Jerry Jones reportedly had NSFW challenge for Robert Kraft at NFL Owners’ Meeting
This week, the 32 NFL team owners are in New York for private meetings to discuss and vote on different important matters about the league. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was there to make his voice heard about his “concerns” about Roger Goodell.
One item on the agenda at the meetings was the commissioner’s new contract. On Tuesday, owners voted about whether the compensation committee can begin contract negotiations with Goodell to continue his role.
The vote was in Goodell’s favor 31-1. In other words, 31 owners are happy to keep the long-time commissioner around for at least a bit longer. The one opposing vote? None other than Jones.
What should’ve been a simple vote apparently turned into a heated debate.
According to ESPN’s Seth Wickersham and Don Van Natta Jr., Jones cussed out New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft during the vote.
“Don’t f— with me,” Jones said, per ESPN.
“Excuse me?” Kraft replied.
“Don’t mess with me,” Jones said.
The measure for Goodell to start future contract talks apparently (and obviously given it was a 31-1 vote) passed moments later.
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Cowboys owner Jerry Jones reportedly cusses out Patriots owner Robert Kraft at NFL league meetings
On Wednesday, NFL insider Ian Rapoport stated that he isn’t entirely sure how this information got out given this meeting was exclusive to owners only, implying that an owner had to have shared this information with a reporter.
ESPN’s source, simply listed as a “league and ownership source,” denied that the outburst from Jones was due to animosity between the two powerful NFL figures. It’s likely Jones was angry about being in the minority, but we don’t know why he singled out Kraft. However, we do know why he singled out Goodell.
This isn’t the first time the Cowboys owner has tried to get the 16-year commissioner in trouble.
Allegedly, Jones doesn’t want to dethrone Goodell. Instead, he wants to have better clarity about the structure of the commissioner’s compensation. He is worried that the commissioner’s proposed bonus pool will be “too vague” and not in line with the league’s financial goals, and other metrics. Jones wants owners to be able to review these elements.
"“[Jones] believes in corporate good governance and wants accountability on the financial goals tied to Roger’s bonus,” a source told ESPN. “He is sensitive to awarding a big bonus to Roger before he performs and earns it.”"
Jones raised this issue back in 2017 when Goodell signed his then five-year contract that had different jargon than his previous contracts. The Cowboys’ GM wants to restructure the contract verbiage (sounds like the Randy Gregory situation) to change Goodell’s salary from being more bonus and performance-based rather than salary based.
Regardless of Jones’s behaviors and desires, the 31-1 vote means the overwhelming majority of owners approve of Goodell making him the commissioner for at least a few more years. An owner told ESPN that he believes the committee will give Goodell a deal of about two to three years.
Is anyone else not surprised that Jones is yet again making headlines for some form of drama? The man seems to want an Oscar more than a Lombardi Trophy.
