SEATTLE — Prior to Saturday night's exhibition against the Seahawks in Seattle, Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones along with executive vice president Stephen Jones caught up with the media to discuss happenings with the current 89-man roster.
From the spotlight on Brandon Aubrey to a difficult 53-cut upcoming for the front office and everything in between, here were the highlights from access with the Joneses.
Confidence in Brandon Aubrey
Kicker Brandon Aubrey has found a little bit more consistency with every day that passes during training camp and the preseason, and Saturday night was no different as he went 2-for-2 on his PAT attempts.
Stephen and Jerry Jones both are encouraged from Aubrey as they feel like a young rookie could be the answer in 2023.
"We've seen veteran kickers throughout the years come in here and they don't do any good," Stephen Jones said. "We've seen a whole lot of young kickers do really well. I've got a lot of confidence in our coaching staff and a lot of confidence in [special teams coordinator John Fassel]."
"I feel like we're getting a good feel for [Brandon Aubrey], what his nervous system is like, how he'll kick. We still have three weeks before the season starts so a lot of work to be done."
Preference to backups vs. starters in preseason
Head coach Mike McCarthy has alluded to the media that it's unlikely that Dak Prescott and most of the veterans will suit up during the preseason, which has opened up opportunities for the second-team to get reps against opposing first-teams.
Through the first two preseason games, the defense has allowed just three points to first-team units on four drives.
"I know it happened last week and I thought our guys did a nice job," Stephen Jones said. "It's a really good taste of what it's gonna be like, because all of those guys are gonna go against starters at some point. It's great for our young guys to get some of that."
Difficult 53-cut coming soon
When asked if this season's 53-cut is one of the more difficult in recent memory, both Stephen and Jerry Jones spoke about the difficulty in this specific preseason.
"It feels that way right now," Stephen Jones said. "Maybe as hard as we've ever had, so it'll be interesting to see how this works out. We still got three weeks of preseason football left to play."
Jerry Jones' concern stems from not wanting to cut a player that will eventually shine on the NFL level.
"The tough cuts to me are if you might be looking at somebody a year or three years from now you shouldn't have cut," he said. "Cutting somebody you shouldn't have cut. You gotta watch it."
Despite the mass amount of talent on the roster currently, Stephen Jones isn't ruling out bringing outside help to the roster.
"We're not done yet," he said. "We acquire football players throughout the year. These guys that are on this roster are not only competing against one another, but they're competing against other players around the league."
