DALLAS — Micah Parsons is no longer a Dallas Cowboy.
After a contract stalemate throughout the offseason and training camp, Cowboys Owner, President and General Manager Jerry Jones dealt the star defensive player to the Green Bay Packers for two first-round picks and Pro Bowler Kenny Clark.
Hours after the trade news broke, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and vice president Stephen Jones held a press conference at the Star in Frisco to discuss it all with members of the media.
Here is a full transcription of Jerry Jones’ press conference about the Parsons trade:
Q: This is for Jerry and obviously Steven. Why did you decide to trade Micah Parsons?
Jerry Jones: Well, uh, without being too broad obviously we did think it was in the best interest of our organization, not only the future but right now. This season, as well. We’ve gained a Pro Bowl player. We’ve gained a Pro Bowl player in an area that we had big concern in, or concerns in, on the inside of our defense. Let me be, let me go beyond your question. First of all, I wanna tell you that I really like Micah. I appreciate the years, four years that we’ve had him here. And he’s a great player and so we are very appreciative of the fact that he’s a great player. There’s no question that I could have signed him in April. And so, we all know that to have agreements all parties have to agree, but this was by design. I did make Micah an offer. It wasn’t acceptable, and I honored the fact that it wasn’t done in the way that he wanted to do it through an agent. So, he was made an offer. There’s not an ounce of vindictiveness. There’s no bad feelings on my part about the fact that we didn’t come together on an agreement. The facts are, and we’ll cover it I’m sure with many of your questions, but the facts are, specifically, we need to stop the run. And we haven’t been able to stop the run at key times for several years. And when you have the kind of extraordinary pass rush that Michael [sic] had. Then the way to mitigate that pass rush is to run at you. If the pass rush doesn’t get you ahead, pretty big time, and you’re playing even or behind, then you’ve really got a problem in stopping the run. And so we have felt, as we embark on changing things, we have a coach that we’re mighty proud of in Brian. And we’re excited about the changes that we’re making not only in the coaching staff but in the team. I think out of our 60 players that we would count as the actives and a percent of the practice squad, over one-third of those players are new. And so we are doing what I’ve said many times that if you are the one that owns, and when you look in the mirror, you’ve got to change. And so this was a very deliberate, as it played out, reflection on a key player that could bring us a lot of consideration. A lot of consideration now, and the player that we got that can help us stop the run. And a lot of consideration in the future, a lot of capital that is required to build a team. It takes many players, to be trite, to play in the NFL. It takes 11 on the field at the same time. It takes a minimum of 30 or 40 at minimum to have both defense and offense, not including players that are involved in our special teams, so it takes more than one. And so you do have to allocate your resources, whether it be draft picks or whether it be finances. You have to allocate those resources. There was no question in our mind that Michael [sic] could bring us a lot of resources on a trade. That has been on my mind since we hired Brian. And so there was no question, as it turns out, all the publicity about the not having a contract, certainly you did your part in making sure that it was known that he was potentially available and I appreciate that very much. And I say that a little tongue in cheek. I’m not really as serious about it. But I will say this, it was important that we did get, if we could get it, the kind of interest that we got in making a trade for Mike [sic]. He was an asset that we got four great years out of. But when you are talking about making a contract, the kind that he got and for the future, that’s quite a commitment. And none of that counts about what he did those first four years. It all goes against what he can do for you in the future, the length of that contract and, and maybe more. Well then you’ve got to really weigh how many players, and I’m just gonna give you this, not only do we immediately get a player. But those draft picks could get us, I’m talking top Pro Bowl-type players could not necessarily, you’re gonna be quick to say you won’t necessarily get those players, you gotta draft them or acquire them. But they could get us as few as three or as many as five outstanding players. Now, not only do they contribute in a game that needs a lot of players on the field, not to be elementary, but they also give you better odds that they’re gonna be a high percentage of those are gonna be available. Just from the standpoint of attrition or from the