It is fair to say Dallas Cowboys are managed quite differently than every other NFL team. Jerry Jones bought the team back in 1989 for $160 million, pretty much his entire fortune.
Outside of granting Jimmy Johnson the task running all football operations, to include Head Coach, Mr. Jones decided he alone would make every other decision – financial and otherwise – regarding the team’s day to day operations.
The results were of sports legend, The tandem of Jerry and Jimmy won 3 Superbowls in 4 years. Some might argue that 3rd Superbowl victory was due to Barry Switzer’s actually being Head Coach at the time, but most would agree the team Jimmy Johnson assembled were victorious despite Switzer’s coaching – or lack thereof.
Fast forward 29 years, from Superbowl 30 to the 2025 season. The Cowboys have not so much as been to another NFC Championship game…and Jerry Jones the General Manager is still trying to assemble a Championship team…or IS he?
There have been numerous head coaches come and gone, many great players drafted only to end their tenure by going to another franchise or retiring – without reaching Dallas Cowboy football glory. From Demarcus Ware to Tony Romo to Ezekiel Elliott to Micah Parsons.
Yet, due to “disagreements with his star player, there were persistent rumors over the last 8 or 9 months Jerry Jones would do the “unthinkable,” and trade Parsons instead of paying him his true worth.
Unthinkable maybe, but not surprising.
The general Manager Jerry, undeterred by the fact every other NFL team has a specialist in the GM position, insists he is best able to remain GM and “sign the checks” also. This guy who traded away the team’s best player to The Green Bay Packers for a meager return of one very good player and 2 draft picks. Certainly much less than he should have received had he not acted hastily on emotion.
Of course, this is not the first ‘unthinkable” thing Jerry has done during his 36 year reign as owner.
There was firing Tom Landry in a despicable manner. Later, forcing out the wildly successful Jimmy Johnson after a second consecutive Super Bowl victory. In 2004 he made the nonsensical move of trading away the opportunity to draft Steven Jackson to the Rams, while greatly in need of a star runner.
So, of course this is nothing new to Cowboy fans. But it is no less infuriating.
It is this writer’s opinion that winning another Super Bowl is not the primary goal of Jerry Jones’s Cowboys.
It’s a goal that Jones has already accomplished three times.
The thing that apparently animates the Jerry is no longer victories on the field, but victories on the bottom line.
We have witnessed Jerry proclaim he bought this team to become the Family Business. And it very much has become that – to wild success.
Forbes Magazine began publishing the “List of the World’s Most valuable Sports Teams.” Beginning in
2010, which then ranked the The Dallas Cowboys 2nd behind England’s Manchester United “soccer” team – at a value of $1.65B. In the following years the Cowboys bounced around the top 5. Until 2016, when Dallas’ value topped the list at $4B.
Jerry Jones has not looked back since. For the last 10 years – as of June 2025 – The Cowboys remain atop the list of ALL teams worldwide at $13B.
Maybe most other NFL team owners have much greater wealth than Jerry Jones does…but “HIS” team is the annual winner of Forbes’s List as most valuable.
Jerry’s The Champion now 10 years running!
And 2nd is not even close.
Congrats’ Jerry!
