In the ongoing battle over Commissioner Roger Goodell’s contract, Stephen Jones is reacting to the owners’ nuclear option basically the same way the owners are reacting to Jerry Jones’ nuclear option.
The son of the team’s owner told 105.3 The Fan on Monday that the Joneses don’t view the threat of a potential forfeiture of the franchise as a real possibility.
“I think it’s laughable,” Stephen Jones said. “We don’t take it serious.”
That’s a reasonable reaction, unless and until Jerry Jones decides to sue his partners to block Goodell’s contract. At that point, what happens next will be anyone’s guess.
It’s absolutely true that multiple owners have discussed the possibility of an Article XIII assault on ownership of the team. It’s absolutely true that multiple owners have become upset with the manner in which Jerry Jones has handled himself in recent months. Objecting discreetly to Goodell’s contract through proper internal channels is one thing; the decision to constantly air out the league’s dirty laundry is another. And the proverbial red line was crossed when Jones instigated (as multiple owners believe) the public criticism of NFL leadership by a red-shirted pizza magnate known as Papa John.
Jones has managed to alienate a group of very rich, very powerful people who are used to getting their way, pretty much all the time. And if Jones doesn’t stand down from his threat to become the new Al Davis of the NFL, the other NFL owners may react much different than they did when Davis was suing his partners and generally creating mayhem and unrest.
So the ball remains in the court of Jerry Jones. If his huffing and puffing about suing the league becomes anything more than huffing and puffing, the only question will be whose house gets blown down, and when.