standpoint of just sheer limit on how far one player can go. Very few players are Deion [Sanders] playing 100 plays a game out there at the time. So this trade was not just thought about today. This trade has been going on in our minds and our strategies and being talked about, it’s been going on all spring. It culminated today and it came quick, but that’s the way things go. It does happen fast when it happens, but you’ve laid a lot of water. I mean you’ve laid a lot of things out there on the water to make it happen. I wanna be sure that our fans understand I think a lot of Micah. And I wish him so much success. I don’t want him to have success when he play the Cowboys as much as I do want him to have overall success, but Micah Parsons did an outstanding job for us for four years and a little bit of the way Herschel Walker may have had his greatest contribution to the Cowboys. What he brought to us when he left could be a tremendous thing for our fans and the success of this team. Kenny Clark. We knew beginning, we really knew beginning this spring, that if we could pick up a top interior defensive lineman, just to offset not having a pass rusher even though it’s Micah. But where we’re long, where we’re strong is in our pass rushing depth. And we knew if we could get an interior lineman that that was at least something that would improve us right there on a top interior lineman. He comes in strong for us and he comes in accomplished for us and so we’re glad to have him. It was a prerequisite. We went down the teams. And we only picked teams that had room on their cap that could pay Micah and we only picked teams that had top tackles, interior tackles, that we wanted to have any dialogue with at all about a trade. That was the criteria of trading. Top existing tackle that could come in here and play for us right now, this year, and offset the fact to whatever degree, more or less, that we don’t have that excellence that Michael [sic] Parsons has there but we do have the depth to come in here and do that. And then if we could get the picks that we ultimately getting and we did have several teams that we might have had an opportunity to do something with. We did have that and so this was no, this was no instantaneous happening this afternoon over about a five-minute period. The other thing that I would like to say is I firmly did, me, made a commitment to Michael [sic] this spring, uh Micah, and paid him. And to pay him. At that time, I was battling and knew that the other alternative probably was, I had no idea of what we might be able to get, but I knew that it was very likely to be several players that we could use those resources for, all the way, draft picks as well as cap space. And so that was on our mind the minute that we saw that we were, quite possibly, we’re gonna have an issue about whether or not we could do a contract or not. That gave us time. That gave us imagineering. That, coupled with bringing in a new coach and bringing in a new staff, we felt it fit for us to have more players, more excellent players. If we do a good job of acquiring those players, plus have a team this year that would give us a better chance, dare I say that, but absolutely. It’s not a zero that we’re dealing with as far as how much better that we were trying to be, even not having Mike [sic]. I’ve got several other things that I could answer a question with, but I’ll stop and just let you ask questions.
Stephen Jones: You did an amazing job of covering it. Extensively. But, because we have thought about this a lot, but the other thing came into play big was between Coach Schottenheimer and Coach Eberflus, and talking about the defense and obviously getting a player like Kenny Clark. We also feel like, in addition to the depth, is you can scheme pressure as well. I think Coach Eberflus has been really good at that, in terms of using scheme to get pressure on the quarterback, but what’s tough to scheme is to stop the run.
Jerry Jones: The other thing that I want to say is we not only, gives us four first round picks over the next two years. We not only do that. Nothing says we can’t use some of those picks right now to go get somebody right now. Don’t rule that out.
Q: What do you say to your fan base that looks at this and says they’re rebuilding right now?
Jerry Jones: Well, again, we’ve certainly got a new coaching staff, and a third of all the players are new. And so obviously there is freshness. We’ll use the word new on that basis. But we have the highest-paid player in the NFL at quarterback. And we made that commitment last year and we’re proud we made it. It had everything to do with this decision, everything. It gives us every opportunity with Dak Prescott and [CeeDee] Lamb and the base that we’ve got to win now. And so all you need to do, this would, I’m not so sure this would have been resolved had we not had Dak, but the fact that we have Dak, we need to stop the run. We really do. We need to get the ball back.
