DALLAS — The general manager of the Dallas Cowboys is Jerry Jones. That’s not going to change.
It’s been that way since Jones purchased the franchise in 1989. One thing that has changed is the people helping Jones make decisions for the franchise.
This is where Will McClay steps in.
McClay has worked with the Cowboys personnel department for the past 21 years, spurning general manager opportunities in other organizations to become one of Jones’ most trusted confidants. He was named vice president of player personnel in 2017, but since 2014 he’s been the Cowboys’ executive in charge of putting together the draft board. He’s also changed the structure of the scouting department, from how the scouts input information to hiring more scouts of color and younger talent evaluators.
It’s that power structure that attracts McClay to the Cowboys and the Cowboys to him.
“Jerry listens to everyone’s opinion,” McClay said in the week leading up to the Cowboys-Broncos preseason opener. “He’s going to formulate his final opinion based on that. It’s much like if you’re a GM of another team and the owner is far away, just the owner is there, in the middle of everything, hearing everything, getting input from everyone. That’s how we work. That’s different and the unique thing for us — he does listen to the input from all of us. It’s a unique thing because it is a team game. It is a team concept. We take the credit and the blame collectively because we all have a hand in it.”
Jones values McClay and considers him a major decision-maker, not only for the Cowboys but also if another franchise wanted him. McClay signed a contract extension this offseason that ensured he wouldn’t go anywhere considering the power he yields.
“The thing that I’m interested in is, basically, we’ve had two general managers with the NFL,” Jones said. “Tex Schramm and I serve in that role and it’s for that reason. Because the GM of the Cowboys decides everything and it decides what you’re going to spend, it decides on a player and so my definition of GM is one that you might normally associate with every decision — hiring the coach, all of that. Of course, the reason I bought the team, own the team is because of making those calls and always will.”
Under McClay, the Cowboys have drafted 10 players that were selected to the Pro Bowl and four that were named the All-Pro teams.
When Jones thought about selecting quarterback Johnny Manziel in the 2014 draft, executive vice president of player personnel Stephen Jones got credit for talking his father out of making that decision. It helped that McClay’s staff had a quality list of other names at the ready.
Linebackers Anthony Barr and Ryan Shazier and guard Zack Martin were the potential picks. When Jones decided against Manziel, Martin was drafted.
Martin has has been selected to seven Pro Bowls, named to five All-Pro teams and has become one of the best guards in the NFL. And last week, the Cowboys were able to sign Barr as a free agent to complement the linebacker position.
“I realize what my role and my structure, what we do here,” McClay said. “I have had an opportunity to build a team in the scouting the department. I have gone through a number of different iterations. I got young guys in here. I feel good about what we are doing. That is the job I am happy with now.”
The NFL has endured a diversity problem in its front offices, particularly when it comes to general managers. In 2020, the league had only two Black general managers.
As the 2022 season begins, the league now has six. McClay isn’t included in that list, but his role and the Cowboys’ structure is one several other executives ask him about. He doesn’t feel the pressure to take a GM job to say he’s a GM, considering the power he wields in Dallas.
“I’m a grown man. I know I’m Black,” he said. “The pressure is from the outside saying, ‘Oh, you have to do’ … I don’t have to do anything. The thing that I have to do for any African-American person who is trying to get into personnel, what I’ve got to do, is be the best at my job, then they can see. You’ve got to do your job first, so I’m doing my job to the best of my availability first. Then, if that opportunity comes and I’m comfortable with it, then that’s what it is. But I’m happy with the job and the role and the way it is here because of the way we work and do things together.”
