Jerry is doubling down on the shocking decision to part ways with Micah Parsons.
FRISCO, Texas — As Micah Parsons spoke following the Green Bay Packers’ win against the Washington Commanders Thursday, the fans had a message for Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones.
“Thank you, Jerry. Thank you, Jerry,” they chanted.
Speaking Friday at The Star, Jones acknowledged the risk involved in trading away the Pro Bowl pass rusher but expressed no regret.
“If anybody doesn’t think that this is rolling the dice, I don’t know what rolling the dice looks like,” Jones said. “You make decisions like this and the consequences usually when they have this type of critique or this type of impact, you’re not out here playing pinochle. You really aren’t if you’re taking risk. And we all are there, and if it weren’t risk then you wouldn’t have so many people probably disagreeing with my decision.”
When Jones acquired Charles Haley from the San Francisco 49ers in 1992, he said the Cowboys couldn’t spell Super Bowl without Haley. Does he worry he’s done the same for the Packers in sending them Parsons?
”I worried when we did Herschel Walker to Minnesota. Of course,” Jones said. “A great player, I’ve had some real success with great players. Deion Sanders and I would put Charles Haley in there too, OK. But we also know there was a lot of other supporting cast around Deion and a lot of supporting cast around Charles Haley, too. I weighed that [in the Parsons’ trade]. I did that for months around here, weighing that very good.”
The Cowboys acquired the Packers’ two first-round picks in 2026 and 2027 as well as defensive tackle Kenny Clark for Parsons.
“Remember you cannot have it all. You just cannot have it all,” Jones said. “There’s not room to have it all. And so looking at how this best suits us over these next three or four years, and this year as well, that’s where Kenny Clark is such a big deal. I wouldn’t talk to anybody that didn’t have a serious football player ready to go for us.”
Brian Schottenheimer says DaRon Bland is out for Week 2, likely won’t be on IR – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com
The injury to DaRon Bland appears to be short-term.
FRISCO, Texas – On Friday, Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer confirmed the team will be without CB DaRon Bland (foot) on Sunday against the New York Giants.
“I’m not going to put a timetable on it, I think he’ll get back as soon as he can, but we will be without him this week.” Schottenheimer said.
Bland injured his foot earlier in the week during practice and first popped up on the injury report Wednesday. This injury is on his right foot, not his left foot that he fractured in training camp last season which caused him to be sidelined until Week 12.
The good news for Dallas is at this point in time, the team doesn’t think Bland’s injury is serious enough to place him on injured reserve, where he’d have to miss four games.
“We don’t think that that’s what it’s going to require,” Schottenheimer said. “I’d say no decision is ever final, but we don’t think it’s going to be something that significant.”
So, what will the Cowboys do without Bland on the field?
“We’ve got some different packages that we’re going to use,” Schottenheimer said. “We’ll use the safety down there some, we can play a little more base defense, but also you’re going to see Reddy Stewart play a lot of football.”
Stewart is a second year corner out of Troy who spent last season with Matt Eberflus and the Bears before playing for the Vikings practice squad in the 2025 preseason. His familiarity and ball-hawking ability, highlighted by 12 interceptions in college at Troy, is what gives Schottenheimer and his staff trust in the young slot corner they acquired just over two weeks ago.
Dallas Cowboys in holding pattern with free agent pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney – Calvin Watkins, Dallas Morning News
The Cowboys continue to monitor Jadeveon Clowney after his recent visit.
FRISCO – The Cowboys are still in a holding pattern with free agent pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney.
“We are just communicating,” Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said Friday. “He would improve our pass rush.”
Clowney, 32, visited The Star on Wednesday and while the Cowboys have a roster spot available, nothing has occurred regarding a contract as the team prepares for a Week 2 contest against the Giants on Sunday.
“Yeah, good visit,” coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “Talked to him again yesterday, and this is one of those deals where it’s a business decision. There’s two sides that have to come together. I think that it was a great visit, and we’ll kind of see how it plays out. But it was great seeing him and hearing about what he’s doing when I talked to him yesterday.”
Mazi Smith likely inactive again in Week 2 with Cowboys coaches needing more ‘consistency’ – Calvin Watkins, Dallas Morning News
The former first-round pick remains in the doghouse.
