Ever since NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suggested that he would rather scrap one of the three preseason games for a regular-season game, murmurs around the NFL shifting to an 18-game season have been rife. The speculation has been so intense that Dallas Cowboys COO Stephen Jones, in a recent podcast appearance, admitted that it is ‘probably inevitable’ at this point and argued why it makes sense.
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A key reason why the NFL is just 17 games or six months long is because of the highly physical nature of the sport. Despite its short duration, the NFL is the richest league in the world. So Jones argued on the “Scoop City” podcast that an extra game would mean more revenue compensation for the players, which would swing their agreement in favor.
“At the end of the day, the players, you know, enjoy the compensation that’s coming their way, and they get, for the most part, half of every revenue dollar that comes through the door… We all know when we go to 18 games, the revenue is going to jump and certainly should only help in terms of the money available to pay players.”
But what about the safety of the players? The popular consensus against an 18-game season is the extra workload on a player’s body. With Stephen hinting at the likelihood of the gigantic change, an increase in the active roster seems to be the best bet to protect the players. While the Cowboys’ COO didn’t outright deny the proposal, he did agree that more emphasis will be laid on workload management and availability.
“There’s going to be some strategy in terms of taking care of your players, in terms of, you know, how you manage through your full 53-man roster, how many guys can be up and available,” the COO continued.
Another popular solution and effective way to tackle this dilemma is an additional bye week. Jones again didn’t confirm much, however, according to his knowledge, the relevant stakeholders are definitely looking in that direction.
“Certainly from a competition committee level, a league level, we’re looking at all those things in terms of the number of bye-weeks that would be involved in something like that.”
Jerry Jones and the Cowboys were one of the earliest contingents to bat for an 18-game season. Hence, Stephen’s stance and reflections on this matter hold a lot of weight and might give fans a potential peek at what’s coming. But at the end of the day, Stephen is the Cowboys’ EVP, and no conversation with him can be held without involving Dak Prescott and their playoff record.
Stephen Jones Admits Dak Prescott Gets Worst of Cowboys Criticism
The Cowboys, over the years, have been inches away from the Super Bowl title. Every year, expectations are rife among fans and NFL enthusiasts for the club to win it all. But Jerry Jones’ team, which has arguably one of the strongest rosters, finds ways to crash out in the playoffs.
The team, its management, and its players have naturally come under scrutiny; however, the Cowboys COO revealed that it’s always Dak Prescott who gets the worst of the criticism.
However, Stephen doesn’t agree with the criticism of Dak one bit. Stephen argued that despite the playoff failure, the Cowboys have won 36 regular season games in the last three years, which is truly an amazing achievement.
“I think at the end of the day, a lot of people want to somewhat be critical of the organization of Jerry and myself, of Coach McCarthy, of our team. And of course Dak being the quarterback gets the brunt of it… But at the same time, you gotta certainly recognize that we’ve won 36 regular season games in three years.”
But that doesn’t mean that fans or the media cannot criticize. Stephen agreed that the criticism about playoff failure is completely fair and assured fans that the team will take the right steps to rectify this season.
That being said, the Cowboys will once again be the team to watch out for this season. As their COO noted, it’s a commendable achievement to be consistent in the regular season. But what the history books will record is the Super Bowl. Winning is all that matters in the cutthroat NFL world. So Dallas fans will once again be hopeful to see their Cowboys walk toward the Lombardi Trophy after a three-decade-long drought.
