Some days it never ends with Cowboys
Take today for instance.
Jakar Hamilton is suspended four games for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. That is followed up by the club’s decision to cut 2013 fourth-round pick, B.W. Webb in order to add running back Phillip Tanner to the roster so he can take some carries in tonight’s preseason finale against the Denver Broncos.
Then comes a mesmerizing tale by ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. for "Outside the Lines," and ESPN The Magazine. Some of the story is a rehash of Jones' history as the owner and general manager of the Cowboys.
The sniping between Dallas owner Jerry Jones, left, and former coach Jimmy Johnson is alive and well nearly two decades after Johnson left the Cowboys.
But three of the juicier nuggets include a conversation Jones had with Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel and former college teammate and Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson.
After the George Strait concert Peterson confided in Jones he wants to play for the Cowboys one day after a friend of his handed Jones a cell phone. Tampering charges have been mentioned, but Jones didn’t initiate the call. If somebody has some explaining to do, it’s Peterson to the Vikings’ fans.
Jones' love of Manziel is not surprising. That he so often talks about a love he spurned by listening to the rest of the draft room on May 8 is surprising. Get over it. Zack Martin was the pick. He has looked like a veteran since the day he walked in the building. Tony Romo is your quarterback.
On the night of the draft, Jones said financially it made no sense to draft Manziel because of the price they paid to keep Romo last offseason. Since then, Jones' love for Manziel has grown and grown.
Maybe Romo doesn’t care what Jones says about Manziel, but on a human level doesn’t he have to think that maybe Jones isn’t fully in his corner?
Jones has a hard time letting things go, which was also evidenced in the piece with his comments regarding Johnson.
I was not around for the Jimmy Johnson Era. There was a clear delineation between Jerry guys and Jimmy guys, from what I’m told, and Jones still has his true loyalties to those people even if Johnson has not been around since the second Super Bowl win in the 1990s.
The sniping between Jones and Johnson remains alive and well. Johnson constantly tweaks Jones backhandedly about his football acumen. Jones said in the piece that Johnson has "but two Super Bowl rings," and won’t win another. Jones said he has the chance to win five more without Johnson.
From the sounds of it Johnson will never land in the Ring of Honor. Here’s why:
"Disloyalty ... I couldn't handle the disloyalty. Whether it was right or not, by every measurement you can go, I had paid so many times a higher price to get to be there than he had paid, it was unbelievable. ... By any way you wanna measure it, wear and tear, pain, worry, butt kickin', the criticism -- everything in the book!"
It’s only the middle of the afternoon. The Cowboys play their final preseason game against the Denver Broncos at 7 p.m at AT&T Stadium.
What else will today bring?