Stephen Jones: That’s why it was so important, when you say that, is Kenny Clark was a big part of this. And that was a part of winning right now. And we feel like, when you look at, you know, the frustration is we hadn’t been able to win the big game in the playoffs. And we think it is a direct connection to not being able to stop the run. And we think Kenny Clark’s gonna be a big piece to that. And we felt like because of our depth on the edge, as well as the ability to be able to scheme pressure, that we could make up for Micah because obviously he’s elite at rushing the passer. That, we could make up for that. And then in addition to it, as Jerry said so well, as we do now have two ones in each draft over the next two years. Nothing says we can’t use one of those to improve the team this year, which we wouldn’t rule out this year.
Q: Clarence Hill DLLS Cowboys. Can you just, from a timeline standpoint, when did you start negotiating with Green Bay and when did you give them permission to talk to [David] Mulugheta about a contract?
Jerry Jones: Yeah, we’re not, I’m not gonna get into time frames. At all. But we didn’t have a deal until this afternoon. I’ll tell you, I can say that much. The rest of it, it’d be hard to not characterize the dialogue to pick this call, this call, this time, this time. We talked to Green Bay more than once, more than twice, several times. And that’s been, frankly over the last several days. But it came to a head, as far as acting on it, remember there were three people that had to, three people, there were three entities. First of all, Micah had to have a contract with them that was satisfactory. They had to agree to the contract and then we had to agree to the trade. So it’d be real inaccurate to just on our part say what our time frame was without knowing theirs, but, I will say that certainly it was probably still up in the air this morning when they went to practice. Kenny practiced out there with them today and so, you might say that it was technically up in the air this morning. Make no mistake about it, what wasn’t up in the air was our consideration as a complete organization that if we could get this done, with our terms, we would make the trade. And that was a complete unanimity in the decision making.
Q: When did you give them permission to talk to negotiate though?
Jerry Jones: I’m not, I don’t know that I want to.
Q: According to them, they came to you and asked about doing a deal or trying to get something done and you said play on the fifth year?
Jerry Jones: Excuse me, excuse me, who is they and we?
Q: Parsons and Mulugheta, Did you tell them to play on the fifth year?
Jerry Jones: That they wanted to play on the 5th year.
Q: No, no, they, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. They came to you as recently as this week or recently and tried to jumpstart negotiations.
Jerry Jones: Yeah, we had some dialogue. I’m not gonna get into specifics because I don’t think that characterizes it. But it was not in any way out of the order or anything like that. But basically, I think I’ve read where they said that I replied we’re playing under the contract as it exists right now, get ready to play Philadelphia. Correct, that was correct.
Q: Todd Archer with ESPN. If you’re willing to guarantee the highest amount of money for a non-quarterback back in March, but you’re also open to possibly making a trade, why not do more or look at it more before the draft where you would be able to gather those at least a player or picks then why wait until —
Jerry Jones: — I’m sorry, I think your question is, a question about my volition or about what I’m thinking. Is that correct?
Q: I’m just wondering why this wasn’t something that was could have been done before the draft to maybe you would have been able to gather draft picks that you could have used in April to help the Cowboys.
Jerry Jones: Yeah, I’ll speculate with you because I haven’t gone that deep into my thinking about why I didn’t do it and when I should have done it and all that really I’m not. And I’m not trying to be cute, OK, but when I offered Micah the contract that I offered him back in April, he flew in from out of the country, wanted to come right in. I said no get your night’s sleep and come on in the next day. Get your next day, you want to come right in. When I did that, we offered him a contract to come play for the Dallas Cowboys and it was a good one, OK? Now it was more guaranteed than what [has] been reported that was here now. But my point is, without getting into the detail, that was a very genuine negotiation. And we changed, I changed the amounts. And then we left, and then he called back and talked to Stephen. Stephen negotiated amounts, we did those, we changed those amounts that he called back from. And then, of course, the rest is history when the time came to say let’s go, then he said well let’s start the negotiation. And again, nothing in the world am I criticizing Micah about at all. That was every bit his right and Micah has never been anything but so pleasant for me to be around. I wanna be real clear about it, not that it implies that it’s not. Things are good here, things are good here. We have just decided that it was in the best interest of our team to take the consideration that we have, we appreciate his four years. But we can take that consideration, and we can win in our minds more than had we gone the other route and signed. That’s not a negative on Micah. That’s just unique to our circumstances.
