In real life, when we ask our boss for a raise, a common response might be to get told “I’m not made of money!” and we keep it moving. Better luck next year and all that.
In the NFL, that ask gets much different. That’s because the people who run things actually are made of money, and no one is made of more money than Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who saw his team become the most valuable pro sports franchise in the world with a $10 billion valuation from Forbes in 2024.
Jones bought the Cowboys for $140 million from Bum Bright in 1989.
So, why has it been so hard for Jones to sign his best players? And what is the rationale to lose money year in and year out by waiting to sign those players later rather than earlier?
ESPN’s “Get Out” called the NFL’s salary cap and Jones’ inability to sign the Cowboys’ best players in timely fashion as his “Kryptonite” on July 30 as the Cowboys continue their prolonged, messy contract negotiations with NFL All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons.
“The salary cap has been Kryptonite for Jerry Jones for a long, long time,” ESPN’s Mike Greenberg said. “From a financial standpoint, his philosophy (on contract negotiations) doesn’t work. From a football standpoint, inarguably, it doesn’t work.”
The Cowboys are coming off an 8-9 season in 2024 after consecutive 12-5 seasons in 2022 and 2023.
The franchise hasn’t made it to the NFC Championship Game since the 1995 season, when they won their third Super Bowl in 4 seasons. It’s the longest NFC Championship Game drought for any team in the NFC.
Waiting Could Near $100M in Lost Money for Dallas
You don’t need a degree in finance to do the math on how much money the Cowboys have lost in recent years by waiting on long-term contract extensions for their best players.
If the Cowboys make Parsons the highest paid defensive player in the NFL, which they almost inevitable will, that looks like a 4-year, $168 million contract extension that pays him $42 million annually.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is the highest paid player in the NFL with a 4-year, $240 million contract that pays him $60 million per year.
NFL All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb signed a 4-year, $136 million contract before the 2024 season that pays him $34 million per year.
Had the Cowboys done what most NFL teams do and signed those players one year earlier, it would have saved them an estimated$21 million in salary in 2025 and an estimated $92 million over the lifetime of those 3 contracts.
Jones Has Long History of Messy Contract Talks
However bad it might seem things are going between the Cowboys and Parsons right now, it doesn’t hold a candle to the worst contract mess Jones ever found himself in.
In 1993, Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith sat out the first 2 games of the regular season following a Super Bowl win the previous season as he sought “quarterback money” — which Jones refused to pay.
Smith, who still owns NFL records for career rushing yards, career carries and career rushing touchdowns, signed a 4-year, $13.5 million contract after the Cowboys got off to an 0-2 start. He went on to win his lone NFL MVP award that season with 1,900 yards from scrimmage and 10 total touchdowns.
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