Thread: Letting DeMarco Murray walk signals that someone other than Jerry Jones is calling shots for Cowboys

All of which begged the questions Thursday: "Which chair is Jerry Jones tied to, and how dark is the closet where he's being kept?"

It's a joke, of course. It's undeniable that Jones will always be the rock-star front man for the Cowboys. But this streak of fiscal responsibility has some fingerprints on it, and those who know the Cowboys say those identifying marks belong largely to Jones' son Stephen. Outside of Dallas and NFL circles, not a lot is known about the man, other than he's the offspring of arguably the league's wildest owner, and carries a business card that lists a one-man corporation: "Stephen Jones: Dallas Cowboys Chief Operating Officer/Executive Vice President/Director of Player Personnel."

That's a mouthful in any organization but also not entirely uncommon for owners' sons who are expected to inherit the kingdom and all its glory. Stephen Jones is that guy in Dallas. He's the one who gets the party bus and the $4 billion franchise that accompanies it.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/letting...035337598.html

I know that Stephen Jones needs to be his own man, but is he trying to do this being deliberately being the polar opposite of his dad? I'm as big of a critic of JJ as anyone for how he has run the Cowboys, but "if my dad did it, I'm going to do the exact opposite" is an even worse strategy for running a team. I don't know what DeMarco Murray was asking for, but if anyone deserved a big payday, it was him.

You can make a case against anyone (see JT) but Murray is highly injury prone. He's also 27 with some mileage.

He was a total stud last season but like all stud RBs is one play away from falling off a cliff due to age or injury at any moment.

I don't think you can really pay an RB in this era -- too many other positions are too important.

Letting him walk was probably the right move.

Signing a RB for $8.5 million annually just is not good policy. The Cowboys have built an elite offensive line anchored by Tyron Smith and Zack Martin. Paired with Jason Witten, the Cowboys could ground-and-pound with a RB from the draft for cheaper. They will get a compensatory pick in next year's draft and have the money available to lock up Dez long-term.

The Cowboys, like the Raiders had to, eventually have to clear out all the dead money like Miles Austin's $5.5 million on this year's cap. Staying competitive while clearing your books means letting players walk. The Broncos definitely could have had Franklin, Rahim, Potroast, and Julius Thomas back. Unfortunately, it would have meant pushing contracts down the road and forcing us to cut players eventually. It's just a smarter decision to let the players go now and replace them with rookies than risk having to collapse your entire roster down the road.

I think McFadden will do just fine behind that line, they'll draft a RB fairly high too. Deep RB draft class.

That money may go to signing Greg Hardy anyway.