody alive out there cutting and shooting that you can’t give them a bunch of times that they worked their ass off. So no, there’s nobody that can f***ing come in here and do all the contracts … and be a better GM than me.”
‘I’ve had hundreds of them, damn it [bad days]’, said Jones, 81. ‘Sometimes I get emotional about it. Well, when I’m running this thing, I want to be the one who has the final say. Now, when I can’t think anymore, when I’m old and can’t even do it anymore … but I’m a long way from not being able to do it anymore.’
And why doesn’t Jones let someone else make football decisions for a team that hasn’t reached the NFC title game since the 1995 season?
“The reason I don’t let anybody else be the GM is because I don’t have anybody that I can really get to do it right,” he told Hill. “And they’re going to have to come to me and I know what you’re going to pay for.”
Jones is more familiar with the game than many other billionaire owners.
Unlike his rivals, Jones actually played college football while attending the University of Arkansas.
The Texas oilman later bought the hapless Cowboys in 1989 for a mere $140 million and immediately began the process of returning the franchise to its 1970s glory years. The team won three Super Bowls in the 1990s, including the first two with Jones’ old Arkansas teammate, Hall-of-Fame coach Jimmy Johnson.
Jerry Jones embraces Jimmy Johnson during his induction into the Cowboys Ring of Honor
Jimmy Johnson (right) and Jerry Jones (left) won two Super Bowls together before splitting
It’s no surprise that the two decided to split in 1994, as Jones reportedly wanted more control over the football operations.
However, Johnson has indicated that Jones is less concerned about control than about credit.
“It’s not that Jerry wanted to interfere,” Johnson wrote in his 2022 memoir. “He wasn’t a busybody the way owners sometimes are. He never demanded that a player be traded or that a certain play be played. He just wanted credit for it all.”
According to Johnson, the situation only got worse when the Cowboys went from last place in the NFC East to Super Bowl contenders.
“The problem with Jerry only got worse when we started winning,” Johnson wrote.
In an infamous incident during the NFL Draft, Jones allegedly ordered Johnson to whisper something in his ear to give the impression the owner was involved in personnel decisions.
“This was the day before the NFL Draft, and later that afternoon Jerry said there would be an ESPN camera in the draft room,” Johnson wrote. “There would be no audio, he said. So there was no chance anyone would be able to hear private conversations — but America would have every chance to see the inner workings, read our body language and whatever conclusions we came to.”
NEXT: Dallas will now focus on signing QB Dak Prescott to an extension
According to Johnson, Jones told him, “When you make a deal, lean over and talk to me.”
“It wasn’t enough to deal with the stress of managing picks, engineering trades and continuing to build a champion in the pressure cooker of a draft,” he continued. “Now Jerry’s ego had to be massaged in the middle of it all.”
Johnson has since been added to the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor after being sidelined for nearly 30 years.
Lamb isn’t the only Cowboys star eyeing a contract extension.
Star players Micah Parsons and quarterback Dak Prescott also want to restructure their contracts, and the team has indicated it plans to get those deals done.
Prescott is expected to be paid either by Dallas or another team willing to pay more than $50 million per year if the Cowboys let his contract expire after this season.