Jerry Jones blaming Dak Prescott for Cowboys roster holes is deranged

Jerry Jones has never been shy about suggesting players should be willing to take less money to play for the Dallas Cowboys. His reasoning is centered on the attention that comes with being on America’s Team but it’s also unfair for any billionaire to try and tell someone else how much money they should be willing to work for.

Clearly, Dak Prescott never agreed as he said back in 2019 when his rookie contract was nearing an end that no one should have to settle for less, especially with how much money the league is going to continue to bring in.

Prescott held true and after being hit with the franchise tag in 2020, he signed a four-year extension worth $160 million. The Jones family surely didn’t appreciate paying market value and they again reminded us of this as Jerry Jones blamed Prescott for the holes on the Dallas roster while at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine.

Jerry Jones blaming Dak Prescott for Cowboys deficiencies is infuriating.

Jones didn’t hold back, saying “when you have a competitive paid quarterback in the NFL, then you’re not going to be able to get the most skill around him.”

He added that you “can’t pay that position at that level and take that much of the available dollars” while still giving the quarterback the cast that Prescott had in 2016 when he started his career.

Sadly, this wasn’t the first time Jones put the blame on Prescott either. Just last year, he put the honus on the quarterback when they traded Amari Cooper to the Cleveland Browns, saying there was no “free lunch” and that “every dollar you spend on a player is a dollar you can’t spend someplace else.”

Of course, for those on the outside, it’s easy to see two things. One is that other teams that pay their elite quarterbacks are able to find ways to put talent around them. Just ask the Los Angeles Rams who built around Matthew Stafford and won a title in 2021. Or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who managed to sign everyone under the sun with Tom Brady, and won a title in 2020.

If that wasn’t enough, there’s also the Kansas City Chiefs who just won this past Super Bowl despite paying Patrick Mahomes. Other teams have come close such as the Buffalo Bills who paid Von Miller (a player the Cowboys wouldn’t pay) even though they have Josh Allen on a similar deal as Prescott’s.

The second thing for those on the outside to see is that those teams didn’t blow $90 million over six years on the most replaceable position on offense (Ezekiel Elliott) and $64 million over four years on the most replaceable position on defense (Jaylon Smith).

They also don’t have a $17.6 million cap hit on a left tackle that hasn’t played a full season since 2015. Nor do they pay someone such as Michael Gallup with a $13 million cap hit. And Gallup got this deal while coming off a torn ACL and Dallas still got stuck with cap hits of $6 million for the recently traded Cooper as well as Smith, who was cut two years ago.

Truth be told, the problem is the way Jerry and his son, Stephen Jones, have managed their cap. They still could have paid Cooper but decided instead to use the same amount of cap space (when you count Cooper’s dead hit) on Gallup. They also struck out on several other moves such as signing Blake Jarwin and La’el Collins to extensions.

The Jones family has seriously mismanaged the cap by paying players they shouldn’t. Blaming Prescott for this is not only unfair to their best player, but it’s flat-out wrong.

3 reasons the Cowboys should pursue star receiver DeAndre Hopkins

The Dallas Cowboys have a glaring need for a wide receiver. Here are three reasons they should pursue Cardinals star DeAndre Hopkins.