Poking holes in Stephen Jones’ claims about character of Cowboys’ draftees

If there is one thing that is certain about the rest of the Dallas Cowboys‘ 2022 offseason, it is that Stephen and Jerry Jones are going to continue to tell fans that everything is perfect and that they will continue to bend the truth about how they’ve gone about and will go about creating this roster. In a recent interview with 105.3 The Fan, Stephen Jones told broadcasters that they let Amari Cooper go to let CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup “step into a bigger role,” which feels highly untrue given his comments about Cooper mid and postseason. He also tried to convince fans that Dorance Armstrong was as good on paper as Randy Gregory.

But those weren’t the only quotes that stood out. Another quote that flew a bit further under the radar was one about how Stephen Jones claimed that the front office handles draft picks. In his eyes, the team wholeheartedly cares about a player’s character and off-field personality. Here is the quote from Jones:

"“It’s huge. You go into that with every player. You certainly give grades on their character risk, and we go in-depth. I would say at least 25% of the report is based on the guy’s character: football character, personal character, on and off the field, all the things that go into the makeup of what a football player’s going to be like and what you project him to be like when he gets into the NFL. It’s certainly a big part of the evaluation process.”"

Given the number of players in the organization and the amount of draft prospects who have had legal scandals or issues before joining the Cowboys, this one is really hard to believe. In fact, there’s a player on the current pre-draft visit list who is dealing with off-field issues. That certainly didn’t stop him from getting an invite.

Stephen Jones claimed that character off-the-field is 25% of how they look at draft prospects despite the recent history of Cowboys’ selections

There’s actually an alarming number of players with serious character issues that have played on the Cowboys. For the sake of sticking to Jones’s current argument and quote. We can just go over some of the recent Dallas draftees with problems to save time.

Randy Gregory: In 2014, the Nebraska product was expected to get drafted pretty high in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft. However, Gregory failed a drug test after testing positive for marijuana at the 2015 NFL Scouting Combine. That made his draft stock fall immensely and was overlooked in the first round. But, the Cowboys went on to select him 60th overall. As we all know, he’d go on to violate the league’s substance abuse policies and fail drug tests many times in his years with Dallas.

Micah Parsons: We all know Parsons as the guy who almost won NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year as a rookie. What most people may not remember is that he was involved in a hazing and sexual harassment lawsuit at Penn State. A player alleged that he was sexually hazed by Parsons and teammate Yetur Gross-Matos. Parsons was also involved in a fight with a teammate that escalate to the point of a knife being pulled.

Josh Ball: Not one, but two 2021 draft picks had off-field issues. Ball was removed from Florida State University after being accused of dating violence. His ex-girlfriend cited over ten incidences where Ball was physically violent to her and others.

Sam Williams: This young linebacker hasn’t even been drafted yet, but has been heavily associated with the Cowboys. Before his senior year, the Ole Miss product was suspended by the football team after he was charged with sexual battery. After the charges were dropped, he was able to return to football. He was given an invitation to visit Dallas on an official pre-draft visit.

This doesn’t even mention the scandals with La’el Collins, Michael Irvin, or Greg Hardy. This team is known for adding or keeping people with very troubling pasts. It’s one thing for Jones to say what he said is a new process they are acting on and insinuate that they made mistakes with Ball or Parsons. But to claim this now and be actively considering a defender in the 2022 NFL Draft with off-field issues just completely goes against what he’s saying.