NFL officiating will rely more on technology and get better because of it, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says.
Jones was asked about the New York officiating office getting more involved in making calls based on replay angles that the on-field officials don’t see, and while he was careful not to say anything about the league’s ongoing negotiations with the officials’ union, he did make clear that he supports more use of replay and communication technology to get calls right.
“If you look at some of the technology that has evolved and some of the practical use of that technology, then you’d feel pretty good about improving the accuracy of calls using the technology we have available today,” Jones said. “So while we all know we’re looking to the future, we have to look at what’s happened in the past, but some of this technology is really impressive. Consequently, I have a lot of, for our game in general — I’m talking about officiating — but I have a lot of hope for improving the entertainment value, and, if you will, the accuracy involved when it comes to somebody making a judgment. I think we’re in for some great future days of getting better all the way around. And we all think we can do a great job of zeroing in and training and looking for nuances to help the decision making regarding the calls on the field. We all think that. Everybody’s been striving, that’s nothing new, to try to get better. But it’s our job to put the incentives into place and demands in place to get better. Fans deserve that.”
The NFL plans to rely heavily on the New York officiating office if there’s a labor stoppage requiring the use of replacement refs, but Jones’ comments suggest that the league should do that for all games, even with the regular officials. If technology can make officiating more accurate, the NFL should use that technology.
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Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wants to expand the regular season to 18 games, and he says players should want that, too.
Jones said that adding another game to the regular season, while cutting a game from the preseason, would mean more money from the NFL, which under the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement would mean the players’ share grows as the owners’ share grows.
“My interpretation of the 18th game would be less preseason games. I like that,” Jones said. “I think that’s great for the players — emphasize great for the players. It increases the viability of the financial aspect, more gate and more money for the players as well.”
Asked if it’s great for the players other than financially, Jones said it’s also an opportunity for them to get more exposure.
“I think it’s a better application of their careers and talent. less preseason, more playing in games that have the right balance of the financial rewards as well as exposure,” Jones said.
So far, the players’ union has not been supportive of a longer regular season. Jones thinks when the players see how much more money they’ll make with a longer season, they’ll come around.
Jerry Jones is at it again.
The Cowboys owner and G.M. has a history of trying to negotiate directly with players. Last year, his habit helped contribute to the collapse of his relationship with linebacker Micah Parsons.
This year, Jerry is trying to get franchise-tagged receiver George Pickens to go it alone.
Coincidentally, or not, Pickens and Parsons are represented by the same agent — David Mulugheta of Athletes First.
Said Jones on Tuesday, via Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, regarding Pickens: “If he worked without an agent, he’d save a lot of money . . . with me.”
Pickens surely won’t be falling for that one. Jerry knows that it’s easier to squeeze someone who doesn’t negotiate contracts for a living into doing a bad deal. And even if Pickens wouldn’t have to pay Mulugheta’s fee, Mulugheta will get enough to more than justify his cut.
Look at what Parsons ultimately secured from the Packers: $46.5 million per year. Does anyone think the Cowboys ever would have paid him that much? Jones seemed to be intent on kicking the can through the fifth year of Parsons’s contract (at less than $25 million) before perhaps playing the franchise-tag game for a year or maybe two.
Instead, Parsons got $120 million fully guaranteed over the first three years of his contract with the Packers.
To date, the NFL Players Association has not taken action against Jones’s efforts to undermine the relationships between his players and their agents. Jones does it in part because the fine, under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, is minimal. And Jones has made it clear that he’ll happily pay those fines.
Of course he will. If/when he manages to get a player to do a deal without the help of an agent, Jerry would save enough money to pay that fine hundreds of times over.
Maybe that’s something the NFLPA should look to change in the next CBA. With Jones apparently the only owner inclined to circumvent NFLPA-certified agents, there would be little pushback from the league at large to adding a zero or two to the fine for doing so.
In 2014, as the NFL made its incursion into every Thursday night a permanent thing, former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had a warning for pro football: “Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.”
On Tuesday, long-time Dallas Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones had a response: “When the ducks quack, feed ‘em.”