Q: Were there any trade discussions prior to the draft regarding Micah?
Jerry Jones: Trade discussions with who?
Q: With other teams.
Jerry Jones: No, no.
Q: So, could you have done something then?
Jerry Jones: We had [trade discussions internally]. We had them but we didn’t have them with anybody else.
Stephen Jones: The draft’s in April, by the way, when we were talking to Micah, personally.
Q: That’s at the end of the month. This was at the beginning.
Stephen Jones: I got you.
Jerry Jones: Oh, you mean, a day earlier or what? S—, come on, come on. I’m not frustrated with that.
Q: Jerry, this is just making a move like this isn’t something that you normally do. You don’t usually move away from star players in their prime. Why is this different right now?
Jerry Jones: As a matter of fact, I’ve been criticized for staying with players too long. The ones that have had, if you will, a relationship or working together relationship. I had that kind of relationship with Micah. Like I said, I sat with him at one Super Bowl for sure and about here. And knew his family, had an hour and a half hour visit with his mother during the whole first half last weekend, sitting there with me watching the game up in the box, up in the suite. But we watched the game and so my point is, there’s none of that here, feel that very good about it. In our judgment, this gives us a better chance to be a better team than we have been the last few several years, since Micah’s been here. Not any negative on Micah, but we’re trying to get better. We’re trying to stop the run and stay in the hunt.
Q: Did it bother you at all with the way maybe he carried himself, the laying on the training table during the game, and some of those things like that?
Jerry Jones: Oh, that’s not … that is not – I didn’t see it. I saw pictures of that, but those aren’t ways that you, that you handle being a player and a team concept and the sharpness and paying attention. First of all, ask our, Booker and you can get your butt run over down there if you don’t look at what’s going on out on the field. Like lost Booker because of its sunny or thirsty.
Q: Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Jerry, you had said a couple weeks ago in an interview with Stephen A. [Smith] that you were never, uh, considering trading Michael Parsons. Was that a tactic at the moment, or did your tune eventually change in the last couple weeks?
Jerry Jones: Do you really think if I wanted someone to be interested in him that I would say, oh, I’m gonna trade him? It’s the opposite. It’s the opposite. Of course. And I thank you for writing it. I really do.
Q: You said that it was a unanimous decision to make this deal today, who was involved in that process?
Jerry Jones: The entire coaching and the representatives of the entire coaching as well as our entire front office. Everyone that is involved that has an interest in going forward that we counsel with. And as I’ve told you many times, contrary to maybe something that’s written sometimes or what, I really do get huge input and dialogue and opinions from everybody in our organization. And this was unanimous.
Q: Was the leadership council of the players part of that?
Jerry Jones: People that were on it were certainly had commented at points, informally, because of the fact that we were around the training camp, and we got members that were training camp that are on that council.
Q: Jerry, you said back in I think it was April that one of the things you were looking for from Micah before an extension was leadership. Did you see him take those kinds of steps for you and was that part of the decision to ultimately trade him?
Jerry Jones: I wanted an elevation. Because he was going to be elevated to an elite status relative to financial – the percent of the cap that he got relative to all the players. And I really believe strongly that when you have that, then you have an added responsibility to show leadership for the whole team when you’re one of the six or seven that are getting two-thirds of the money.
Q: Joe Hoyt, Dallas Morning News. Athletes First represents a good chunk of your Cowboys players, including Tyler Smith. David Mulugheta represents George Pickens, who’s on your team. Do you wonder if maybe the interactions you had or didn’t have with David Mulugheta might have some ramifications in terms of negotiations down the road?
