
Stephen Jones
Chief Operating Officer / Executive Vice President / Director of Player Personnel
Biography
With 33 years of NFL experience, Stephen Jones has established himself as one of the brightest and most versatile executives in professional sports. Recognized as Owner Jerry Jones' right-hand man, Stephen is the Cowboys Chief Operating Officer/Executive Vice President/Player Personnel and President of AT&T Stadium.
With 33 years of NFL experience, Stephen Jones has established himself as one of the brightest and most versatile executives in professional sports. Recognized as Owner Jerry Jones' right-hand man, Stephen is the Cowboys Chief Operating Officer/Executive Vice President/Player Personnel and President of AT&T Stadium.
He oversees the management operations for all aspects of the Dallas Cowboys and AT&T Stadium, while also supervising the team's scouting and player personnel department. His work involves managing the organization's 400-plus employees, while also handling all of the club's salary cap and all major player contract concerns. He also is active in the recruitment - and management - of all major events that come to AT&T Stadium and The Star in Frisco. Jones' experience as a major college football player, and his years as one of the NFL's top executives, were instrumental in his appointment to the League's prestigious Competition Committee. His active involvement in stadium management, design and development has also landed him a spot on the NFL's New Stadium Committee.
Following the Cowboys 12-4 regular season finish and 2014 NFC Eastern Division title, Stephen and Jerry Jones were named the co-recipients of the NFL Executive of the Year Award as presented by _Sports Illustrated'_s Monday Morning Quarterback.
Beginning in 1989, Jones has played an integral role in the team's dramatic rise from a 1-15 record to being the NFL's "Team of the Decade" with three Super Bowl titles in the 1990s. As he enters his 34th NFL season, Jones is a driving force behind the Cowboys push to return to the NFL's elite level of teams. His recent work has seen the club restock its roster with some of the game's top talent, and the recent results have produced winning records in 11 of the last 19 seasons - and division titles in 2007, 2009, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2021. During his tenure with the team, Dallas has established the club record for regular season wins (13) in 1992 and equaled that mark with 13 victories in 2007 and 2016.
Since 2010, Jones has crafted one of the more impressive drafting records in the NFL. In that 12-year period of time (2010-21) Dallas selected 16 players who have become Pro Bowlers: Dez Bryant and Sean Lee (in 2010), Tyron Smith, DeMarco Murray and Dwayne Harris (2011), Travis Frederick (2013), Zack Martin and DeMarcus Lawrence (2014), Byron Jones (2015), Ezekiel Elliott, Jaylon Smith and Dak Prescott (2016), Leighton Vander Esch (2018), Trevon Diggs and CeeDee Lamb (2020) and Micah Parsons (2021). That group has gone on to earn a combined total of 42 Pro Bowl selections, including ones made after departing Dallas. Additionally, nine of those draft picks have also been named to at least one All-Pro team since their selection - the most in the NFL - and their combined 14 All-Pro selections rank second league-wide in that time. In those same 12 years, Dallas has selected 29 players who have become starters, with nine of those becoming All-Rookie Team selections.
The foundation for the future success of the team has been secured through savvy draft maneuvers and key free agent acquisitions, starting up front on the offensive line. Smith and Martin were Pro Bowlers together for the eighth and seventh times, respectively, following the 2021 season. Prescott and Elliott - Dallas' duo of young offensive backfield weapons - became the first pair of Cowboys rookies to ever be selected to the Pro Bowl in 2016. Prescott opened his career by becoming the first rookie quarterback in Cowboys history to be named to the Pro Bowl and the first to win AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, while Elliott won NFL rushing titles in two (2016 and 2018) of his first three years in the league. Lamb is another in the line of great Cowboys receivers to don the famed number 88 jersey, establishing a team rookie record with 74 catches in his first season and then eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark in his second year.
Defensively, Diggs and Parsons anchor an ascending young group of players. Diggs tied the club record with 11 interceptions in 2021, while Parsons earned AP Defensive Rookie of the Year honors by establishing a Cowboys rookie record with 13.0 sacks.
In the ever-evolving strategy that dictates a team's competitiveness in the current collective bargaining agreement, Jones' performance in managing the Cowboys salary cap, and the club's activity in free agency, has played a prominent role in the team's ability to compete at the NFL's highest level. Jones' involvement in shaping the Dallas roster under the salary cap was critical in allowing the Cowboys to maintain one of the NFL's most talented core group of players throughout the decade of the 1990s. His creativity and caretaking of the Cowboys cap played a key role in the team's six division titles, four conference championship game appearances and three world titles.
During a historic two-year period of time, Jones was involved in signing five Cowboys stars who were considered the best players in the game at their respective positions. Between September of 1993 and September of 1995, Jones helped orchestrate contract agreements with running back Emmitt Smith, quarterback Troy Aikman, fullback Daryl Johnston, wide receiver Michael Irvin and cornerback Deion Sanders.
