Jerry Jones is drawn to the high-stakes drama surrounding Texas Tech’s embattled quarterback, but his recent comments suggest a hunger for headlines rather than a roster move.
FRISCO - I know Jerry Jones well enough to issue my own statement about his semi-"statement'' that is being interpreted as some sort of Dallas Cowboys connection to Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby.
My statement: Jerry is far more attracted to "Sorsby The Story'' than he is "Sorsby the QB.''
This view is etched in cement after years of watching the Cowboys owner find a way to connect big names to "America's Team'' as a promotional gimmick. In the very early days of his ownership, that meant Elizabeth Taylor participating in the on-field coin flip and Nelson Mandela sitting alongside Jerry in the owner's box.
More recently, and even still today more than a decade later, it means Jerry pretending "he almost drafted Johnny Manziel, which factually never happened at all.
But it's a helluva story.
That brings us to today's huge football headline regarding the status of Sorsby, who is planning to enter an NFL Supplemental Draft, having essentially been driven away from college football due to his gambling problem.
As it happens, Jones spoke with Yahoo’s Jori Epstein at the league meetings last month and was asked about the situation.
As Epstein wrote it on Twitter/X at the time: “I asked Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones last week whether he’d want the NFL to hold a supplemental draft for Brendan Sorsby. He said he didn’t know Sorsby’s details, but, in general: ‘I do like the supplemental draft. Especially where we are. The sooner to today that we can get as many good ones on the field, that’s a plus for us. Cause I’m in that mood.’”
I don't blame the uninitiated for guessing that Jones is hinting at a sincere interest in Sorsby on the part of the Cowboys, who are presently led by Dak Prescott as he enters Year 11 in the NFL and is about to turn 33 next month.
Indeed, one national website writes, "Owner Jerry Jones. ... suggested a willingness to put in a bid for quarterback Brendan Sorsby.''
But in fact, Jones did no such thing. All he did was say he "likes the supplemental draft'' (which means nothing) while admitting the truth: He doesn't know a darn thing about Sorsby.
What we do know: Sorsby transferred from Cincinnati to Texas Tech ahead of the upcoming season, and was paid $5 million in NIL money to do so. But his long-standing gambling problem was then revealed, and after a brief fight regarding a suspension by the NCAA, Sorsby is leaving college and hoping to get taken in the supplemental draft.
Some say Sorsby should be projected as having first-round potential. But the truth there was revealed here at The Star on Tuesday as the Cowboys launched into a minicamp with coach Brian Schottenheimer fielding a Sorsby-related question.
"I know just enough to be dangerous,'' the coach joked, adding, “I know it’s a big storyline. I haven’t followed it much, so I really don’t have any honest opinions ... If we get to the point where we’re interested then certainly I’ll have an opinion.
"But as of now, it doesn’t affect my life. I’m focused on the 90 guys we have here.”
That's the truth.
Sorsby's history of gambling (he's receiving in-patient gambling addiction treatment earlier in the spring) will scare off some teams. A possible NFL suspension could do the same.
And as I've written before, having surveyed NFL scouts: It's too early to insist that he's worthy of a high draft pick.
Bottom line: The idea of Dallas drafting Sorsby as an Dak insurance policy/future flier is worth monitoring. ... but the Cowboys haven't really formulated any serious thoughts there.
What the Cowboys have formulated is a way to get headlines ... and Jerry Jones attaching himself to the biggest story in college football is exactly that ... and at this early stage, only that.