Jerry Jones: From everything I’ve heard from people that know him, he’s not that fragile. And let me tell you something, you can’t do this stuff, you can’t do business like this and be around this and be fragile. I’m not. It still doesn’t mean you can’t get mad or you can’t get that way, but still, I would think that with his background, and what have you, he’s a very professional and is willing to keep his eye on the ball and not get caught up in a lot of … the others emotion or things that go on. Now, make no mistake about it, negotiations – and it’s not just player – and as a matter of fact, I would like to make this comment. These are young guys, relatively speaking, to this guy. These are young guys. And they haven’t had times when their skills and their being of what they’re contributing is measured up by some kind of negotiation over money. Now, anybody that doesn’t understand that doesn’t understand human beings. We all get flare over that. I’m 82. I flare over it today. That goes with it. And to understand that is, frankly, not necessarily you’re learning when you’re negotiating at the level Micah or his agents are but certainly on down the line, earlier, that’s a big part of evolving. That’s why third-year linemen sometimes are better and show up when they didn’t show up in the first year. People evolve. I look at it that way. Who was it? Stephen A. Stephen A. said, Jerry, you should have more grace. You should be a little more sensitive. These are young guys, and you’ve been down that pike a lot and have it. What Stephen A. got back from me was I’ve had more grace than any human I know of. I’ve had more grace. Forgiveness is just to say OK. Grace is when OK plus they give you a lift. That’s grace. You all know that. So having said that, I believe that in our players and I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t have a big, big, big feeling for our players and frankly our coaches. And so, there’s never been a case where I ever, past a nanosecond, had a bad feeling after we’re through with negotiations and we’re trying to sit down and go forward with what we said we would do and let’s play together. You guys give me a great opportunity to communicate, and I’m not the first one. You’ve had coaches tell you they communicate with their players through the people in this room. And so you guys give us a great forum to express ourselves in a way. And our fans, I thought that it was sensitive to fans, then that’d be a different story, too. I don’t. I think it’s a part another little nuance of being involved in our game. Thank you guys for involving them in these nuances. That’s why we did draft room cameras. That’s why we did all that. So boy, I believe in the process and the discussion of the process and the questions you have about it.
Q: You mentioned looking in the mirror. Do you think you still plan to continue your player-first negotiation tactic that you use in Micah here, where you want to negotiate with him directly?
Jerry Jones: Oh, I don’t think there’s any question. Once you are together, I’ve had hundreds of times and incidences where, literally hundreds over the last 35 years, of where the kinds of relationship that I have with a player. And the things we do and that goes both ways. Because them and me, because those players that were 25 grew up to be 55. And we’re still talking, baby. And we have relationships. That’s a natural thing to happen when you work together during times that bond you. And so I feel that way – that’s why I’m here. Frankly it’s my main reason for being here. So those things that go over those years are treasures with those guys. Their attorney or their agent isn’t necessarily anywhere to be found 10 years later. Not only that, sometimes they’re not even to be found because one guy in the agency’s got it handed off to another guy now. So these guys that are sitting here with your Dallas Cowboys, and the people that are out here putting it on the line and gonna build memories that are a part of their legacies and their families for years and years, then you can’t do that through an agency. I mean through a third party, at least I can’t. And so you’re absolutely right. If we’re gonna be at that significant time, and brother, this is significant, the financial consideration, especially nowadays, and it always has been relatively speaking. When you’re doing that in a young person’s life, that I want to be where I can be, I wanna be in the mix there. I want to see me get mad or tear up. Or see me say doggone it, I’ll do it. As old Michael Irvin told me one time, he said, Jerry we’re just not gonna do it. I’m just not gonna do it. And I said, Michael, we were just sitting there, the two of us. And I said, Michael, there’s an old West Texas town called El Paso. El Paso. And he goes, God knows, give [Irvin’s contract] to me. I can’t even deal with you on basis like that. Let’s go. So my point is, all that time did was last, we’re still doing it 30-something years later, that stuff happens. And so I don’t view it’s a negative for the player either. They’re gonna get more out of it, I hope, than if I’m around, they’ll get more out of it than just that contract.
Stephen Jones: Only other thing I’d add to that is that we do have players that come in and and we totally respect it that say I don’t feel comfortable talking about my contract I’d like you to go through my agent and we do that respectfully. I mean you’re not required to come in and negotiate the contract yourself. All the ones we’ve done like that are those who request to come in and visit with Jerry or myself. That’s the only ones we’ve done that with.
