Even at a time when the NFL seems to be embroiled in its most contentious and public bout of dysfunction in decades, the guy at the center of it continues to be willingly to speak publicly about it.
In the second of his two-per-week appearances on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones received a blank check to add anything he wants to share about the issue of Commissioner Roger Goodell’s proposed contract extension. And despite allegations from some of his colleagues that he is engaged in conduct detrimental to the league, Jones said he’s acting in the best interests of the NFL.
"[J]ust assure that everything I’m doing, it would be madness to think that everything I’m doing isn’t in the best short- and long-term interest of the NFL,” Jones said. “I love this league and I love this game. And the men that are involved, the [Compensation] Committee and the owners, really are good men. And they’ve been in it almost as long as I have. But I’ve been knowing some of these people for going on 30 years. And they know I have the NFL’s best interest in mind. And so goes the NFL, so go the Cowboys.”
Jones’ mindset makes talk of the other owners kicking him out of the club even more confounding.
“It’s really amusing to me when I hear someone say that Jerry may not -- they may do something to make him not have the Cowboys,” Jones said. “That is absolutely ridiculous.”
Jones continues to insist he’s simply providing a check against the power of the Commissioner, regardless of who it is.
“The one great time, because we give our Commissioner such power, the one great time the owners have their biggest input is when you are either first-time hiring him or extending him,” Jones said. “And when you do it in such a way as you don’t have any input over the issues, you disenfranchised them from what you want them to do. Now, I was put there. There were things of concern. I saw it. And that’s why we’re having this conversation right now.”
There’s no clear idea as to when the conversation end, or what the outcome will be. Regardless, a league that so desperately wants to get back to football currently can’t get out of its own way on the path back to football.