The quacking of the ducks is the demand from consumers. And Jones is right.
When Cuban said what he said, he predicted that the NFL was 10 years from an implosion. Twelve years later, the NFL keeps getting bigger and bigger.
More games, more windows to watch games, more eyeballs. More money.
Basically, more.
Is there a limit? Even if the NFL staged a standalone game every night of the week from Week 1 through Week 18 (or, soon enough, Week 20), millions would watch. Every night.
For now, the NFL has to avoid Friday and Saturday night from the second weekend in September to the second weekend in December. It still leaves five days as open season.
And whether it’s duck season or rabbit season, it’s always hog season.
Edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney remains a free agent.
That is not unusual for Clowney. In the past four years, he signed one-year contracts on Sept. 14 (with the Cowboys in 2025), March 27 (with the Panthers in 2024), Aug. 18 (with the Ravens in 2023) and May 22 (with the Browns in 2022).
Clowney, 33, is doing what he does every time this time of year — working out at his home in Houston and waiting.
“That’s the usual for me,” Clowney told Aaron Wilson of KPRC. “The usual, all season. Come in, stand on my grind. I got a lot left in the tank. I don’t know if other people know that, but I know that. I can continue to prove that to people and go out there and show people I’m going to do that.”
Clowney has played for seven teams in 12 years, signing mostly one-year deals. He could have an eighth home this season, likely on a one-year deal.
He spent last season with the Cowboys, totaling 8.5 sacks and 10 quarterback hits in 13 games.
The Cowboys, though, moved on this offseason when they traded with the Packers for edge rusher Rashan Gary. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones confirmed the team will not re-sign Clowney on Tuesday.
“It’s real hard when you look at how Clowney came on last year and the snaps he gave us,” Jones said, via video from Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “It’s real hard not to have a place there for Clowney, but you can’t have it all. You just can’t have it all. If things go right for us, we’ve already made a signing. We’ve made trades. We think that’s the better way to go.”
Clowney has never had a double-digit sack season since the Texans drafted him No. 1 overall in 2014, and he has made the Pro Bowl only three times. But his 66.5 career sacks will entice someone to sign him for 2026.
“I done played in every scheme, ain’t no scheme I can’t play in, 3-4 to 4-3 to whatever damn scheme that you had,” Clowney told Wilson. “I think I done proved that I can play in them all and not just play in them, but also dominate in them schemes and do my job at a high level. I just came off a great season, looking forward to doing it again and, you know, continue to prove to people and show the balance.
“They know I’m available. I walk in every year and play well on every scheme and every team I’ve been on. I want to continue to do that going into year 13. Showing people wrong and proving that I can still play at a high level. It don’t matter where I end up, where I play at, just know I’m coming to show you again and prove people wrong again.”
The Cowboys tried hard to trade for Maxx Crosby. They reportedly made three offers for the edge rusher.
Dallas, though, did not come close to the offer the Ravens made, and the Raiders agreed to trade Crosby to Baltimore for two first-round draft picks.
However, Crosby’s physical with the team four days later prompted the Ravens to back out of the deal. Doctors expressed concerns about a degenerative issue in Crosby’s knee, with Dr. Dan Cooper, the Cowboys’ team physician, among those the Ravens consulted.
The Ravens drew intense criticism for reneging on the deal, but Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that until a player passes a physical, nothing is final.
“For me, there’s no hidden item there,” Jones said, via Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “You have to pass a physical. You have to. And we’ve never completed an agreement until the player passes a physical. That implies that your doctors, your trainers and everybody involved gets to take a look at him. That goes with the territory. We would have basically had the same conditions with the physical. As you know, we were in on making an offer for him. So he would have come to Dallas, and we’ll all just guess what would have happened.”
Crosby is expected to play for the Raiders this season, but Jones was asked whether the Cowboys might have interest in exploring a trade at a later date.
“Standing here right now, I don’t anticipate revisiting that situation. Is it possible? Yes,” Jones said.