Jerry Jones: The issue here was not to switch who we were talking with. The issue here was starting over after I had really dug deep, changed, dug deep more, dug more, dug more, handed it off to Stephen. He dug more, dug more, now are we through? We’re through. And then to say let’s start negotiation. Pretty clever if you think about it on their part that was pretty good.
Q: Schuyler Dixon with the AP. This might be for both of you if you have something you want to offer. Was there any point that you felt like Micah, genuinely, did not want to be here anymore? And, and if so, when was that point?
Jerry Jones: I didn’t give that a thought.
Stephen Jones: I never felt it.
Jerry Jones: I’m satisfied Micah knows that I care about him, but more important than that, I just want you to know I didn’t give it a thought. It didn’t change one thing I was doing, and I’m not trying to be any way other than I just didn’t let that stop the train from accomplishing, frankly, what we end up accomplishing today. Don’t make so much out of that not talking caused this thing to be done. There’s a little thing called stopping the run. There’s a little thing called football team having the most, having the resources of those picks and having the resources of player we got. That had a heck of a lot more to do with it than any hiccup we might have had in April.
Q: Jerry, do you have any regrets over the process of the last few months and how things went?
Jerry Jones: I am very excited about, very excited, beyond any consideration of a regret, of the consideration that we got in this trade and to have the player. I’m very excited about that. It is more in keeping within my mind what’s in the best interest of the Dallas Cowboys.
Q: In terms of things that were said in the media about the agent, things like that, do you, is there any things that you would do differently if you were to go back?
Jerry Jones: No, no, not at all. And not nothing at all in terms of regret. You mentioned, you’re asking if I regret, no. I don’t regret that at all, you know, I’m very, very excited about the prospects of what we’ve done for the Cowboys here. I wouldn’t have done it. I wouldn’t have done it. I had total control for being able to have it the other way. So I’m excited we got what we wanted.
Q: Ed Werder, WFAA. Jerry, do you have any misgivings about trading a player like Micah to Green Bay, which is a team you have to go through to get to the Super Bowl and a team that has ended your postseason three times in recent years?
Jerry Jones: We cut it down by 15 teams, 16 teams. In other words, there’s not but 31 other teams. And so you’re gonna be playing half of them no matter how you cut it, so we just cut it down by that. I, apart from in our same division, apart from being in the same division, I don’t give that in consideration. There’s just too many other things, Ed, that you have to think about or resolve or come to grips with that was a pretty far down the line one.
Q: Second question, you’re seven days from opening the season in Philadelphia. Is there any concern on your part about how your locker room will interpret moving on from one of the premiere players in the organization?
Jerry Jones: Not at all. As a matter of fact, I like what this does.
Q: But from a locker room point of view —
Jerry Jones: — the locker — no, if you say if I’m worried about the locker room, I’m absolutely zero worried about the locker room. That’s not meant to diminish anything here. I’m just not concerned at all about the locker room. It takes a lot of players to play this game. Locker room knows that we just got a lot of good players.
Q: In your interview with Michael Irvin last week, at the end of it, I don’t know if you’re joking or serious, but you talked about having him come bring Micah in so you guys could figure this all out. Between the conversation in the spring and today, did you at any point talk one-on-one with Micah to try to figure this out?
Jerry Jones: Did I talk to Michael?
Stephen Jones: Micah.
Jerry Jones: About the — I’m sorry I didn’t get —
Q: The spring with Micah, between then and now, was there any point that you went to him or he came to you and you tried to figure this out man to man after that meeting?
