OXNARD, Calif. — Jerry Jones is still Jerry Jones: Confident, optimistic, charismatic, happier than anyone on Earth to be at the helm of the Dallas Cowboys franchise.
But he's trying to be *cautiously* optimistic heading into another season of high expectations.
"Well I don't think I should go there and can't go there," Jones said when WFAA's Joe Trahan asked him if the 2023 Cowboys could win the Super Bowl. "Only God knows that, to be trite. I'm optimistic -- I'm always optimistic -- but I'm particularly optimistic about our coaching and what we've done to restructure Mike McCarthy's role (taking over as playcaller), how we're emphasizing [Dan] Quinn's role and the subordinate coaches on their staff. That and the quality of the talent across the board on this team, the depth, I think those things should have me sitting pretty tall in this chair as we start this camp."
And indeed, Jones still exuded that typical confidence in an extended interview with Trahan at Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, Calif.
He addressed the ongoing Zack Martin contract situation; Martin, the team's star offensive guard, wants a pay raise and has not yet reported to camp. He gave quarterback Dak Prescott a vote of confidence. And he pushed back on the notion that he cares more about money than winning.
Watch the full interview here:
And here are some of the highlights:
Jones on Zack Martin's situation
I, of course, have all of the appreciation for what Zack has done, what he's going to be doing for this team this year and next year...but he's part of a team, and that really does apply to the financial structure of the team. And the facts are that you couldn't just adjust every contract every year, frankly, for the players that deserve it, because you're still paying players that didn't deserve what they're getting and all of that has to [work] out...everybody understands that.
I don't think there's a number that Zack, everything he is, doesn't belong beside his name. But the facts are the way we have to husband those dollars is we have to have them for the players this year, but we've gotta have them for the guys we sign next year, people like Parsons, people like Lamb, so the whole thing is a bigger picture.
Jerry on the Cowboys' roster and Dak
I like our odds [of winning a championship]. I like the makeup of our team. If we can even get as close as we were smelling it and touching it in San Francisco, I think we can bring home the bacon.
I've been with teams that certainly had the talent and frankly, if the ball had the right kind of bounce, they might have been in a Super bowl. I've won a Super Bowl with teams that had some lucky bounces.
I think that Dak with his background, his experience, he's been there and he's had some disappointment. all of that gives us a chance to win.
Jerry on critics who say it's money, then winning, for him
First of all, I can appreciate why they can think that. Now, I don't equate when I wake up, the Cowboys with its value ranking, as far as the value of a sports team. Anybody that knows me knows that I would go down to 10% of that value for some more first downs or some more wins in the right place, because I'm never gonna see that [value] because I'm never not gonna have this team.
The point is: I barely had enough to get in the game. I was really over my skis when I bought the Cowboys and it's a miracle that I survived it and ended up with the team.
For me, I gave it all up, and I gave up money I didn't have, to get to sit here with you and be apart of the future of the Cowboys. It was never about the money. It was about a passion. And what's ended up happening over these 33 years is that just getting to be apart of this thing with everybody, getting to be apart of the NFL, it's caused me to be and do things I would have never dreamed to even try. It's just made me try it -- 'God, that works, let's do some more' -- and so it has made, in a positive way, me and inspired me as well.
Frankly it's never been about the money. It's been about the kind of life I've gotten to have being apart of it.