Stephen Jones Talks Beating Cleveland, Dak's Deal, Ferguson's Injury | K&C Masterpiece

let's turn our attention to the Dallas Cowboys brought you by Ford in your North Texas Ford dealers Ford is the best in Texas we bring to you Dallas Cowboys Executive Vice President Stephen Jones good afternoon sir good afternoon guys how you doing man we're doing great I have to imagine that y'all are flying real high right now as well I I was curious is it excitement relief like what goes into your feelings once the Dak deal gets done well I think uh a little bit of everything I mean obviously uh you know we understand these things take time uh you know when you're doing deals like this I mean I think our players understand you know at the end of the day this isn't about uh you know costing us money bottom line money on the business This Is Us dividing up the salary cap and whether it's two of our favorites CD or Dak I mean it's not anything personal it's just a a business and certainly we're doing uh everything we can to uh divide this thing up in the best way to put the best team together put great players around D and CD but at the end of the day uh their goal too is to uh extract their value and what they're worth and uh they're both Team guys I mean I know all of them think they could have uh done asked for more done better uh you know where they started I mean it been easily you know in this league for the next guy up to always get more been easily easy for CD to ask for more than Jefferson and S certainly Dak had a good argument that if he went to free agency that no telling where that number would ended up and feels like uh you know at the end of the day and I certainly know he feels that way that you know he could have gotten more if he wanted to go be a free agent but Dak wants to be a d Dallas Cowboy we want him to be the leader of this team and be the quarterback of this team and we're able to get that accomplished and on top of all that go on the road and win a a big big game uh uh there in Cleveland I I will get to that game in just a moment Stephen but I did it have to take until right before the game to get that contract done I mean you you know only the people involved know the Dynamics but yes that's what it took okay now speaking of the Dynamics of that deal uh inquiring minds would like to know is it similar in terms of the last deal with their being a no trade clause and a no franchise Clause yes okay you know this day and time the Dynamics of uh you know the the franchise if you're into a quarterback that's in a big big deal you know the fact that to franchise somebody you got to give them a quarter more of their cap number it's unrealistic uh to even think that you can uh franchise somebody uh because of how big the cap number is and you got to carry it in a in a franchise you got to carry the whole thing you can't spread it out over over the years so it's really a non-issue once you get into these quarterbacks that uh which I think there's almost 20 of them now making 40 or more million dollars uh in this league and uh and so it's a nonissue the franchise part of it and the trade deals I think those things work themselves out I mean once uh you know players understand whether it's a Matthew Stafford going to a different place Aaron Rogers going to a different place both sides understand they W to uh you know when it's time I definitely understand that Dak wanted to be here y'all wanted him here I I'm curious with the increase of void years not just from the Cowboys but teams in general across the NFL over the last several years did that put you guys in a tough negotiating spot knowing that if Dak did leave you still would have been on the hook for 40 million for him next year with the cap yeah that's always part of the dynamic but that's true with anybody who's paying a franchise quarterback and you know the 40 plus million dollars everybody has that issue you saw an extreme situation in Denver where Russell Wilson moved along from a lot of guarantees and you know you you go out there and Denver's drafted a quarterback high and they're they're competing with a uh you know with a big cap number against Russell Wilson so you know this is all part of the business as I said there's 20 more teams uh you know paying 40 plus plus million dollars so the additional money that you pay up and above what the average is everybody's having to deal with that now and so that's part of it uh I know certainly it's out there sometimes uh you know you push money out we're going through a situation now we're we're signing CD signing deak I know you know some people have said hey uh they're not pushing things out they're 30th in the league and cash pending well right now we're projected to be number one by quite a bit in terms of uh cash spending for this year so you know Over a four-year period uh the salary cap is what it is and teams over uh a four between a four and a fiveyear period all spend uh the same amount of cash talk with Stephen Jones right here on 1053 The Fan krld dfm your official home of the Dallas Cowboys and the Texas Rangers now Stephen I I'm kind of curious did you want uh did you want Aubrey to get a chance at a 71 yard field goal yesterday I was but at the same time I've seen those games Auburn Alabama when you're that field goals team's made up of a lot of big guys to keep people from blocking it and when you go to cover somebody like Ward if it doesn't quite get there and he comes out of the end zone uh there's not a lot of great tacklers on that field and uh we've all seen examples where people return a long field goal attempt uh the other way so I was kind of at the end of the day the 7172 I was starting to get a little nervous of what might happen if it doesn't quite get there also you but I will say this he's certainly capable of doing it and uh obviously nailed the 66 and he's done them before and uh you know he's very capable of making that kick and we're all rooting for that moment when it does when he does get that chance the you got to be pretty happy with your offseason acquisitions were really Mike Zimmer and Kendricks like those were two big Acquisitions for you and the way game one went Mike Zimmer was in his bag with his play call and Kendrick's looked as good as we expected well it was uh obviously an important transition for us everybody around here the building the fans huge fans of Dan Quinn he obviously goes about it you know a little different way and there's a lot of ways to win in this league a lot of ways to play defense a lot of ways to play offense uh Etc but uh you know we just felt really good about U coach zmer he's been in this building for years and years and years early on in our tenure and uh you know just felt a lot of confidence that he could come in here with this