Cowboys’ Jerry Jones hopes Terrell Owens can keep the popcorn popping next three seasons
By Jim Reeves
Clatchy Newspapers
IRVING, Texas - The only thing piled higher than the vast silver tub of popcorn at the Texas Stadium Club on Tuesday were the egos sitting behind it at the dais.
Jerry Jones, Terrell Owens, Drew Rosenhaus.
All in the same room.
All at the same table.
It’s a wonder there was room for Stephen Jones there at all.
We had all gathered for the pronouncement that the Dallas Cowboys, for all intents and purposes, will live or die with T.O. for the foreseeable future after Jerry, in obvious desperation, signed his star wide receiver to a new three-year contract that will essentially keep him wed to the Cowboys for the rest of his career.
The money is absurd for a 34-year-old (35 in December) receiver who will only get slower and more susceptible to injury the deeper he gets into the deal: three years, $34 million ("$1 million for every year I’ve lived," Owens noted) and $13 million guaranteed.
Jones knows as well as anyone that you don’t pay age in the NFL, and he wouldn’t be doing it if he had a choice.
But he doesn’t, on a variety of levels.
His receiving corps is the most obvious weak link on a team he hopes and prays might actually win a playoff game someday in the near future.
Perhaps, even more importantly, Jerry has a new stadium under construction with high-dollar seats to fill and they haven’t exactly been moving as well as he’d hoped they would. He needs a winning team next year for financial as well as emotional reasons.
This is a high-stakes gamble that Owens will last long enough to help Jerry not just win on the field, but off it as well.
The odds may be stacked against him.
There have been a few successful "senior citizen" wideouts in the league over the years, but generally they’ve been the ones with great hands who run precise routes.
Owens has hands like cymbals and his routes leave much to be desired.
What he has been able to do throughout his career is out-athletic smaller defensive backs, using his speed, his size and his strength to overpower them. As he ages, that approach will become more and more difficult.
All that said, Jones had little choice here. Considering Terry Glenn’s ongoing knee problems and the fact that he has so far refused to sign a $500,000 buyout of his $1.7 million contract so that he can get on the practice field, along with the fact that the Cowboys did not draft a wide receiver, Owens may be all that stands between Jerry and total disaster.
"He’s exceptionally healthy and exceptionally fit for his age right now," Jerry gushed after he’d dried his chin from the mandatory lick-fest with T.O. and Rosenhaus. "I don’t think it’s a risk at all to think that you could get the ensuing years.
"Now do I know how many? No. But I certainly know where he is today."
Besides, Jerry took a look at his hole card - his other wide receivers and other options around the NFL - and blanched.
"Here’s the main thing: If we started right now, trying to go out and find somebody as accomplished as Terrell Owens, that’s a big maybe as far as getting him," Jones said. "More important than anything, if we started right now, trying to develop one, it could take several years.
"We may have a young one on our roster, or we may have an up-and-coming Terry Glenn, but we know what we’ve got in Terrell."
What they’ve had in Owens has made all the controversy when he first arrived look silly. He led the NFL with 13 touchdown catches in 2006 and followed that up with 15 more last season. Nobody’s had more the last two years.
In slobbering all over T.O. on Tuesday, Jones all but decorated him with an Eagle Scout badge, noting that he’s become a coach’s dream and a leader in the locker room.
Somewhere, Bill Parcells is throwing up.
Nevertheless, let’s give "The Player" some credit here. He hasn’t been anywhere near the problem some of us predicted he would be and he has been a highly productive player on the field. He’s been a good fit in the locker room.
With that exception of that one strange incident with the overdose of pain pills, what’s the big deal?
Of course, all that might have changed if he’d been left dangling halfway through this season without a new contract, but that’s more of Jerry’s genius at work. He didn’t wait for what is essentially his only reliable wide receiver to become disgruntled and start whining.
"The timing was in the best interests of the Cowboys," said Jones, who initiated contract talks with Rosenhaus. "The structure is important because it will help us this year and next year.
"You ask yourself, ‘Do you really want to line up and play here over the next 24 to 36 months while you’re bringing along somebody that’s on the come for the future, or do you want a veteran Pro Bowl player who’s made big plays, won big games who can be a leader on the field?’ "
Jones’ decision was to do what he had to do: Get Owens signed and keep his fingers crossed.
As for the popcorn, Jones gestured at the monstrous mound and told Owens, "There’s your signing bonus."
There may well have been 12 million popcorn kernels there, too.
Confession: I ate some, but it wasn’t all that good.