Shortly after the turn of the century, Jones began spearheading the club's new stadium efforts, overseeing every element of the development and construction of the venue while also working closely with local government, community and business leaders. He was directly responsible for the club's successful referendum campaign in the fall of 2004 that saw the City of Arlington agree to join forces with the Cowboys in building a new state-of-the-art stadium - later to be named AT&T Stadium.
Opened to the public in May of 2009, the stadium's dramatic first season of operation resulted in the venue being named the Sports Facility of the Year by the _Sports Business Journal _in May of 2010.
The 100,000-plus seat stadium established the attendance record for an NFL regular season game as 105,121 witnessed the September 20, 2009 home opener, while the 108,713 who attended the NBA All-Star Game on February 14, 2010 became the largest crowd to witness a game in the history of the sport.
In just over 12 years of operation, more than 13 million fans have attended events that included high school and collegiate football, major college basketball, international soccer, professional bull riding, Supercross, world championship boxing and concerts that featured world renowned recording artists. More than 5.5 million other visitors passed through the twelve-story high doors of the stadium for daily public tours of the venue.
With its architectural versatility and cutting edge media capabilities, AT&T Stadium has become a visible beacon that has established North Texas as a major focal point on the sports and entertainment canvas of North America.
The brilliant home of the Cowboys has become a powerful catalyst in attracting a wide range of national and international events that will define the future of the region for generations to come. The stadium has already played host to Super Bowl XLV (February of 2011), the NCAA Final Four in men's basketball (April of 2014), the inaugural College Football Playoff Championship Game (January of 2015) and in 2018 became the first NFL stadium to host the NFL Draft. Other top flight sporting events for the future include the annual Cotton Bowl classic and the Texas A&M-Arkansas football Southwest Classic, just to name a few.
In the summer of 2013, Jones was the organization's point person in the negotiations that established the multi-year naming rights agreement for the Cowboys home in Arlington with AT&T.
AT&T Stadium remains the only venue in the world to host an NBA All-Star Game, a Super Bowl, the Men's NCAA Final Four and the College Football Playoff Championship Game.
Shortly after the new name for AT&T Stadium was announced, Jones took on the responsibilities of spearheading a partnership with the City of Frisco (TX) and the Frisco Independent School District to develop a new home for the Cowboys World Headquarters and training facility in Frisco. The Star in Frisco opened its doors for operation in the summer of 2016. Located in a rapidly growing community of more than 200,000 residents, The Star is a partnership with the City of Frisco and Frisco ISD that focuses on inspiring a strong future for high school football, youth sports and the next generation of players and fans by uniquely engaging them at the place where the Dallas Cowboys live, work and practice.
The Star is the only NFL training facility in the U.S. that is shared with a public high school athletic program. All 12 Frisco ISD high schools play home games within Ford Center at The Star, a state-of-the-art, 510,000-square-foot indoor athletic facility. With a capacity of 12,000 seats, Ford Center hosts a variety of events in addition to football games, such as concerts, collegiate basketball, professional boxing, soccer matches and meetings, to name a few.
The Star includes a 91-acre mixed-use development located on the Dallas Tollway. In addition to the team's headquarters, the project features shopping, dining, nightlife, athletic, fitness, event, hotel and residential options.
Prior to focusing much of his energy on the innovative projects in Arlington and Frisco, Jones' stewardship of historic Texas Stadium in Irving left behind a legacy of facility management that maximized the use and visibility of the venue into a year-round destination for sporting, entertainment, community and corporate events on an unprecedented level.
Jones has enjoyed a life-long association with the game of football. A four-year letterman as a linebacker and special teams standout at the University of Arkansas, Jones was a starter for the Razorbacks in the Orange Bowl Classic Game that followed the 1986 season. Prior to attending the University of Arkansas, Jones was an all-state quarterback and a three-year starter at Catholic High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. In February of 2015, Jones was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, where he joined his father who was a 1999 inductee.
In 2016 Jones was awarded the Junior Achievement Legacy Award which goes to a person whose leadership supports academic excellence in Arkansas. Jones followed that honor up in 2017, being named the 2017 Arkansan of the Year by Easter Seals Arkansas.
He earned his degree in chemical engineering from Arkansas in 1998 and immediately went to work in the oil and gas business for JMC Exploration as an engineer. In 2013 he was inducted as a member of the Arkansas Academy of Chemical Engineers.
On Feb. 25, 1989, Jerry Jones purchased the Dallas Cowboys and installed Stephen into a key front office position as one-of-three vice presidents with the club.
Jones is a past president of the Dallas Chapter of the Young Presidents' Organization. He serves on the board of directors for Complexity Gaming as well as the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association. He also serves on the board for the Dallas Citizens Council and the Baylor Health Care System Foundation. He is a former member of the NFL's Business Ventures Committee, and he is also a member of the board of directors for Legends Hospitality - the joint stadium catering venture involving the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Yankees organizations that Jones was instrumental in creating. In the spring of 2015, Jones was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.
Jones was born in Danville, Arkansas and raised in Little Rock. He and his wife, Karen, live in Highland Park, Dallas and have four children.