Cowboys director of player personnel Stephen Jones, who happens to be the grandson of team owner Jerry Jones, apparently had no idea who a major NFL player that was offered to him in a trade was, a Cowboys beat reporter recently revealed.
The Athletic’s Jon Machota revealed a fascinating exchange between Jones and a member of the Detroit Lions, who were allegedly offering Dallas a notable player in a trade.
“I know another Lions thing that I’m not gonna mention specifics about, but there was a call about the Lions, from the Lions at about this time,” Machota revealed on the About Them Cowboys podcast.
“The Lions called him and offered him somebody, and Stephen was like ‘Who is that?’ And I mean it was a pretty decent name, and he was like ‘Who?'” Machota claimed. (RELATED: San Francisco Set Ablaze — Literally — After 49ers Win NFC Championship)
“They explained who he is and he’s like ‘We’ll call you back’ and Stephen just like hangs up the phone and just sits there and keeps watching the draft, doesn’t even tell anyone that somebody called, doesn’t even ask Will who he is,” Machota continued. “The guy calls back like five minutes later and it’s like ‘Hey did you think about that?’ and he’s like ‘yeah, no, bye.”
Unbelievable. I’d be livid if I was a Cowboys fan hearing this. The level of dysfunction that has to be occurring for you to allow your franchise to be run by a guy who doesn’t even have a basic familiarity with the assets he could be working with. It appears Jones didn’t even have the desire to get informed on in the areas where he was lacking.
“A, he didn’t even know who the player was and B, didn’t attempt to look it up and see if it might be worth looking into,” Machota claimed.
While Machota never revealed who the player in question was, he alluded to the fact that he could be a Pro-Bowler and also said “It was a name that I knew, right. I knew this player, and I knew his value or whatever. It was just funny to see, like, somebody in that position getting that call and being like ‘Who is that?'”
This just goes to show the wild level of nepotism the Cowboys are operating at. Jones is not only their director of player personnel but also the franchise’s chief operating officer and executive vice president. That’s a ton of hats to wear and he’s spread way too thin if he’s in the position to be making personnel decisions while not entirely dedicated to knowing NFL personnel.
But one would expect nothing less from a franchise whose owner refuses to step down as general manager despite a 27-year streak of not making it out of the divisional round.