Jerry Jones had the most delusional answer for why he should remain Cowboys GM
Thanks in large part to owner Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys are routinely one of the NFL's biggest marquee attractions. Also thanks to Jerry Jones, the Cowboys are routinely the NFL's answer to a dumpster fire rolling down a random street.
Don't ask the current Dallas general manager if he will change anything up, though.
Somehow, despite all the success Jones hasn't led the Cowboys to, he's got a sore spot at the mere suggestion that, perhaps, someone else more qualified and more competent should be running his circus-like professional football team.
In a new interview with Clarence Hill Jr. of DLLS, Jones went on an enraged tangent at the idea that he should step down as Cowboys GM. Despite just five playoff wins in the last 28 years and Dallas' status as a league-favorite punching bag because of how the team vomits all over itself every single January, Jones was adamant that no one else -- no one he could definitely pay a lot of money to -- could do a better job than him.
Dearest readers, that's what we call the definition of delusion.
My goodness. I'm not sure I've ever seen that much sheer, unfiltered insecurity in one place from one obviously overmatched person.
I love the idea that Jones thinks his being old (he is 81, by the way) would be the only path to him relinquishing any responsibility for football operations in Dallas. It's as if his being younger somehow made the Cowboys better at literally any time since 1996, the last time Dallas played in the NFC title game. Jones was 46 when he bought the Cowboys in 1989, and it was still the legendary Jimmy Johnson who deserved the lion's share of the credit (by far) for building the 1990s Dallas Super Bowl dynasty.
I should note that none of this is to say that Jones has done a completely bad job from top to bottom. The Cowboys have enjoyed three consecutive 12-win campaigns and, in all likelihood, may very well push that mark to four straight years in 2024. The roster, while flawed, is that good.
But how much of that regular-season success (a key caveat) should be credited to Jones' GM work and not, say, Director of Player Personnel Will McClay? You know, the guy Jones lays out a red carpet for every offseason, so some prospective team doesn't hire him away as its new GM?
McClay's demand is not a coincidence.
The only thing about these Cowboys, which I think can be safely attributed to Jones, is their status as brazen frontrunners. There's no one better in the NFL at acting as an overinflated paper tiger who always wilts at the first sign of legitimate adversity. There's no other team in pro football that embraces all of its unwarranted spotlight only to cower the moment it takes a single medium-power punch to the face quite like Jones' Cowboys. They have personified their owner/GM to a tee.
Jones believes no one else could GM this second-rate organization to five playoff victories in 28 years. He's right, but not in the way he thinks.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Jerry Jones had the most delusional answer for why he should remain Cowboys GM
