Jerry

Jones

If only the Cowboys had a superstar EDGE defender to bolster their basement-dweller defense. Jerry Jones is looking for the guy who did this. The Cowboys currently rank 30th in both points allowed and EPA per play allowed. They are beatable on the ground and through the air, forcing them to enter every game with a shootout mentality. Dallas has scraped together a 3-3-1 record, but they won’t be true Super Bowl contenders until their defense turns things around. As Rapoport notes, the impending return of DeMarvion Overshown and Shavon Revel could dissuade the Cowboys from buying at the deadline.

Jones’ statement effectively validates the timeline of events that Parsons outlined in a social media post. Parsons’ agent was not present for the private discussion in which Jones says the contract was negotiated, and Jones takes issue with the agent’s attempts to “improve off the mark that we’d already set.” These are bizarre circumstances. Agents are hired to represent players in contract negotiations. Jones seemingly disagrees with that practice in this specific instance. The two sides need to resolve this issue soon, ostensibly with Parsons’ agent involved. For his part, Parsons seems ready to dig in, scrubbing mentions of the Cowboys from his social media profiles and adding a Bible verse: “Even if I fall, I will rise; the Lord is my light.” Best of luck, Jerry.

Jones characterized his January discussions with Sanders — who played for Dallas from 1995 to 1999 — as a mere chat between old friends. “Just a conversation about the team, and about where he is, and his boys, conversation with his boys, that type of conversation,” Jones said. “I’ve said I’ve talked to a lot of coaches, and Deion has a job.” Jones would have had to buy out the remaining years on Sanders’ contract with the University of Colorado and make him a highly-paid NFL head coach if he were to have pursued Sanders after Mike McCarthy’s departure. The Cowboys settled on Brian Schottenheimer as their new head coach — his first head coaching gig after 14 years of serving as offensive coordinator for four teams.

The Cowboys are 4-2 on the season and boast an offense and defense that both rank in the top five in the league. Outside of Tony Pollard and CeeDee Lamb, one could argue the Cowboys are relatively thin as far as offensive playmakers are concerned. Despite this, Jones and the front office don’t appear to be anticipating many moves at the deadline. We have until next Tuesday to see if anything gets done, but Jones holding court to say he doesn’t expect much to get done feels pretty definite at this point.

Jones, who bought the Cowboys in 1989 for $150 million, estimated he could get more than $10 billion for the franchise today -- a little north of outside estimates that land in the $8.5 billion range. “But let me make this very clear,” Jones told NBC Sports’ Peter King. “I’ll say it definitively. I will never do it. I will never sell the Cowboys. Ever.” Eighty years old in October, Jones today is as involved in the team’s day-to-day management as he was in their early-90s glory years. Jones seems intent on spending the rest of his days chasing those Jimmy Johnson Super Bowl years with dramatic coaching and personnel moves. Expect the Jones family to own the Cowboys until the sun swallows the earth.

Team owner Jerry Jones said the team settled with the cheerleaders out of court to show “how seriously we took these allegations and we wanted them to know that we were real serious and so the settlement was the way to go.” Settling out of court, of course, is no one’s idea of showing how seriously an organization takes allegations of misconduct. Dalrymple recently retired after 32 years with the Cowboys, who curiously did not announce his retirement. He denied the cheerleaders’ accusations and said the matter had been handled internally years ago.

Dallas will become the first team to be featured for the third time on “Hard Knocks”, last appearing under Wade Phillips ahead of the 2008 season. Dak Prescott, recovering from a dislocated right ankle and compound fracture suffered in Week 5, will likely be the main attraction after the team went 6-10 in coach Mike McCarthy’s first year. The first episode is scheduled to air Tuesday, August 10 at 10 pm ET.

Jerry Jones talked openly (as he usually does) about fitting Kyle Pitts into the team’s offense, but that always seemed like a pipe dream since it would require far too much draft capital to move up into the top-four selections. The Jones family will be more than happy staying put and taking the best defender available, whether that be Patrick Surtain or Jaycee Horn. Rashawn Slater is also in the mix there if both cornerbacks come flying off the board by No. 10.

“Defensively, we have to get better,” Jones stated. “That’s certainly one of our goals in this draft. Barring something very opportunistic, we certainly want to improve our defense.” With five quarterbacks, two offensive linemen, and multiple receivers all projected to come screaming off the board ahead of Dallas’ first crack at it, the Jones family will presumably have an opportunity to take the best overall defensive player (per their board) with the No. 10 overall pick. For what it’s worth, Alabama CB Patrick Surtain remains the betting favorite (-300) at PointsBet to be the first CB to have his name called.

This was always a possibility with veterans expected to report to camp just one week shy of the Hall-of-Fame game on August 6. The annual enshrinement ceremony is also being postponed to 2021. With rumors of a shortened two-week preseason continuing to swirl, this contest likely won’t be the last to get trimmed. The league continues to prioritize measures that will help the regular season commence as scheduled, and this news is simply another step in the right direction. Expect more dominos to fall following Thursday’s owners meeting.