All of the negativity currently engulfing the Dallas Cowboys would lead you to believe that they are headed for a top-five draft pick. And yet, the team is 3-3 and in the thick of tightly-packed NFC playoff picture.
The Cowboys are a middling team and didn't even play last week. And yet, they continue to be a prominent talking point. That is largely due to owner Jerry Jones, who made national waves last week during his appearance on 105.3 The Fan.
Jones had a meltdown live on air and threatened to have hosts Shan Shariff and R.J. Choppy removed for asking pertinent questions (which is their job). Many hoped the extensive backlash would suade Jones to take a hiatus from his weekly radio hit, but that was wishful thinking.
Jones was back in his regular Tuesday spot. He predictably didn't apologize for his outburst and brought up Derrick Henry unprompted after Henry's latest banner performance for the Ravens on Monday night.
The 82-year-old had a laundry list of excuses at the ready regarding Henry. They were, as you might suspect, delusional.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' latest Derrick Henry take is his worst one yet
ROUGH summary of Jerry Jones this morning:
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) October 22, 2024
"Why didn't I sign (Derrick) Henry? I don't know. The devil made me do it."
Jones acknowledged that Henry is having a career year, but he doesn't believe Henry would be accomplishing that on the Cowboys.
He added that Mike McCarthy's offense isn't built to manufacture a leading rusher and that Henry didn't fit "due to managing the cap" in anticipation of players they were going to sign in the offseason (Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb) and in the future (Micah Parsons).
It's no secret that Jones has no idea how to navigate the salary cap. However, his belief that Henry wouldn't be having a great season with Dallas is misleading and underlines everything that is currently wrong with the franchise. Even Troy Aikman openly mocked Dallas on the ESPN broadcast for not pursuing Henry in the offseason.
While it is true that the Ravens offense is a perfect match for Henry and playing alongside Lamar Jackson is an utter cheat code for running backs, the last time we checked the Titans were a ho-hum team throughout Henry's tenure and he still put up video game numbers.
Tennessee won six games last season, fired its head coach and Henry accumulated nearly 1,200 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns. Titans quarterbacks combined to throw 12 (!) touchdowns all year. Opposing defenses sought out to stymie Henry and it didn't matter. He still finished second in rushing, first in yards after contact and fourth in missed tackles forced.
No RB in the league creates something out of nothing better than Henry. That was evidenced on several of his rushes on Monday Night Football as he galloped for 169 yards on just 15 carries.
While Henry wouldn't have the production he's having in Baltimore, the Cowboys would have no worse than a top-10 rushing offense had they signed Henry. Alas, they are dead-last in rushing yards, yards per carry, rushing first downs and runs of 20 or more yards.
But sure, Henry wouldn't have made a difference.