It isn’t an overstatement to say the Packers’ promising season ended with Micah Parsons’ torn ACL after 40 defensive snaps into the Week 15 game against the Broncos. The Packers lost that game and their next four games, including a wild-card playoff loss to the Bears to end their season.
Parsons, 26, has rehabbed in Dallas since Dr. Neal ElAttrache repaired Parsons’ torn ligament on Dec. 30.
The Packers recently sent head athletic trainer Nate Weir to Texas to check in on Parsons’ rehab.
“Everything’s good,” General Manager Brian Gutekunst said Monday at the NFL owners meetings, via video from Ryan Wood of USA Today. “We had our trainers down there with him not too long ago and came back with really good. It’s daily communication. He’s an exceptional athlete, and we’re hoping that takes over here pretty quick and the healing process goes fast.”
Gutekunst would not put a timeline on Parsons’ return.
“No, we’re really early in this,” Gutekunst said. “Obviously, we invested quite a bit in him, so we will be very protective of that investment as we go forward.”
Parsons proved worth the investment the Packers made in trading with the Cowboys for him and with the contract they gave him. He had 12.5 sacks and 79 pressures in 14 games, earning first-team All-Pro honors for a third time.
The Cowboys used the franchise tag on wide receiver George Pickens, which will pay him $27.298 million on a one-year deal in the absence of a long-term deal. Pickens wants a long-term deal, especially after seeing what the Seahawks recently gave wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Pickens’ only real leverage is to stay away from the team, and until he signs the franchise tag, Pickens isn’t under contract. Thus, he can’t practice with the team.
There is no chance Pickens signs the tag (or a participation agreement) and reports to the Cowboys’ offseason work next month.
Still, Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer was asked whether he has an assurance from Pickens to attend the offseason program.
“No, and I haven’t pushed that on him,” Schottenheimer said, via the team website. “We’re all going through the process. It’s almost April. We’re still a couple weeks away. It’s going to play out the way it plays out. Again, it’s all voluntary, so we’ll see where it goes.”
Schottenheimer said he has been in contact with Pickens, who has taken some trips with CeeDee Lamb this offseason.
“He’s training with Dak. GP loves it here. We love GP,” Schottenheimer said. “We have plans for GP to be here for a long time, so we’ll let the business side of this thing play out and see where it goes.”
The Cowboys are signing defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard to a one-year deal, the team announced on Saturday.
Bullard, 32, is a 10-year veteran, having entered the NFL as a third-round pick of the Bears in 2016.
He has also played for the Cardinals, Seahawks, Falcons, Vikings and Saints.
In 2025, Bullard appeared in 15 games for New Orleans, starting six, and tallied 26 tackles, four tackles for loss and two pass breakups.
With the addition of Bullard, the Cowboys have now added seven players on the defensive side of the ball this offseason. Bullard is the third addition on the defensive line, joining nose tackle Otito Ogbonnia and outside linebacker Rashan Gary.
New defensive coordinator Christian Parker is switching the team to a 3-4 base defense.
Bullard will reunite with his former defensive line coach, Marcus Dixon, who coached him with the Vikings in 2024. Bullard started all 17 games for Minnesota that season and posted 41 tackles, seven tackles for loss, three pass breakups and a sack.
Linebacker Sonny Styles is one of the top prospects in this year’s draft class and he’s starting to make the rounds with teams that could make him a first-round pick next month.
During an appearance on Up & Adams, Styles said that he has already had a visit with the Jets. Styles says that he also has visits planned with the Cowboys, Commanders and Bengals in the near future.
The Jets have the second overall pick and have commonly been linked to Styles’s Ohio State teammate Arvell Reese in mock drafts. They also have the 16th overall pick and have an arsenal of early-round choices over the next two drafts, so they could move around the board in order to nab their preferred targets.
Dallas also has two picks — No. 12 and No. 20 — while the Commanders are at No. 7 and the Bengals are at No. 10.
Styles had 244 tackles, 22.5 tackles for loss, nine sacks, an interception, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery during his time with the Buckeyes. He also impressed during his workouts at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis last month to solidify his standing as a top prospect.
