A few hours after his spat with local radio hosts dominated the NFL news cycle, Jerry Jones took some time to explain some of his frustrations.
Speaking with The Athletic’s Dianna Russini during Tuesday’s NFL meetings in Atlanta, the Cowboys owner said he didn’t appreciate being grilled by people he’s “paying.” Earlier in the day, Jones became defensive when asked about the team’s roster and quiet offseason on his weekly radio spot with “Shan & RJ” on 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM).
“I don’t know that I would go as far as (calling) the volume connotation as yelling. OK? But the facts are that if I’m going to be grilled by the tribunal, I don’t need it to be by the guys I’m paying,” Jones told Russini. “I can take it from fans and take it from other people. I take a lot of pride in how fair and how much I try to work with the media, we’re brothers and sisters. But I was a little frustrated there today.”
While being questioned over his team’s lack of offseason moves, Jones framed his argument around decisions he has made in the past. That continued in his afternoon response.
“We got in there as of accounting for decisions made in the offseason. OK?” Jones said. “They might as well gone back to decisions made in 2010. My point is, and that’s from my perspective, there’s no question, I’m sure, that they would have liked to have grilled me like the fans are thinking, what are you going to do about that? I get it. I get all of that. And really will go along with it.”
Before once again reiterating his belief in the team’s current personnel setup, Jones alluded to an idea that the “wrong ones” had done the questioning. According to the Cowboys owner and general manager, things might have gone differently if he were speaking to a different crew.
“Now, if those had been real fans sitting there or if there had been people that knew what they were talking about, football people, I might have had a different answer,” Jones said.
Look back at Jones’ Tuesday morning exchange with 105.3 The Fan hosts here.
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