A lot of folks seem to believe that Jerry Jones cares more about promoting the Dallas Cowboys' brand and making money than winning another Super Bowl. While Jones badly wants another ring, it’s hard to blame people for wondering whether winning is truly his top priority.
There’s no simple explanation for why the Cowboys haven’t reached the NFC Championship Game since 1995. A lot of players and coaches share the blame, but Jones is the one common denominator, and his flair for offseason theatrics hasn't helped matters.
Incredibly, the drama has been held in check this year. For once, Dallas has quietly gone about its business, and the great Emmitt Smith couldn't be more pleased, as he told USA TODAY.
"I think the bigger sign is that it's been a slow, quiet offseason -- the way it needs to be. "Now that we've gotten George Pickens out of the way, quietness is important, because it says the focus is where it needs to be -- on the field."
The Cowboys? Praised for a low-profile offseason? When was the last time that happened?
Emmitt Smith loves how the Dallas Cowboys have approached the 2026 offseason
Regardless if you agree with the Cowboys' stance on George Pickens, they applied the franchise tag well before the deadline and swiftly announced that they would not negotiate a long-term extension this offseason.
That triggered some trade speculation on draft night, but neither Jerry nor Stephen Jones fed the beast, remaining adamant that Pickens is not for sale. After a brief delay, Pickens signed the tender, putting him in line to report for mandatory workouts.
A similar process unfolded with Brandon Aubrey.
Even though negotiations took longer than both sides would have liked, they eventually found common ground. The Cowboys applied a second-round tender as a placeholder, but the Joneses never took aim at Aubrey publicly and maintained that a deal would get done.
Rather than let negotiations drag into the summer, Dallas made him an offer and let the process play out. That was anything but the order of operations in recent years.
Previously, Cowboys fans could set their watch to contract drama bleeding into late July, if not August.
Two years ago, CeeDee Lamb didn’t sign his extension until the final week of August. Not only did the delay fuel negative narratives, but Lamb’s holdout caused him to miss all of training camp. It took him a few weeks to get into football shape, and he and Dak Prescott needed time to rebuild their chemistry after going the entire offseason without practicing together, contributing to a slow start.
Beyond causing a distraction behind the scenes, the Cowboys' contract nonsense has also had a direct impact on winning.
While the Lamb saga was totally avoidable, the Micah Parsons ordeal marked a new low for the franchise. An obvious extension candidate from his first game in a Cowboys uniform, Dallas -- because it was late to pay Lamb and Prescott -- dragged negotiations into the final year of his contract.
What began with both sides wanting Parsons to remain in Dallas as the NFL’s highest-paid defender eventually dissolved into an ugly standoff that culminated in a trade request and, ultimately, a deal to the Green Bay Packers.
The Cowboys' actions this offseason suggest they learned from that mess. For Smith and everyone tired of the annual offseason circus, it's a refreshing change of pace. For once, we may get a drama-free summer centered around football instead of contract disputes.
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