FRISCO, Texas — For the second time in three seasons, the Dallas Cowboys are sitting on the couch while the Philadelphia Eagles, one of their NFC East division rivals, prepare to play in the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The last time this happened in the 2022 season, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones mistakenly labeled the Eagles’ approach to free agency and roster building as “putting it all out there and paying for it later.” The Eagles have used their approach of being aggressive in both free agency and re-signing their own, top drafted players to early extensions to win NFC titles in both 2022 and 2024.
Now, Jerry Jones and his son, Cowboys COO and EVP Stephen Jones, admitted they’re at least open to evaluating their approach and potentially making changes when they spoke at new head coach Brian Schottenheimer’s introductory press conference Monday.
Dallas went 7-10 in 2024 — following three consecutive 12-5 seasons from 2021 to 2023 — after spending an NFL-low $20.47 million in free agency, per OverTheCap.com, since the last Super Bowl was played. It almost exclusively relied on its own draft picks to provide immediate impacts, including rookies, and that didn’t work out. That was Jerry Jones’ “get it done with less” approach.
“We’re obviously evaluating where it didn’t go right in terms of this drought that people say we’re in in terms of a championship game or a Super Bowl. We just have to continue to make this roster better,” Stephen Jones said Monday. “Certainly we’ll do a real deep dive on putting some personnel together whether it be through the draft, free agency. I know typically that’s not been the way we’ve done this team, but we’ll certainly look at it. … We’re going to take a long hard look at how we’ve looked at free agency. And if we need to change some things there, we will.”
Injuries to quarterback Dak Prescott…
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