FRISCO - A couple of years ago Jerry Jones made his intentions clear about one day selling the Dallas Cowboys.
"I'll say it definitively. I will never do it," the owner told our Mike Fisher in a 2022 interview. "I will never sell the Cowboys. Ever."
Jones has hold firm on that promise, despite his $140 investment in the team in 1989 ballooning to a recent valuation of more than $10 billion.
Along those same lines, a defiant Jones reiterated Thursday that he likewise has no plans to loosen the reins on his control of America's Team. The 82-year-old finds himself under siege, with his questionable offseason moves leading to the team's 3-7 record.
Fans are amping up their cliche calls for "Jerry the owner to fire Jerry the general manager." And a TV talking head earlier this week questioned Jones' mental fitness to continuing leading the Cowboys, comparing him to the visible diminish that led to President Joe Biden dropping out of his bid for re-election last Summer.
"I'm getting very very worried about Jerry Jones," ESPN's Stephen A. Smith said. "I find myself thinking about Joe Biden before he backed out of running for re-election. I think Jerry's one month older than President Joe Biden for crying out loud ... where the hell are his family members?"
Because Jones is adamant about not selling and keeping the Cowboys as a "family business", it is presumed that he at some point will merely cede control to sons Stephen and Jerry Jr. and daughter Charlotte. All three are presently deeply involved in the operation of the franchise.
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During a radio interview on 105.3 The Fan Jones responded to criticisms that he is no longer "fit for office."
"I'm having huge support and huge input and help from everyone he mentioned in that call about stepping in," he said about Smith's claims. "But I would say if he had asked me that question relative to the issue or the criticism that Joe Biden had about his ability to function, I wish he would follow me around every day. And he would see that I'm the busiest that I've ever been in my life. I'm not concerned about the ability to do the work, to do the job. I just made a quick 14-hour trip back and forth to New York yesterday for a league meeting."
Jones then took time for a good-natured - we think? - poke at Smith, who incessantly claims to take delight in the Cowboys' failure but has also been treated as a dignitary by the owner and even invited to take a ride in his personal helicopter.
"Stephen A. is a fraud in a positive sense ... and I'm smiling. We are friends," Jones said. "I am not concerned about the ability to do the work, do the job. But I appreciate his concern."
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