Jerry Jones: No, but we were talking, baby. We were talking. That’s the old deal we had the practice field, but you’re talking about the spring. You’re aware of the talk we had on the practice field, but listen, listen. Everybody knew exactly what had happened and they completely knew our numbers. I’ve been in negotiations where not a lot was said then too because you had given your numbers. And so, there wasn’t but one thing left to do and that’s increased the numbers from their standpoint, OK? Mine would have been, come in. So, to say that we didn’t know, to be very candid with you, there is a litany of detail that the agent, as well as our office, would have gone over with that agent in detail. But the big ones, the years, the amount that’s paid, that type of thing, we had discussed. I get it and I think everyone does get it too, that they wanted to go where I stopped, and they wanted to go from there. Is that hard for anybody to see? That’s where they want to start that’s where I stopped. Now, all you could do is pick up the phone and say that to each other.
Q: You talked many times about your relationship with Micah being unusual in some ways that you would socialize, you know, talk about the Super Bowl moment. You feel like over these months, could you feel the deterioration with that relationship?
Jerry Jones: I hadn’t had a chance to watch a game with him or go to another Super Bowl. I would have to tell you after we said let’s do that. So, I mean, I’m not trying to be cute, at all. We have been negotiating. And we basically said quit talking on the phone. And so we weren’t talking on the phone during that time. I probably don’t have but three people who got my phone number, and he’s, he was one of them.
Q: Jerry, Micah at 12-plus sacks in each of the last four years, very productive. For other Cowboys players coming up the line, they see how this negotiation with Micah went. How would you answer the question ‘well, gee, what do I have to do to get an extension if Micah can’t get one?’
Jerry Jones: Ask Dak. Highest-paid man in the NFL. There’s a lot of players that they could ask that have been paid down around here. I’ll pay players.
Q: So what makes this different?
Jerry Jones: Because we wanted to look and see if we could do what we did. The benefits of the trade made it different. Make no mistake about it. We all know we could have signed Micah. But we decided to go with the trade.
Q: One month from today, Micah will be at AT&T Stadium playing in a Packers uniform. Have you allowed yourself to think about that and what are you expecting that night to be like for you when he plays on Sunday Night Football against your team?
Jerry Jones: Well, I had to play Emmitt Smith when he was a Cardinal. And that made it hard, but obviously we have to play a lot of players that have, I mean we play, when I say play them, we compete on the teams that they’re on after they leave the Cowboys. It’s free agency, that’s what happens. Micah will be problematic. Very problematic. I’d suggest that we get ahead and run the ball.
Q: Sydney Staples, D210 Sports. For Mr. Jones, what do you have to say to the fans who may be really frustrated, upset, confused by this decision?
Jerry Jones: Well, I would like for them to look at a lot of what we’ve talked about here, and that’s why I’m saying what I’m saying here because I want them to be interested and involved in looking at it. This was a move to get us successful in the playoffs. This was a move to be better on defense, stopping the run. This was a move to, if we get behind, not be run on. And it was a deliberate move, a well thought out move to make this happen. The other thing that I would say is that we have a chance to get a minimum of three, and it could very easily be as many as five, really top players. And you’ve got to look at three to five to one, over who’s gonna help you. And it was strictly that because it’s not only the draft picks that you have as currency but is the available cap room. And we can take that available cap room that we were going to use with Micah, and we can pay three to five players with that we wouldn’t have been able to pay. And it’s an allocation. It’s not a volition. It’s an allocation of money. And so we chose to have numbers of players that we could pay handsomely. That would be those caliber of players, not practice, not young practice squad players, we’re talking players that can really compete. And so, for our fans, I think we’re better off having those numbers of players. I think we’re better off from attrition, from as you know, this game is in many cases built around planning injury and knowing that you’re gonna have injury. You have injury. You’ve got five players rather than waiting on one, not waiting, but looking at one player. You’ve got better odds of having, if you will, availability for it. So, this gives us the best chance and we’ve tried it in a way that way. And our fans, as well as my mirror is saying, come on let’s change something up. Let’s do something a little different here. Well, how about Brian Schottenheimer? How about loading up with some resources called cap room and draft picks? And how about bringing on those kinds of changes? How about philosophically doing our defense a little different? How about bringing in some better blocking on the offensive line? We have done all of that and this is a part of it. All righty, thanks everybody. Thank you guys.