Tasted a little too much like blue Kool-Aid.
Clatchy Newspapers
IRVING, Texas - The only thing piled higher than the vast silver tub of popcorn at the Texas Stadium Club on Tuesday were the egos sitting behind it at the dais.
Jerry Jones, Terrell Owens, Drew Rosenhaus.
All in the same room.
All at the same table.
It’s a wonder there was room for Stephen Jones there at all.
We had all gathered for the pronouncement that the Dallas Cowboys, for all intents and purposes, will live or die with T.O. for the foreseeable future after Jerry, in obvious desperation, signed his star wide receiver to a new three-year contract that will essentially keep him wed to the Cowboys for the rest of his career.
The money is absurd for a 34-year-old (35 in December) receiver who will only get slower and more susceptible to injury the deeper he gets into the deal: three years, $34 million ("$1 million for every year I’ve lived," Owens noted) and $13 million guaranteed.
Jones knows as well as anyone that you don’t pay age in the NFL, and he wouldn’t be doing it if he had a choice.
But he doesn’t, on a variety of levels.
His receiving corps is the most obvious weak link on a team he hopes and prays might actually win a playoff game someday in the near future.
Perhaps, even more importantly, Jerry has a new stadium under construction with high-dollar seats to fill and they haven’t exactly been moving as well as he’d hoped they would. He needs a winning team next year for financial as well as emotional reasons.
This is a high-stakes gamble that Owens will last long enough to help Jerry not just win on the field, but off it as well.
The odds may be stacked against him.
There have been a few successful "senior citizen" wideouts in the league over the years, but generally they’ve been the ones with great hands who run precise routes.
Owens has hands like cymbals and his routes leave much to be desired.
What he has been able to do throughout his career is out-athletic smaller defensive backs, using his speed, his size and his strength to overpower them. As he ages, that approach will become more and more difficult.
All that said, Jones had little choice here. Considering Terry Glenn’s ongoing knee problems and the fact that he has so far refused to sign a $500,000 buyout of his $1.7 million contract so that he can get on the practice field, along with the fact that the Cowboys did not draft a wide receiver, Owens may be all that stands between Jerry and total disaster.
"He’s exceptionally healthy and exceptionally fit for his age right now," Jerry gushed after he’d dried his chin from the mandatory lick-fest with T.O. and Rosenhaus. "I don’t think it’s a risk at all to think that you could get the ensuing years.
"Now do I know how many? No. But I certainly know where he is today."
Besides, Jerry took a look at his hole card - his other wide receivers and other options around the NFL - and blanched.
"Here’s the main thing: If we started right now, trying to go out and find somebody as accomplished as Terrell Owens, that’s a big maybe as far as getting him," Jones said. "More important than anything, if we started right now, trying to develop one, it could take several years.
"We may have a young one on our roster, or we may have an up-and-coming Terry Glenn, but we know what we’ve got in Terrell."
What they’ve had in Owens has made all the controversy when he first arrived look silly. He led the NFL with 13 touchdown catches in 2006 and followed that up with 15 more last season. Nobody’s had more the last two years.
In slobbering all over T.O. on Tuesday, Jones all but decorated him with an Eagle Scout badge, noting that he’s become a coach’s dream and a leader in the locker room.
Somewhere, Bill Parcells is throwing up.
Nevertheless, let’s give "The Player" some credit here. He hasn’t been anywhere near the problem some of us predicted he would be and he has been a highly productive player on the field. He’s been a good fit in the locker room.
With that exception of that one strange incident with the overdose of pain pills, what’s the big deal?
Of course, all that might have changed if he’d been left dangling halfway through this season without a new contract, but that’s more of Jerry’s genius at work. He didn’t wait for what is essentially his only reliable wide receiver to become disgruntled and start whining.
"The timing was in the best interests of the Cowboys," said Jones, who initiated contract talks with Rosenhaus. "The structure is important because it will help us this year and next year.
"You ask yourself, ‘Do you really want to line up and play here over the next 24 to 36 months while you’re bringing along somebody that’s on the come for the future, or do you want a veteran Pro Bowl player who’s made big plays, won big games who can be a leader on the field?’ "
Jones’ decision was to do what he had to do: Get Owens signed and keep his fingers crossed.
As for the popcorn, Jones gestured at the monstrous mound and told Owens, "There’s your signing bonus."
There may well have been 12 million popcorn kernels there, too.
Confession: I ate some, but it wasn’t all that good.
Tasted a little too much like blue Kool-Aid.
posted by The Gryphon at 12:13 PM
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