OXNARD, Calif. – In the last year, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones has made several notable roster decisions. From trading All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons to the Packers for two first-round picks and Kenny Clark to acquiring Pro Bowl defensive tackle Quinnen Williams for a first-round pick at the trade deadline, Jones has shown recently he is willing to wheel and deal.
Why? Part of the reason is his admiration for teams like the Los Angeles Rams, who Jones mentioned in Dallas' opening press conference at training camp and complimented the team's aggression in building their roster to be able to compete for a championship. In a copycat league that is the NFL, Jones has no issue with taking aspects of his peers' work and applying it to the Cowboys, who he believes are in a similar situation.
"I would look at that and use a parallel and say, 'We've got Dak,'" Jones said. "Okay, where can we be more aggressive in looking at what the Rams have done? Or for that matter looking at what New England has done. I'm unabashed about sitting down and visiting with the competition about how they're doing it and how they're doing it better. I continue to do it."
Will Jones and Dallas continue to make big moves like they have in the last 365 days? Jones said that Dallas is willing to make a “substantive” move to add to their defense if the opportunity presents itself.
That said, Jones clarified his willingness to make that kind of addition isn't because of a lack of confidence in his roster, rather an opportunity to continue to bolster it.
"The facts are there are times, without even having to evaluate to some degree what you've got, you can see that an opportunity would help you," Jones said. "Because it takes more than one guy to play any position, much less several positions."
"There's no question that we think enough of our opportunity here with what we've got with Dak and the team, that we think enough of our opportunity that we would use some of the future salary cap, some of the future draft consideration, some of the future, if you will, trade asset. We would use some of it to add to this team right now."
Jones feels that opportunity is to compete for a Super Bowl, something Dallas hasn't done in 30 years. The Cowboys have not shied away from the fact that being in Inglewood, California on Valentine's Day for Super Bowl LXI is their goal, from Jones saying competing for a championship would be what he defined a successful season in 2026 to Dak Prescott wearing a vintage Super Bowl XXX shirt when arriving to camp in Oxnard.
But every offseason, all 32 teams around the league will say that winning a championship is the goal. In Jones' mind, what makes him believe that this time around, things are different for the Cowboys?
"Well first of all we've been close, in my opinion, several times and we didn't get there," Jones said. "So the odds are it's going to come up more than it's not going to come up in my mind, number one. Number two, I like what we've got in our coaching staff, I like what we've got in the makeup of our players, I think we're extraordinarily sound in the way we're approaching all sides of the ball."
"It's unquestionably founded on the fact that, in my mind, we're not hanging by a thread any place. Are we going to have to improve as we go along as a team? Of course we are. But if we do have what I think is a non-aggressive or non-overly optimistic idea about how we're going to improve, I think we can be a contender."
Last week, Jones said that the Cowboys have certain things in place that "won't stay in place" in terms of their roster. Jones said he was not primarily referring to trying to capitalize on quarterback Dak Prescott's time with that statement, but rather that they naturally look different over time.
"It just refers to the fact that I've been doing this 35 years and they don't look the same," Jones said. "They change. And I've been sitting right here, maybe in this chair, certainly in this spot, and you're dealing with different players, different talents. Things change. And so you've got to realize they are, and that's what we're doing. That may be, might be a little hard to understand, but since I've owned the Cowboys, I think I've written a check to over 3,000 people that played football for the Cowboys. So things change."
Could things change for this Cowboys roster to elevate them to the next level if Jones ends up breaking out his check book for a new player? Only time will tell.
