With deep pockets and draft capital, can Dallas truly shake up its roster, or is Jerry Jones merely orchestrating more "drama"?
FRISCO - Jerry Jones knows drama.
His Dallas Cowboys have just put together back-to-back losing seasons for the first time in 23 years. The NFL is a league of parity, so that doesn't have to mean 2026 will be more of the same.
Indeed, on the Sunday that saw Dallas drop to a crummy 7-8-1 with a blowout loss at the hapless New York Giants, Jones issued a pledge about the future - and about how to get there.
“I think we can do some things (this offseason) to maybe make as dramatic a difference as we ... have in a long time,” Jones said.
That's promising. After all, the Cowboys do seem to possess a loaded offensive group led by QB Dak Prescott, and they do seem to own assets to fix all the parts of the roster that aren't loaded.
Two first-round draft picks. And the potential to create $110 million in cap room in order to go shopping in free agency and trades.
Those are tools. They can make a difference.
A "dramatic'' one.
Re-sign Pro Bowl receiver George Pickens. Re-sign All-Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey. Consider doing the same with 1,000-yard rusher Javonte Williams - or find somebody even better. Trade for unhappy Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby. Sign, draft or trade for help in the secondary and at linebacker.
And voila! With lots of "dramatic'' moves, Dallas - bruised and embarrassed more than ever about "The 30-Year Drought'' that has seen the Cowboys fail to qualify for an NFC Championship Game (forget a Super Bowl) in all that time - can fix itself.
Ah, but there is another implication to the word "dramatic,'' or "drama.''
And it cannot be ignored when we're playing the frustrating game we call "Translating Jerry.''
What was it that Jones told ESPN's Stephen A. Smith about his mindset regarding Cowboys controversies?
"... My philosophy,'' Jerry said, "(is) controversy. I'm serious. I'm dead serious. Not serial killing. Not that. But controversy. The Dallas Cowboys probably have the kind of interest that we have in no small part because we stay out front and we stay controversial. When it gets slow, I stir that s*** up. Fact. I just want to be relevant. I just want you to be looking at us.''
And this is where I'm now obligated to insert my semi-famous line about your favorite team ...
"Sometimes, Jerry's Cowboys seem like a marketing company that plays football on the side.''
Is Jerry talking about making big-time, big-money roster moves that improve the team?
Or is he talking about a circus-atmosphere as he's manipulating his way to big-headline, big-noise "drama'' that "stirs that s*** up'' in a way that only improves the profile and the revenue of one of his companies?
Jones has insisted that his creation of soap-operatic "drama'' does not get in the way of Dallas' on-field success.
"Now, I don't think that ("s***-stirring'') has ever kept us from scoring a touchdown,'' Jerry said. "I don't think it has kept us from having a football player. I don't think it has ever kept us from having the financial wherewithal to get a football player."
He's wrong, of course. When the owner and GM of a team is as interested in self-serving gains of finance and attention, a trickle-down effect is inevitable.
I call this phenomenon "#53Brands,'' as gradually and through osmosis, people in the locker room and in the building naturally follow their boss' lead. So they think selfishly about the attention and the money and the "drama.''
Next thing you know, your best player pouts his way out of town by lying down on a table on the sideline and pretending to take a during a game.
The only way for Jerry to know, to prove, that his "#53Brands-birthing approach doesn't "keep us front scoring a touchdown'' would be for him to change his approach.
Short of that? Cowboys Nation will enter this offseason with skepticism - as usual - as we all wonder if Jerry Jones is purposely confusing and conflating the concepts and meanings of "dramatic'' and "drama.''