To put it bluntly, (and to quote their franchise quarterback Dak Prescott), the Dallas Cowboys just absolutely suck right now. There's no nicer way to put it. They are currently under .500, there's no bright spots to point at, the coaching and front office seem inept at best...it's just bad. The only thing saving them from last place in the NFC East are the lowly New York Football Giants.

But here's the thing, if they JUST sucked, I think fans could suffer through it. Yeah, there have been injuries. Yeah, there's been some bad luck. Sometimes, you just have a bad year. However, it's becoming pretty apparent that the issues in Dallas run much deeper than just having a down year.

Is Jerry Jones to Blame for ALL of the Issues in Dallas?

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Boy, that's a loaded question isn't it? As unlikeable and surly as Jerry Jones is, can one really blame all the issues in Dallas on Jerry Jones? Yeah, he's the owner and GM, but he's not coaching the team. He's not on the field throwing interceptions or missing tackles. He's only part of the problem, not the whole problem right?

In my humble opinion, all of Dallas' problems start and end with Jerry Jones, the General Manager. Jerry Jones the Owner is great, as far as owners go. He's given the team the best facilities, he's given fans a great game day experience, he's turned a massive profit...as an owner, he's fantastic.

However, Jerry Jones the GM is the source off every single one of the Dallas Cowboys current issues. In fact, as the old joke goes, if Jerry Jones the GM & Jerry Jones the Owner were two separate people, Jerry the Owner would have fired Jerry the GM years ago.

He's made terrible personnel choices. He's made terrible trades. He consistently puts himself in positions where he has no leverage over players in negotiations. When it comes to GM work, Jerry Jones has made every wrong decision possible. How so? Let's take a look.

Is Jerry Jones the Worst GM in NFL History?

I know that seems a bit excessive, but is it really? I get it - with the exception of the 2020 COVID year where a lot of weird things happened - the Cowboys haven't had a losing season since 2015. And before that, the last losing season was in 2010. So, we're talking about 3 losing seasons in 14 years. Most fan bases would take that in a heartbeat.

However, due to their stature in the Football world, their like the football version of the Yankees. The expectation is a World Championship - everything else is a failure. And with that in mind, the Cowboys have been a massive disappointment. Their last Conference and Super Bowl wins happened in 1995. And that is ALL Jerry Jones' fault.

He fired Jimmy Johnson for no good reason. He's given players that didn't deserve huge contracts massive contracts. He's let great coaches walk away. I mean if there's a terrible decision that could be made, Jerry has made it over the last 30 years. And some of them multiple times.

Every Bad Decision Jerry Jones Made in Dallas in 2024

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I could spend all day listing every bad decision Jerry has made since their last Super Bowl win, but for the sake of brevity, let's just analyze this year. Because the list of costly bad decisions is enough and a major factor in why they're currently 3-5 with no hope in sight.

  • He let Dan Quinn leave for the rival Washington Commanders. Look, Mike McCarthy clearly isn't the guy to lead the Cowboys. But, instead of firing Mike and promoting Dan Quinn, who was beloved by Cowboys players, to the top spot he let him walk. The Commanders are currently 7-2 and leading the NFC East.
  • He fired Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore, again choosing Mike McCarthy over a beloved member of the coaching staff. Moore was hired by the Eagles. The Eagles are currently 6-2 in the NFC East.
  • We could spend all day discussing terrible playing signings but let's focus on the Running Back position. He decided to pay Zeke Elliott 2 million dollars a year. Zeke has been ineffective and ultimately suspended by the Cowboys. Jerry could have signed Tony Pollard to a long term deal or signed Derek Henry, who all but begged to be a Cowboy. Jerry choose Zeke over those two players. Since then - Derek Henry is leading the NFL in every statistical rushing category. Pollard is 2nd in the AFC in rushing yards.
  • He battled with CeeDee Lamb over his new contract. Let CeeDee sat out the majority of the preseason and training camp. Ultimately, he ended up signing the deal CeeDee wanted to begin with. So, not only did he gain NOTHING in the negotiations, Lamb missed all that work and clearly hasn't been in sync with offense because of it.
  • At the trade deadline, the Cowboys traded a 2025 4th round draft pick to the Panthers Wide Receiver Jonathan Mingo. The problem: they overpaid severely. For instance, the Chiefs only gave a 5th round pick to get Deandre Hopkins.

And the worst part: Jerry refuses to take ownership over any of these decisions. He gets on his radio show and makes insane statements like "Derick Henry wouldn't work in our offense". Well, if you can't find a place for a generational talent like Derick Henry, you've made some terrible football decisions. Again, if they were two separate people, Jerry Jones would have fired Jerry Jones by now.

Is There Any Hope for the Dallas Cowboys?

Can they go on a winning streak to make Cowboys nation feel better? Of course. On any given Sunday, anything is possible. It's unlikely that they make playoffs. Maybe with a little luck, they maybe get to 8-9 or 9-8 which will take some of the sting out their current situation.

But, the Cowboys biggest problem isn't the salary cap. It isn't their personnel. It isn't their players. It's a systematic failure that starts and ends with Jerry Jones. Until he passes the reigns to someone more in touch with football today, the Cowboys will not win another Super Bowl. They may get better and make the playoffs. But they won't be able to put all the pieces together because the man who makes the final decision on everything that matters has a 30+ year track record of making the wrong ones.

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