group of players and you know really uh as you said we've added Kendricks and then uh you know between the draft and getting a guy back like uh overon who was all over the place yesterday uh the rookies showed up but hats off to nean to Carson to overon those are guys we didn't have on our defense last year and then you throw Kendricks in uh you know we we saw a lot of things uh you know to feel good about and I know uh you know some people have other ideas of what you ought to be doing in the off season but we felt good about uh what we accomplished in the off season and uh really feel good about this football team the the other thing I went back to rewatch this morning just to kind of get my eyeballs on it but those rookies those you were just talking about the rookie offensive lineman uh what kind of were you impressed with the way they held up against that Cleveland Browns front were where were you feeling after that game we all know they had one of the best defenses in the league and certainly gave us a big challenge yesterday I mean I know we were able to have a couple big drives early that uh really set the tone obviously special teams showed up between uh the the field goals the accuracy there and then uh turpin's big return and uh you know then the defense playing like they played but hats off to those two offensive linemen I mean they're playing against a what one of the top groups in the League uh certainly one of the best players in the league G I think got to see the most of and I thought they all all stepped up I mean hats off to our uh Personnel Department uh will mlay and what he does with his group and how they communicate with the coaches their dialogue between uh coach Zim and what was going to change I mean see two big guys we acquired uh their late in training camp uh they really played huge roles for us and Phillips and lynville Joseph so uh uh you know player acquisition continues to go on but uh I think we were able to uh put the right group together that uh really fits what the coach Zim does and I feel good about what we're going to do there and then of course offensively uh you know what Mike and uh coach shotti and that offensive group coach Solari what they're doing with those uh young offensive lineman's uh uh outstanding as well now on the offensive front we all I'm sure you know this had a hold your breath moment with Jake Ferguson the reports are sprain MCL and I know for Jordan love some people thought that would be 3 to six weeks we're hearing maybe Ferguson is weak to week is that the proper diagnosis and how are we feeling about his availability in the next game weeks Etc we'll the final diag diagnosis but I think it's more actually of a b bruise and so he'll actually have a chance we all know Jake Ferguson's one of the toughest guys in our life the room uh he's a football player and I wouldn't put anything past him that uh you know we could see him against the Saints but uh wow we'll just see how this week progresses and we'll get the final prognosis uh probably here in the next uh next hour I assume you'll just call us back when that's the case and you're like hey I really want to jump back on and do more of an interview yeah send me digits and I'll send you ATT okay no no problem no problem do you one one last thing I was curious about daking the contract not specifics but he he is very upfront about look success is defined by a Super Bowl that's his own personal metric for what makes him a success or what makes this deal a success do you think that's a fair pressure to put on him on in the team as like hey success is defined by Super Bowls absolutely I mean I know Jerry and I feel that way I think Mike McCarthy and his staff feel that way I think will mlay and his staff feel that way uh everybody's n you know number one measurement number one bar around here is winning a championship that's what we're in the business for and uh we understand we're held to that standard as well I mean our fan we won 12 games three years in a row and that's not good enough for us and our fans are frustrated with us because we hadn't had success in the postseason and we know until that happens uh doesn't matter how well you play in the season by the way no one thing no one's assuming uh that we're going to just play this season and win 12 games I mean it's hard to win a football game in this league and it'll be a a big challenge uh uh to you know win 12 football games much less getting the playoffs and so uh we know we got to go out week in and week out and focus uh on the week on the moment and uh right now we're looking toward the Saints but uh yeah we all hold ourselves to a very high uh standard around here which is the ultimate standard winning a championship how how do you feel about negotiating contracts during the season because I know CDs done dax's done Micah is eligible for an extension will that be a discussion or do you table all that during the season you know right now it's certainly not anything that's uh on the table I think uh you know Micah made a conscientious decision that he thinks he can you know put together even a better year I think he got off to a great start yesterday yeah in terms of what he did and uh what he did against the Browns uh you know I think his play speaks of louder than words and uh you know I think he expects to have a great year under coach them and then uh probably feel comfortable to to talk about it then but uh you know each each individual's different uh things opportunities come and when they are and the player feels good about something then we certainly uh we will move to do something at the same time you know sometimes players just aren't ready yet they don't feel like uh their situation is in the right situation to start start the process and you know this day and time these uh these players they do well uh it's changing even more so now you got players coming in here uh who've made a lot of money in college yeah and so they don't feel the pressure uh they want to put some skins on the wall which most these guys that's why they play in the NFL on Sundays because they're very skilled they're very confident they're very competitive and feel like uh you know they're building a resume uh for their next contract and uh you know everybody in this league knows if you get to that second contract it's going to be uh uh it'll be pretty good so uh I know that's what these guys uh you know they obviously are competitors and want to win championships for their team but uh you know like any individual they want to do well uh financially and they want to do well for their family well we appreciate the Insight very much especially after such a busy weekend and big victory we will catch up with you again next Monday sir sounds great guys great being on [Music]