FRISCO, Texas – Jerry Jones promised he'd be succinct, but these aren't the types of topics that can be discussed briefly.
The Cowboys' owner/general manager conducted his final weekly appearance with 105.3 FM The Fan on Tuesday morning, where he went through a postmortem of the Cowboys' 2018 season.
Jones spoke at length about a number of topics during the interview, but few are likely to garner more attention than his comments about his coaching staff. And while Jones strongly backed the resume of head coach Jason Garrett, he was less forthcoming about the rest of his staff.
"I like the direction we're going. I don't have any comments this morning about extensions or if we're going to do any replacing because my options are open," Jones said. "Anybody tells you there's going to be a change, they don't know -- because I don't know this morning and I'm the last say."
To be clear, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Jones had a lot of praise for his coaching staff's work in 2018, citing the way the Cowboys were able to rally to the playoffs after a slow start to the season.
But Jones has often used the phrase "tolerance for ambiguity." And in an industry where things can change in a split-second, he also didn't want to set anything in stone.
"Why would I put some kind of statement out that says this is what we're going to do when we might have an opportunity here next week? This is the time when these things are thought about," he said. "This is the time when they are chewed on. This is when you may see an opportunity next week that you didn't know existed this week in the area of personnel or in the area of coaching. And I'm not trying to be cute here. I'm just saying that one of the advantages that we have is that we can operate with that kind of flexibility."
It's hard not to think about Amari Cooper when reading that quote. The Cowboys hadn't shown much desire for blockbuster trades in recent years, but they saw an opportunity in Cooper's availability and jumped on it. The resulting trade helped turn the Cowboys' season around.
So again, it feels too soon to say what this could mean for the Cowboys going forward. Jones will have to figure out what to do with several coaches who are out of contract – and who knows what decisions could lie beyond that?
Jones made one thing perfectly clear, though: that's for him to decide.
"There is no record, not just for the record," he said. "I reserve the right to change my mind when I hang this phone call up."
