As one of my sons is living there, I have been spending a lot of time in Dallas these days, and I’ve noticed a lot of winning going on with their pro sports teams. Major League Baseball’s Rangers are fresh off a World Series championship and, as of this writing, the NBA’s Mavericks and the NHL’s Stars are deep in the playoffs in their conference finals. Noticeably absent from this discussion are the Cowboys, considered the most valuable sports franchise in the country, if not the entire world. As Dallas revels in this winning boon, the Cowboys franchise is certainly not a part of it.
When we last left the Cowboys on the field, it was on an icy January afternoon in Dallas where my sons and I (still Packers fans from our many years there) watched the underdog Packers’ demolition of the Cowboys, where it seemed the nearest defenders to Green Bay’s receivers were in Plano. Many, including this writer, thought that performance would cause mercurial Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones to make some dramatic moves, starting with the firing of the head coach and continuing with some major subtraction and additions.
But, well, no. Jones did not fire McCarthy. The Cowboys have not yet secured contract extensions with their young stars on each side of the ball, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons. And their most high-profile acquisition has been the return of Ezekiel Elliot, now a diminished version of what he was in his prime with the team. Hanging over all of this, and perhaps causing all of Jones’s inaction and reticence, is the contract situation with their quarterback. While Dak Prescott is “only” making $29 million in salary this year, his $55.4 million cap number is an albatross hanging over the team.
