Oh god, Jerry Jones is drafting alone and somewhere Al Davis is smiling
By John Buhler
Jerry Jones has all the power in the Dallas Cowboys’ draft this weekend. The Cowboys’ owner be drafting all by himself, so get your popcorn ready for that.
Jerry Jones doesn’t have time to have a bad time.
Jones is the most well-known owner in professional sports, as his Dallas Cowboys are the most popular team in North America. Since purchasing “America’s Team” over 30 years ago, Jones has done pretty much whatever he wants.
However in recent years, he has gotten push back in the Cowboys’ war room during draft time, most notably being told to draft guard Zack Martin out of Notre Dame over quarterback Johnny Manziel from Texas A&M. Martin is arguably the best guard in football, while Manziel washed out of the league after two years.
Unfortunately for the Cowboys organization, there won’t be anyone in the room to prevent Jones from drafting whoever he wants. It’s an Al Davis fever dream, as Jones will be drafting alone in 2020. Cowboys fans, we’re sorry. Fans of the other 31 NFL franchises, get your popcorn ready.
From Pro Football Talk’s Michael David Smith‘s article, “One of the things I’m not going to miss is when I came out of those draft rooms over the weekend, my old shins used to have big old bruises on them,” Jones said. “That was from Stephen [Jones] kicking me under the table for three straight days relative to some of our decision-making.”
Jones’ son Stephen Jones has been key in some of the Cowboys’ great draft decisions for the last decade or so. His power of persuasion obviously comes from his oil magnate father. But with the two Joneses in different draft rooms, it’ll be hard to keep up with them during this virtual 2020 NFL Draft.
If Jerry Jones wants to trade up from No. 17 to take Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback and Cowboys fan Tua Tagovailoa in the top five, who in the hell is going to stop him? Though he won’t be drafting exclusively track stars like the late Davis used to do with the Oakland Raiders, there is no telling how interesting this Cowboys draft will be.
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While the technological part of the virtual draft shouldn’t be an issue for Jones because he’s a very smart man and has been a part of over 30 NFL Drafts before, not having someone like his son to kick him in the shins to prevent him from overdrafting a quarterback whose skill set may not translate to the NFL when he already had Dak Prescott on the franchise tag could be problematic.
Members of the Cowboys organization will have influence, but Jones has the final say this year.