NFL Agents Dish on Jerry Jones’ Cowboys Contract Talks, ‘Takes More Than a Handshake’

Agents around the NFL called out the negotiating tactics of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his habit of personally discussing contract terms with players.

“We have — not exaggerating — probably 30 categories we use to evaluate a deal, whether it’s new money, old money, guarantee structure, whatever,” one agent told ESPN’s Todd Archer and Dan Graziano. “That’s too many moving parts, and it takes more than a handshake.”

Another agent argued for the value in having an intermediary between the player and a team’s ownership and front office.

“You have to play the game,” they said. “They want to feel the love, the connectivity with the player. But you’ve got to be willing to give pushback. You’ve got to be willing to say, ‘I can’t get into the numbers, that’s for my agent to talk about.'”

One general manager concurred with that idea.

“I just think most owners don’t want to get involved on that level,” they told ESPN. “Lots of owners like having relationships with the players, but I think if you asked them, they’d tell you they don’t want to get directly involved in the negotiations because it could affect those relationships in a negative way. This is just the way Jerry likes to run his team.”

This comes after the Cowboys traded star edge-rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers after they were unable to make a breakthrough on a long-term extension.

Jones maintained he had had a handshake agreement with the four-time Pro Bowler, only for Parsons’ agent, David Mulugheta, to get involved and prolong the process.

An agent pointed to that saga along with the protracted negotiations leading up to Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb’s extensions as examples of why Jones’ strategy isn’t working.

“You knew going into Year 4, you were getting a deal [if they wanted to keep you],” they told Archer and Graziano. “I used to think Jerry liked all of the attention and people talking about the Cowboys, but in the end all [the waiting] has done is cost them more money and pissed people off.”

One agent posited there is a benefit from having Jones be explicit in what he’s willing to offer before contract discussions get serious.

“I think most [agents] are used to it, but I’m fine with it,” they said. “Because you can use what [the player and Joneses] have said and say, ‘This is what they told him, why are we not getting this done?'”

Jones wound up arguably paying more to retain Prescott and Lamb than he would’ve by hammering out a deal earlier. Things also reached a stage with Parsons where Dallas deemed a trade to be the best course of action.

It’s getting harder and harder to argue Dallas’ general approach is the most efficient. Considering Jones will turn 83 in October, he’s probably not going to change his ways, though.

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