Jerry

Jones

The Cowboys are 4-2 on the season and boast an offense and defense that both rank in the top five in the league. Outside of Tony Pollard and CeeDee Lamb, one could argue the Cowboys are relatively thin as far as offensive playmakers are concerned. Despite this, Jones and the front office don’t appear to be anticipating many moves at the deadline. We have until next Tuesday to see if anything gets done, but Jones holding court to say he doesn’t expect much to get done feels pretty definite at this point.

Jones, who bought the Cowboys in 1989 for $150 million, estimated he could get more than $10 billion for the franchise today -- a little north of outside estimates that land in the $8.5 billion range. “But let me make this very clear,” Jones told NBC Sports’ Peter King. “I’ll say it definitively. I will never do it. I will never sell the Cowboys. Ever.” Eighty years old in October, Jones today is as involved in the team’s day-to-day management as he was in their early-90s glory years. Jones seems intent on spending the rest of his days chasing those Jimmy Johnson Super Bowl years with dramatic coaching and personnel moves. Expect the Jones family to own the Cowboys until the sun swallows the earth.

Team owner Jerry Jones said the team settled with the cheerleaders out of court to show “how seriously we took these allegations and we wanted them to know that we were real serious and so the settlement was the way to go.” Settling out of court, of course, is no one’s idea of showing how seriously an organization takes allegations of misconduct. Dalrymple recently retired after 32 years with the Cowboys, who curiously did not announce his retirement. He denied the cheerleaders’ accusations and said the matter had been handled internally years ago.

Dallas will become the first team to be featured for the third time on “Hard Knocks”, last appearing under Wade Phillips ahead of the 2008 season. Dak Prescott, recovering from a dislocated right ankle and compound fracture suffered in Week 5, will likely be the main attraction after the team went 6-10 in coach Mike McCarthy’s first year. The first episode is scheduled to air Tuesday, August 10 at 10 pm ET.

Jerry Jones talked openly (as he usually does) about fitting Kyle Pitts into the team’s offense, but that always seemed like a pipe dream since it would require far too much draft capital to move up into the top-four selections. The Jones family will be more than happy staying put and taking the best defender available, whether that be Patrick Surtain or Jaycee Horn. Rashawn Slater is also in the mix there if both cornerbacks come flying off the board by No. 10.

“Defensively, we have to get better,” Jones stated. “That’s certainly one of our goals in this draft. Barring something very opportunistic, we certainly want to improve our defense.” With five quarterbacks, two offensive linemen, and multiple receivers all projected to come screaming off the board ahead of Dallas’ first crack at it, the Jones family will presumably have an opportunity to take the best overall defensive player (per their board) with the No. 10 overall pick. For what it’s worth, Alabama CB Patrick Surtain remains the betting favorite (-300) at PointsBet to be the first CB to have his name called.

This was always a possibility with veterans expected to report to camp just one week shy of the Hall-of-Fame game on August 6. The annual enshrinement ceremony is also being postponed to 2021. With rumors of a shortened two-week preseason continuing to swirl, this contest likely won’t be the last to get trimmed. The league continues to prioritize measures that will help the regular season commence as scheduled, and this news is simply another step in the right direction. Expect more dominos to fall following Thursday’s owners meeting.

With their schedules officially set to kick-off in the league’s first preseason game on August 6, both the Cowboys and Steelers will have five preseason tuneups before entering the regular season. It was an easy selection process as both Pittsburgh (Troy Polamalu, Bill Cowher) and Dallas (Jimmy Johnson, Cliff Harris) are represented accordingly among this year’s class. The game will also feature Mike McCarthy’s coaching debut with Dallas.

“The facts are we just have not talked to any coach or potential coach in the NFL,” Jones said in his weekly interview with 105.3 The Fan. “In answering that question, I don’t want to imply that we wouldn’t in a way that would diminish the credibility of the person you’re asking about.” That’s Jerry-speak for “we’re interested, but not yet.” Jason Garrett is ultimately safe through Week 17 given the organization’s delayed method of transactions — Brett Maher wasn’t waived until Week 15, after all — but The Clapper is undoubtedly on the outside looking in. Expect the Jones family to meet with Lincoln Riley, Ron Rivera, and Meyer this offseason.

Smith is referring to the Cowboys’ extremely convoluted coaching structure on offense. “The question for me is how is all that going to jell together,” Smith asked. “Who is going to trump who? I just think it creates problems. ... You have more coaches than you do football players.” It’s a valid point, but owner Jerry Jones believes it’s a positive that coach Jason Garrett can tolerate chaos on his staff. We think it’s quintessentially Cowboys, and bound to cause problems.