Jerry Jones loves to talk about how he would write a check of any size to help the Cowboys… but refuses to do so.
Before the NFL season kicked off in 2018, Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones made headlines with comments surrounding the money he would spend to win another Super Bowl.
“It would be embarrassing, it would be shocking if you knew the size of the check I would write if it guaranteed me a Super Bowl,” Jones told Shan and RJ on 105.3 The Fan. “It would be obscene. There is nothing I would do financially not to get a Super Bowl.”
At that point when he made this statement, Jones was two years removed from a remarkable season led by two rookie sensation players, Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott. These players brought the Cowboys to a No. 1 seed in the postseason. Unfortunately, Mike McCarthy’s Green Bay Packers bounced them in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Jones had the elusive itch for greatness that hadn’t been felt in Dallas since the late 90s when his team hoisted the Lombardi Trophy three times. The NFL salary cap prevents a Los Angeles Dodgers-type spending spree where one team can dominate the free agency market over the rest of their competitors. Otherwise, Jones, who owns the most valuable sports franchise in the world, would be signing high-profile players left and right.
Jerry Jones kept talking about wanting a coach that would agree to an incentives based contract. But I argued the market pays otherwise ♀️then he said he didn’t want anyone who didn’t want to be here but I argued if someone doesn’t make you feel like you are wanted why would you?…
— Jane Slater (@SlaterNFL) January 5, 2025
So if the owner, who has more money than the franchise knows what to do with, can’t spend it all on players, where else could it be used? The most straightforward answer would be on coaching. With Mike McCarthy’s departure, Jones had the opportunity to finally put his words to paper in the form of a blank check to sign an All-Star list of coaches to get Dallas back to the Super Bowl.
Instead, he was okay with all the top candidates interviewing elsewhere, leaving the team bargain-bin shopping at head coach, which seems to be a new comfort for the three-time champion owner.
Ben Johnson didn’t even seem interested in interviewing with Dallas. Mike Vrabel couldn’t even be tempted with a glance from the Cowboys, and Aaron Glenn looks keen on going to the broken-down New York Jets. The Glenn front can change with nothing finalized, but one could argue the Cowboys roster is ready to win games right now compared to the other three teams.
There is no salary cap for coaches. Any NFL owner can pay their coaching staff whatever they would like. Jones has shown that if he wants to keep a coach around, as he did with Dan Quinn in 2023, he is willing to pay a substantial amount.
That is just not the case with head coaches. Jones has seemingly thought that instead of writing a check for an “embarrassing amount,” paying more than the bare minimum for a head coach would be embarrassing. In an era in which quality head coaches are being spotlighted as difference-makers, it’s confusing why Jones wouldn’t want to get involved, especially if there are no restrictions on how much it will cost.
He missed the initial wave of candidates, but there is a way he can make this up to the fanbase. Robert Saleh, who interviewed for the Cowboys head coaching vacancy, is considered one of the league’s best defensive coaches. He is interviewing with other teams with head coach vacancies but could view being a coordinator as his best option to build back up some credibility.
Much like Quinn did in Dallas after his time with the Atlanta Falcons, Saleh could ride the wave of a talented defense led by Micah Parsons to another opportunity in the future. Another way Jones could get back in the good graces of fans? Steal Saleh from the San Francisco 49ers, who could make him the highest-paid defensive coordinator to return to the Bay Area. If Dallas cannot land one of the top head coaching candidates, taking Saleh away from their hated conference rival would be the first step to proving money can still talk in Dallas.
There are still a lot of cards left to be played in the Cowboys head coaching search, but if Jerry Jones wants to be looked at as the gambler and use his most significant asset to land a quality staff, he has to open up the checkbook and write some blank checks. Because, after all, “there is nothing [he] would do financially not to get a Super Bowl.”