The Cowboys have been active in free agency, but not in the way fans expected after Jerry Jones' comments.
As free agency rolls on, I can hear the anger and frustration from Dallas Cowboys fans regarding the team's approach.
Yes, the signings of Jalen Thompson and Rashan Gary were fine. Both fill a need for new defensive coordinator Christian Parker, and are good, quality additions.
But they don't move the needle enough.
Jerry Jones' "bust the budget" quote is beginning to feel a lot like this year's empty-promise version of "all-in" and with the trades of Osa Odighizuwa (San Francisco) and Solomon Thomas (Tennessee), the Cowboys' defense, you could argue, has gotten worse.
Now, we preach "Let the cake bake" around here thanks to our own Mike Fisher, but another angle is that maybe fans have been forced to let this thing bake for too long.
As the Cowboys' checklist of players continued to get snapped up early in free agency, that familiar feeling of "here we go again" has come flooding back for Dallas fans.
In line with that, NFL.com's Jeffri Chadiha has named Jerry Jones as a big loser of free agency.
“Gary is certainly an upgrade on what Dallas already had on the edge,” Chadiha wrote. “It’s also worth wondering how impactful he will be as a Cowboy. Gary was once considered an ascending talent.
"A torn ACL in the 2022 season changed all that; he hasn’t been nearly as proficient at pressuring quarterbacks since he was before that injury. Jones certainly found a cheaper option for his pass rush. It remains to be seen if it will be an effective one.”
Of course, there is time to turn this around.
Just because the franchise hasn't gotten an elite player (as Gary and Thompson are arguable Tier 1 free agents) doesn't mean it won't in the coming weeks; indeed, Fisher is all but predicting that there is another "defensive shoe to drop.''
After all, remember that George Pickens was a late-offseason signing.
Plus, the Cowboys, thanks to the trades of Osa and Thomas, have eight draft picks, so some movin' and shakin' could happen with those as well.
But the biggest reason Jerrry is a loser in free agency is that, at least right now, he's not followed through on his budget-busting quote.
Yes, Dallas has signed players, but they aren't the caliber of players fans would see as "bust the budget" caliber.
Could that change in the coming days or weeks? Absolutely.
But Jerry and Dallas lost the benefit of the doubt years ago. And so today, "loser'' it is.