Cowboys news: Jerry Jones wins award, Micah Parsons talks, Stephen Jones and more

The Dallas Cowboys are coming off a win this week so of course there is plenty of news to get caught up on. After beating the Carolina Panther on Sunday, Dallas kept their playoff window open just enough for air to seep through. So, of course, Micah Parsons has feelings about that, along with Jerry Jones winning an award and Stephen Jones making his presence felt by speaking with the media. Oh, the fun never stops in Jerry’s world.

And the Bum Steer of the Year award goes to…

Jerral Wayne Jones Sr., a.k.a. Jerry Jones. Since his team can’t do much winning when it counts most on the field, “Texas Monthly” decided to award Jones with the Bum Steer award for 2024. This feels more like a lifetime achievement but it certainly fits the bill. There really couldn’t be a better recipient of this award than Mr. Jones himself.

Jones has become a real-life caricature in the way he goes on and on waxing poetic over something incandescent like the sun after CeeDee Lamb complained about the glare on the field at AT&T Stadium earlier this season. Or he’ll hop on the radio in Dallas then when the questions tossed his way aren’t of the rec league variety, go off on the host threatening to relieve them of their duties. That also happened this year.

Not to mention some of Jones’ biggest blunders of all time, which “Texas Monthly” also runs down, like his ego being too big to give former head coach Jimmy Johnson the respect and credit earned and deserved for back-to-back Super Bowls in the 1990s. They really nailed it, giving Jones this prestigious award. For all the good Jones has done over the years, he ruins it all with frequent missteps and those times he opens his mouth without first taking time to even briefly ponder his thoughts.

Micah Parsons has something to say (again)

Micah Parsons is a talker no matter the situation the Cowboys are in at the time. Coming off a win, loss or tie, it doesn’t matter to No. 11. Micah Parsons has been steadfast about this team not laying down or tanking down the stretch of the season. Even with their playoff odds next to zero, Parsons stands by his statements and even doubled down on them following Dallas’ win over Carolina.

“We’re not going to give up, as long as I’m part of this unit, as long as we believe in each other, at the end of the day I can look to my left and know I can count on them,” Parsons told reporters postgame. “We’re fighting for each other. There’s a lot of guys fighting for new contracts, guys fighting to take care of their families, so there’s still a lot of football to be played. You don’t want to put anything bad on film or things like that. We’re fighting for each other at this point.”

Parsons mentions guys fighting for new contracts which stands out since he is one of those in that exact situation. The two-time All-Pro and three-time Pro Bowl selection is up for an extension that has yet to come to fruition. Entering last offseason, it was a case of the team's three biggest stars wanting and deserving new deals. Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb got their money prior to the season starting while Parsons has been forced to wait. As another offseason approaches it’ll be interesting to see how much longer Jerry Jones makes one of his best playmakers wait.

Stephen Jones following his father's lead

Over the years we’ve seen Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones speak out of both sides of his mouth more than once only to confuse those trying to decipher the meaning. As the saying goes, the apple doesn’t fall as far from the tree as it seems; Stephen has picked up the same trait from his father. Stephen, who is also a high-ranking executive for his dad’s team, recently took fans on a ride when asked about the future of Micah Parsons.

"We love Micah," [Stephen] Jones said, specifically responding to a question about the idea of trading Parsons. "I can't imagine there's a scenario where he's not wearing a star on his helmet."

"To me, it would be irresponsible if every year you don't look at the full body of work and the big picture and how those guys fit into that big picture," Stephen Jones told NFL.com. "And how we want to think about our team in terms of the big picture going forward ...”

"I think that's a balancing act that you always got to look at. Especially when your good, good players get hurt and are not on the field. It totally magnifies the issue if you lose guys like Dak, and Diggs misses games, Zack Martin misses games and it's going to magnify something like that. 

"You're going to say 'God, are we smart having this much money tied into the top five to 10 players?' "

You’d have to be damn near psychic to grasp exactly what Jones was attempting to get across there. They’re all in on Parsons, yet they might not be. This is the type of nonsensical spouting-off we’ve come to expect from Jerry. Now Stephen seems to be following the family playbook when speaking.

Dallas goes on every year talking about cap space and how they can’t sign players. While the Cowboys may not take part in the signing of big-name free agents, they have been good at keeping their homegrown talent in-house. It doesn’t feel like there is any real threat of Parsons moving on from Big D so early in his career but as usual, the Jones family will likely drag this negotiation out as long as they possibly can.