Jerry's Cowboys Draft Cake (Can't Eat It, Too, Though)
By Mike Fisher
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IRVING (105.3 The Fan) - I've tried desperately to preach that while Jerry Jones remains the general (manager) of the Cowboys, his trusted lieutenants have power, too.
It happened again at the top of this NFL Draft, with Will McClay the driving force in building the board, Jason Garrett the driving force is not trading away from Ezekiel Elliott, and Stephen Jones the driving force in not overpaying for Paxton Lynch.
This has happened repeatedly in recent years, but the story of Johnny Manziel/Zack Martin keeps getting mis-told in a way that makes it sound as if Stephen Jones "tackled his dad as Jerry was handing in the Manziel card.''
There was no tackling then. There is no tackling now. There are simply assessments of risk/reward. 105.3 The Fan reported live as it was on Thursday night when Dallas was on the clock at No. 4 (turning down a Baltimore trade that might've cost them Zeke) and when Dallas was on the phone during Nos. 19 through 26 (trying but deciding against overpaying for Lynch).
The guy who said, "No, no'' to moving back and away from Zeke (and Jaylen Ramsey, Elliott's co-leader in Dallas' evaluations) was coach Garrett.
The guy who said, "No way'' (as SI.com reports) to overpaying Seattle to get to No. 26 was COO Stephen Jones.
McClay led the building of the board that caused presently-injured linebacker Jaylon Smith to be valued as a second-rounder, and info from Dr. Dan Cooper (who performed Smith's surgery and worked for the Cowboys) helped fuel that decision.
Now, Jerry wants it both ways: He said all weekend he regretted not "sweetening the pot'' (paying more in trade for Lynch) but out of the other side of his mouth he's pretending he wanted Lynch AND Jaylon Smith AND Nebraska defensive tackle Maliek Collins.
Umm, that wouldn't have worked, as the price to get Lynch WAS Smith and Collins.
Jerry has the lieutenants and Jerry has the power and the only thing he doesn't have it "cake'' and "eat it, too.'' But the lieutenants and the power is a solid-enough combo.
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