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For the better part of two decades, the Dallas Cowboys muddled along in mediocrity. The Cowboys were laughed at and called the NFL‘s biggest underachievers. Most of the laughing and the blame for Dallas’ struggles were directed at one individual, Jerry Jones.
Season after season, Cowboys fans begged and pleaded for Jerry to fire himself as general manager and hire a “real football guy”, but he was stubborn and determined to win and to do it his way. Many fans were convinced Jerry would never change and the team was doomed to be mediocre until he was no longer involved.
But in the past few seasons, something has changed in the way Jerry Jones runs his team. Maybe he has become wiser with age or maybe the losing finally became too much for him to handle. Whatever the reason, the change has been noticeable and the Cowboys are a much better team for it. Jerry hasn’t given up the title of general manager and he never will. What he has done is he now puts much more weight into the opinions of the people around him.
He listens to Stephen Jones, Jason Garrett, Will McClay and his scouts. He listened when everyone told him not to overpay RB DeMarco Murray despite his unbelievable 2014 season. He listens on draft day and his drafts have improved immensely because of it, like when they told him to draft Zack Martin instead of Johnny Manziel.
There are many people who will never forgive Jerry for firing Tom Landry. There are many other fans who will never forgive him for running Jimmy Johnson out of town after winning two straight Super Bowls. For those people, Jerry will never receive credit or praise for any decision he makes.
However, if fans look at it with an open mind, they will see that there has been a significant change in the man who has been criticized for so many years. I’m not here to tell you that Jerry Jones is the only reason why the Cowboys are a Super Bowl contender again; he probably isn’t even the main reason. What I am here to tell you is that the change in the Cowboys would not have happened without the change in Jerry Jones, and for that, he deserves a ton of credit.
