Jerry Jones says Cowboys who disrespect the flag 'will not play'

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Jerry Jones says Cowboys who disrespect the flag 'will not play'

By The Associated Press October 09, 2017 1:48 PM

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Dallas owner Jerry Jones said the NFL can't leave the impression it tolerates players disrespecting the flag and any Cowboys making such displays won't play.

Jones had his strongest comments so far on the national anthem controversy Sunday night. They started with his response to a question about Vice President Mike Pence leaving the game in Indianapolis after about a dozen San Francisco players knelt during the anthem.

"I know this, we cannot ... in the NFL in any way give the implication that we tolerate disrespecting the flag," said Jones, also the team's general manager, after a 35-31 loss to Green Bay.

"We know that there is a serious debate in this country about those issues, but there is no question in my mind that the National Football League and the Dallas Cowboys are going to stand up for the flag. So we're clear."

The Cowboys and Jones knelt arm-in-arm before the anthem when they played at Arizona two weeks ago, a few days after President Donald Trump criticized NFL players for anthem protests. All of them stood during the anthem, with arms still locked.

Mostly Dallas players have stood on the sideline, many with hands over their hearts, during the anthem since former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started kneeling last season in protest of police treatment of African-Americans.

Jones said he wasn't aware of whether any of his players had raised a fist at the end of the anthem before the Green Bay game.

"I don't know about that," said Jones, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August. "But if there's anything that is disrespectful to the flag, then we will not play. OK? Understand? If we are disrespecting the flag, then we won't play. Period."

The 74-year-old Jones said showing respect for the flag and the anthem is more important to him than any potential issues of team unity.

"There is no room here if it comes between looking non-supportive of our players and of each other or creating the impression that you're disrespecting the flag, we will be non-supportive of each other," Jones said. "We will not disrespect the flag."

Jones said a phone conversation with Trump after the display in Arizona included Trump telling him there was a rule on the books.

The NFL has said the game operations manual distributed to teams includes a reference to players standing for the anthem, but that it's a policy and not a rule. The league has said it doesn't plan to punish players over anthem protests.

"The league in mind should absolutely take the rules we've got on the books and make sure that we do not give the perception that we're disrespecting the flag," Jones said.

Source: Eagles adding veteran QB Cody Kessler

By Dave Zangaro May 12, 2019 1:15 PM

The Eagles on Monday are going to sign former third-round quarterback Cody Kessler, a league source confirmed to NBC Sports Philadelphia.

NFL Network first reported the move.

Kessler, 26, will join a suddenly crowded quarterback room with Carson Wentz, Nate Sudfeld, Clayton Thorson and Luis Perez.

Wentz is obviously the starter and Sudfeld is his backup, but perhaps Kessler will push Sudfeld and fight for a roster spot. Although, the Eagles did use a fifth-round pick on Thorson out of Northwestern and before that signed Perez from the AAF.

Unless Perez is released, the Eagles will have five quarterbacks on their 90-man roster when OTAs begin on May 21.

During the offseason, the Eagles said they weren’t going to just hand Sudfeld the backup quarterback job, so perhaps Kessler will battle him for it. While the Eagles have been high on Sudfeld, Kessler has considerably more NFL experience. But Sudfeld will also make around $3 million this season after the Eagles used a second-round RFA tender on him. Still, having competition at the QB spots after Wentz isn’t a bad thing.

On Friday, Doug Pederson wouldn’t say whether or not Wentz will be on the field for OTAs later this month. Wentz has been healing from a stress fracture in his back. But it seems unlikely this signing has anything to do with that. It seems this is a depth signing to create some added competition for Sudfeld and Thorson in the spring and summer.

Kessler was taken by the Browns in the third round of the 2016 draft out of USC. That was the same year Jared Goff went No. 1 and Wentz followed to the Eagles at No. 2. Kessler spent just two years with the Browns before he was traded to the Jaguars, where he spent the 2018 season.

In three NFL seasons, Kessler has played in 17 games with 12 starts. He has a 2-10 record, completing 64.2 percent of his passes for 2,215 yards, 8 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. His career passer rating is 83.7. To put Kessler’s 17 games in perspective, Sudfeld has played in just three career NFL games.

In his eight starts as a rookie in Cleveland, Kessler went 0-8. He was 2-2 last year with the Jaguars, but was released just a few days ago.

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More on the Eagles

How Eagles rookie WR DeAndre Thompkins learned he had blazing speed

By Dave Zangaro May 11, 2019 9:15 AM

DeAndre Thompkins didn’t know he was fast.

He was wrong.

Because as the rookie put on his NFL uniform for the first time Friday afternoon, a day after he signed with the Eagles as an undrafted free agent, the one attribute Thompkins has undeniably is blazing-fast speed. So much so that when he ran an official 4.33 in the 40-yard dash at the Penn State pro day, Thompkins was actually disappointed. Leading up to the pro day, he claims he had been clocked in the 4.2s.

So has he always been fast?

“Supposedly,” he said.

Supposedly?

My mother and father told me I was always fast. I always thought I was slow. I was always the smallest kid on the field. I was always playing with bigger guys, so I always thought I wasn’t fast. I was just too small for them to see me.

Thompkins, 23, said he didn’t learn about his speed until he went to a football camp at the University of North Carolina when he was 16 or 17. It was at that camp, where he competed against top competition, that he realized he was not just holding his own, but beating them.

Before then, Thompkins would run past people, but he just assumed he happened to be faster than the guy covering him. No big deal. It took that trip to put it in perspective.

“Maybe I might be fast,” Thompkins said, recalling his epiphany.

This time, he was right.

But at Penn State, Thompkins didn’t have staggering production. After redshirting in 2014, he caught 83 career passes for 1,245 yards, an average of 15.0 yards per catch. Though he did excel as a punt returner. He fielded 66 punts for 675 yards (10.2) and two touchdowns. If he has any chance of making the Eagles’ roster as an undrafted free agent, his ability as a punt returner will likely be why. The Eagles don’t have their return jobs solidified this spring.

As a receiver, Thompkins wants to prove he has more than just straight-line speed. He called himself a “route technician” who has the technique to go along with the speed.

But he knows his strength.

“At any moment, I could just run past anybody,” he said. “To always have that in your back pocket, not necessarily something to always lean on, because everybody is fast in the league, but just to have that in your back pocket when everything goes wrong, you just run fast.”

Even though he was disappointed by his 40 time at the PSU pro day, a 4.33 would have tied for third at the combine among receivers and tied for fifth among all players. He said not getting invited to the combine and not getting drafted will provide plenty of motivation for as long as his football career lasts.

When football does eventually end for Thompkins, he’ll probably be OK. According to his Penn State bio, he graduated in 2017 with a degree in psychology and is working toward a degree in criminology. He wants to pursue a career in neuropsychology.

With his speed, there’s no doubt he could get to his next career in a hurry. But as he spends this offseason with the Eagles, this is one time he wouldn’t mind taking things slow.

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