FRISCO — The last time defensive tackle Mazi Smith missed a game was the 2020 season when he was a sophomore at Michigan.
Smith has played in every college and NFL game since then. Until now.
Smith, a 2023 first-round pick, was inactive last week for the first time in his pro career and isn’t expected to be active for Sunday’s home opener against the Giants.
“I’m just trying to do what’s best for the team and listen to my coaches and do exactly what they say, whether I’m playing or not,” Smith said after Friday’s practice.
Coach Brian Schottenheimer, backed up by defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, said Smith needs to play with more consistency.
The coaches say he flashes, but it’s not enough.
“In Mazi’s case, Mazi’s a good player,” Schottenheimer said. “The flashes are there. It’s just the consistency has to be there more often. Just because you’re inactive this week doesn’t mean you’re going to inactive this week. It just means you were inactive Week 1. They have a big role in trying to get that changed. At the end of the day, we do a great job I believe of trying to communicate to these guys on game day or the night before in this case, because of the noon start, of what the plan is. But things change in a hurry.”
Why Cowboys see RB Javonte Williams as a difference maker – Todd Archer, ESPN
Javonte Williams has made a great impression in Dallas.
FRISCO, Texas — On his way to becoming the valedictorian at Wallace-Rose High School in Teachey, North Carolina, Javonte Williams’ favorite subject was history.
“I just liked learning about stuff from the past,” said Williams, who carried a 4.6 grade point average.
When he signed with the Dallas Cowboys in March, Williams did not need much time to know the history of the franchise’s running backs. The moment he walked into the position room, he saw images of Hall of Famers Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, and Tony Dorsett on the wall.
He already knew about the franchise’s third all-time leading rusher, Ezekiel Elliott, who ran for a team rookie record 1,631 yards in 2016. Perhaps he even knew DeMarco Murray has the Cowboys’ single-season record with 1,845 yards in 2014.
“It’s been a lot of good backs that came through here,” Williams said, “so just try to keep that legacy, uphold that.”
The Cowboys aren’t asking Williams to be Smith, Dorsett, Elliott or Murray. That would not be fair to the 2021 second-rounder, who did not have a 1,000-yard season during his four seasons with the Denver Broncos.
But they believe Williams can be a difference maker in their backfield. In last week’s 24-20 season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, he became the first Cowboys running back with two touchdowns in his Dallas debut in a non-strike season since Herschel Walker in 1986.
The 5-foot-10, 220-pound Williams finished with a modest 54 yards on 15 carries, but two of those carries were 1-yard scores. He had a long of 11 yards, carrying the pile to the Eagles 1 to set up his second touchdown.
“Dude runs hard,” center Cooper Beebe said.
Said fullback Hunter Luepke, “He’s an electric runner. He’s a tough runner too. You saw a couple of those runs he was stopped maybe 2 yards and gets 6 more. You can’t wish for anything better than that. He’s a guy that runs hard, works hard. He’s a really intelligent back, just talking with him learning the offense as quick as he has.”
This Cowboy player is helping single moms. How the NFLPA rewarded him for it – Lawrence Dow, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Osa Odighizuwa received a special honor for his community efforts.
Cowboys’ defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa and the foundation he started to honor his mom and help single mothers are making a difference for families in the community.
Recently, he hosted a baby shower, which included pampering, a meal and gifts, for 20 single moms in the Dallas area — and he plans to host the same kind of event in November in his hometown of Portland, Ore.
For his efforts, Odighizuwa was given the NFLPA Community Award for the second week of the NFL season.
After Cowboys’ practice on Thursday, Odighizuwa talked about the award and giving back to the community.
“It’s honestly dope to get a little recognition for it, but just happy that it makes my foundation more visible, which is ultimately gonna help what we’re doing and the people that we’re trying to help,” Odighizuwa said.
The defensive tackle’s foundation, called Odighizuwa Foundation, was started with his brother, Owamagbe, to honor their mother Abieyuwa, who was a single mother. Odighizuwa said watching his mother’s struggles and strength inspired him to want to help others in the same situation.
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