Cowboys owner Jerry Jones addressed one of the franchise's biggest critics in an interview posted to YouTube on Wednesday night.
Jones spoke with ESPN's Stephen A. Smith in an hour-long conversation as part of a special edition of “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” touching on everything from the CeeDee Lamb drama to negotiations with star quarterback Dak Prescott and the perception that Jones values money over winning.
The Cowboys, who haven't won a Super Bowl in nearly three decades and haven't reached a conference finals in that same time frame, have been one of the big stories this offseason, with negotiations centered around Lamb.
Lamb ultimately signed a four-year, $136 million contract on Aug. 26, and Jones told Smith he wasn't stressed by the star wide receiver's absence from training camp.
“We never had any doubts about what CeeDee Lamb was like as a football player or what he could bring to the team,” Jones said. “I didn't see any reward or penalty on the timer of, 'Will he get on the field or will he get on the field when he should?' There was no rush to put him on the field at all.”
Lamb's contract negotiations weren't the only thing football fans were paying attention to.
Prescott is in the final year of his contract and will become a free agent after this season, but the clock is ticking to get a contract extension done before the start of the season.
Jones praised Prescott while speaking with Smith and said he believes the quarterback will only get better as the years go on.
“I don't think he's going to get any better as a person or as a quarterback,” the Cowboys owner said. “I don't think he's going to get any better in the next five or 10 years. I think he's going to be a quarterback that just keeps getting better.”
The owner also shared a few of his thoughts on the Cowboys' negotiations with Prescott.
“The challenge is not only do we get back what we've paid him the last four years, but we also have to pay him more in the future,” Jones said. “At the end of the day, this isn't about Dak, this is about the Dallas Cowboys, because we can't spend that money on a supporting cast. So we have to ask ourselves: Can we get Dak the success he deserves, the success we deserve, the success his teammates deserve, the success our fans deserve? Can we do that and get within reach of paying Dak? I think we can.”
There will be a lot of pressure on the Cowboys to finally get over the hump after falling well short of expectations in the playoffs the past three years, including a loss to the Packers in the wild-card round last season.
This led many fans to claim that Jones' priority was making money rather than winning football games, a claim that Jones disputed.
“That's bullshit,” he fired back. “Anyone who really knows me knows that I would trade two-thirds or a third of whatever percentage the Cowboys are worth to win the Super Bowl.”
The Cowboys open their season on Sunday in Cleveland against the Browns.
