I know what I said, but here’s what I meant…
That’s effectively the gist of Jerry Jones’s latest comments regarding the ongoing contract talks with All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. The Cowboys owner took to the airwaves on Sunday, shortly before the team’s preseason opener versus the Los Angeles Rams, and attempted to clarify his remarks made days prior that made the wrong kind of headlines.
“I think I got in trouble a little the other day when I said, ‘Look, we’re not urgent about CeeDee,'” Jones said from the sideline of SoFi Stadium.
Jones’s “no urgency to get it done” line set Cowboys Nation ablaze, as many observers took those six words as the entire story. The owner was- apparently- viewing Lamb as a completely expendable commodity, and the quote was- it seemed- only further proof that the billionaire cares more about securing his bottom line than he does a sixth Lombardi Trophy by paying his best athletes.
Taken in full context of the question he was actually asked, though, Jones’s answer was about whether the beginning of the preseason added any pressure to getting a deal done with Lamb.
That makes a lot more sense, but the genie was already out of the bottle in the media, and the drama in Big D raged on.
Even Lamb weighed in on the socials , albeit with a possibly knowing, possibly cryptic, definitely understated “lol.”
On Sunday, Jones reaffirmed Lamb’s importance to the Cowboys, but he also reiterated that rushing a deal through last week wouldn’t have changed anything about the team’s preseason lineup in L.A.
“No one appreciates CeeDee being on the field any more than I do,” Jones explained. “But let me say this: he wouldn’t be taking a snap out here today if he’d been here [for all of camp.] You’ve got to use your head when you expose key players. That gives the other younger players a chance to do it. We know exactly what CeeDee can do. He’s worked out with Dak, and so we wouldn’t have him out here. It has really not anything to do with his contract; Dak won’t be out here this afternoon.”
Jones has a history of putting his foot in his mouth at times, especially when pressed about a superstar who’s in a high-stakes contract negotiation. His knee-jerk response is often to try his hand at levity. But die-hard Cowboys fans- and often the players whose livelihoods are on the line- generally don’t find jokes about their paydays funny.
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$1 for 6 months Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones had tried to tamp down the flames on Friday by assuring fans that there was “ zero thought process in not having CeeDee being a Dallas Cowboy.” The delay, the younger Jones said, was business, not personal.
But it was still important for the elder Jones to, personally, clear the air after his flippant remarks came across very differently.
And just like when Jones’s “Zeke Who?” zinger caused a firestorm of controversy back in 2019, the owner on Sunday looked right into the camera lens to directly address the latest player who may or may not have been offended this time.
“I understand completely the angst that’s happening,” Jones said, “and someone says anything about whether you’re missed or not. Well, CeeDee, you’re missed.”
Just not on Sunday, where he would have been standing around in street clothes anyway.
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