PALM BEACH, Fla. – This week marks the beginning of the NFL's annual league meetings in Florida, where front office representatives and coaches will all meet to discuss new proposed league rules and other matters.
Cowboys COO and co-owner Stephen Jones is the co-chair of the league's competition committee, which has five playing rule proposals on the docket this year including making the playoff overtime rule where both teams get a possession the permanent overtime rule in the regular season, banning the tush-push and more.
Jones spoke to reporters on Sunday afternoon about his thoughts on some of the proposed changes as well as plenty of Cowboys related news, including a recap of the team's free agency so far, where both sides are at in the Micah Parsons extension negotiation and more. Here's what he had to say:
On if there's disappointment to not have an extension done with Micah Parsons yet:
"No, we've had visits with Micah, Jerry and I have, and feel good about that."
On how players approach their contract extension talks with the Cowboys:
"Some guys want to visit, some guys don't want to visit about their money, and we respect both ways. If players want to come in and talk to us, we've got an open-door policy whether it's Jerry or myself, and Micah likes to visit, so that's a good thing."
On if he thinks Parsons will still be at OTAs and minicamp if a deal isn't finished:
"I don't want to get into any details, it's not fair for anybody other than we've got a great working relationship with Micah and think the world of him, like I said we've had good visits with him and feel good about where we're headed."
On outside criticism for not getting contracts done early:
"We've done them early before and we've waited until the end to do them, a lot of it is just the negotiations itself. Some of them take longer than others, we put about zero credence into people saying we wait too long."
On Dak Prescott's health:
"Dak's doing great, he's coming along. He's very thrilled with where he is and I know the trainers are too, I feel like he's doing a hell of a job."
On if Prescott will be available for the start of the offseason program:
"He'll have some limitations yea, but you know Dak, he's a worker. We're thrilled with where he is."
On the Cowboys search for a backup quarterback and what they look for in one:
"Yes, still an option that we're looking at… We can do it via trade, what can do it via what's available out there… trade is one of them and certainly signing available guys are one of them."
"I think we look at the full package, you're probably not going to get all things just right or exactly what you want, but at the same time you want to get the very best guy that we think gives us the best chance to go out and compete with [Will] Grier and be good in that room with Dak and Grier and whoever else we add."
On if the Cowboys want to begin extension talks with DaRon Bland and Jake Ferguson:
"Sure, those are all really good football players that we want to keep around. There are scenarios where we sit down and have a visit with them. You have to have two sides to get a negotiation done, and we'll certainly look at that with those guys."
On Dallas' additions thus far in free agency and two trades:
"That was our plan, to take care of some areas where we felt like we needed to shore up in terms of places where we had holes, and as we've historically done, didn't do it as much last year as we have in the past, but it fits right in line with what we were trying to get accomplished. We're not done yet, we've still got some things that are outstanding out there that we're trying to get done. Of course, we missed a few guys along the way too in terms of just missing out on the number just being a lot higher than we thought it would be on a couple guys, but overall real pleased with what we were able to do with our roster and help our team."
"We had some areas where we didn't have a lot of bodies, defensive tackle was one of them. To be able to get Osa back and then get some other defensive lineman there that we added with Solomon Thomas, it was good to beef up that particular area. Same held true for linebacker, that was an important get for us with Overshown being a big question mark to start the season. That front seven was certainly a place where we were looking. The running back room as well didn't have a lot of guys there in the room."
On the Cowboys' process of acquiring new players over this offseason:
"In general, it's the guys that we liked coming out and then we like what we've seen on tape. Some of them haven't put as much on tape and that's why we're able to get them, but obviously we had high grades that we traded for and guys we signed before… One of the things that's been unique this particular offseason having a predominantly new staff is the coaches had a lot of input too. They've had some of these guys at different points, they know the players well and feel like they can help them whether its coach Eberflus and his staff and the scheme he's running or what we're doing now with Schotty, he obviously was deferential to Mike but he has his thoughts too on what type of guys he wants to have fit what he's trying to get accomplished on the offensive side, and then the same thing holds true with Sorensen, having had players and been involved with them before and what he wants and the type of football make up he wants with special teams players."
On newly acquired cornerback Kaiir Elam:
"He's got great length, I just think he's got the upside. He's got good speed, as I said good length, he's a guy we thought a lot, he played at a high level at Florida, sometimes guys just need a new scenery. We've had success with guys like that bringing Hooker in and having success with that, so feel good that he'll come in here and compete."
On how the team's free agency approach compliments their draft plan:
"Part of what we do in free agency is make it to where hopefully there's a great player sitting there with each pick that we really like, and don't want to be nailed down to it's got be a defensive lineman or it's got to be a receiver, it's got to be a linebacker, or a running back. Let's see what comes to us. We like the two running backs we signed in free agency and we'll see if there's a young back there as well that can help us in the draft, we're certainly wide open to that, and just see what comes our way."
On if he feels the coaching staff is caught up in the draft evaluation process:
"I don't think they're caught up, this is the grind time. Obviously they went on the road last week and got to see a lot of good football players with their trips they made between going to A&M and Ohio State and Ole Miss to name a few, they're getting their hands around it but we still got a month before the draft, so we got a lot of work to do."
On how much of an advantage Dallas Day is:
"We're fortunate in that we have a lot of really good football players in North Texas that qualify for us. I think that's an advantage when you're in a hot bed like we are in Texas, especially North Texas, that you've got some great football players. The best running back in the draft is from right down the street." Presumably speaking about Ashton Jeanty, who played at Frisco Lone Star high school.
On new leadership stepping up with losses of Zack Martin, Jourdan Lewis, etc.:
"I just think you expect people to step up. Part of what you do when you're signing free agents is you look at that part of it. Solomon Thomas, if you ask around, a lot of people tell you he's one of the finer men in our league in terms of what he brings from a leadership standpoint, certainly we look at that as well."
On the tush-push:
"We're looking for consistency as a committee, we don't allow pushing. We don't allow the linebackers to push the defensive linemen on extra points, a little bit just trying to be consistent. These quarterbacks, I'm sure they would be wildly successful whether you're pushed or not."
