Jerry Jones declares Cowboys finances are no object, vowing dramatic trades and free agency moves to chase Super Bowl glory. Get ready for a spending spree.
FRISCO - Jerry Jones started his Wednesday “State of the Union’’ address here inside The Star by saying something wacky.
“(President Donald) Trump just said it,’’ Jones quipped. “I’m running Venezuela.”
Later, he followed up that politically-charged outrageousness with a serious revelation that nevertheless drew guffaws.
“My goal in life is to retire as the owner to win the most Super Bowls,’’ he said optimistically, knowing that his three Vince Lombardi Trophies put him well behind New England’s Robert Kraft with six.
So, added the 83-year-old Jerry: “I got work to do.”
And then finally, after the hour-long season-wrapup press conference was over? He engaged in a walkoff visit with a handful of reporters and uttered a statement that is as optimisic - and to his critics, as outrageous - as anything he said all day.
"We want to get out here and do better than we did this year,” Jones said. “(There’s) the incentive to, dare I say it, ‘bust the budget’ to try to get something done now? Yes. Yes.“We’ll do some dramatic things. That was a dramatic thing we did (trading Micah Parsons last fall). …The point is, this calls for some pretty controversial decisions.
“We’re gonna keep this thing as good as we can possibly be. Finances are no object. We’re gonna make it as entertaining as we can and keep it as lively as we can for everybody.”
Wait. What? “Bust the budget’’? “Finances are no object’’?
They needn’t be, of course. The assets are in place, from Dallas two first-round picks (gained in the Parsons-to-Packers deal) to the $110 million of cap room that the Cowboys can easily create.
Keep wide receiver George Pickens and kicker Brandon Aubrey and edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney and running back Javonte Williams? All doable.
And so is much more.“If we have an opportunity in free agency …,” Jones said, “we’re going to take advantage of the fact that we’re in better shape today to play free agency than we thought we might be. So, we’re going to use it.
“We’re not saving it in our back pocket.”
Wait. What? “Bust the budget’’? “Finances are no object’’? “We’re not saving it in our back pocket.”
It’s been a decade-and-a-half since Dallas was a player in Tier 1 free agency, with COO Stephen Jones pushing the team into a more frugal and safer direction.
But “frugal and safe’’ might be one of the reasons this roster has gone 30 years without being good enough to appear in an NFC Championship Game, let alone with another Super Bowl …
Or three.
Jones - who built those three Super Bowl teams of the ‘90’s in part due to a willingness to “wild-cat’’ his way to daring swings - added that he considers trading for players as an arm of free agency, and that is an accurate way to frame it. The trades they made last year to add Pickens, defensive tackle Kenny Clark and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams will end up being pricy ones.
And now here we go again, maybe … with “conservatism’’ out the window and “controversial’’ risks taking its place.“We’re definitely going to take advantage of these two No. 1 (draft picks),” Jones said. “Don’t think that we couldn’t do some trading with those two No. 1s. All of the value that you get out of having these extra picks and having some flexibility under the cap, we’re going to take advantage of it.”
“Bust the budget’’? “Finances are no object’’? “We’re not saving it in our back pocket.”
What Cowboys century is this?