NFL legend hits out at Jerry Jones for Cowboys' failures after Trey Lance deal
Three-time Super Bowl champion Mark Schlereth has fired a brutal dig at Jerry Jones, blaming the Dallas Cowboys owner for the team's failures over the past two decades in the wake of the surprise trade for Trey Lance.
The Cowboys parted ways with a 2024 fourth-round pick to acquire the quarterback from the San Francisco 49ers last month. Lance, who was taken third overall in 2021, is on course to become one of the biggest draft busts in recent years after the Niners paid a huge price to trade up to select the North Dakota State prospect.
But he made just four starts across two injury-hit seasons at Levi's Stadium and he slipped to third place on the depth chart this summer behind Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold, prompting the 49ers to cut ties with a player who cost them three first-round picks little more than two years ago.
The market to take Lance off their hands appeared limited, but the Cowboys stumped up a fourth-round pick on August 26 to take the 23-year-old to Texas, where he will sit behind Dak Prescott as he looks to make the most of a fresh start in the NFL.
But Jones has since revealed he made the move without consulting head coach Mike McCarthy, and Schlereth – who won Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos and Washington Redskins – believes it is yet another example of the Cowboys owner undermining his team
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"This is why the Cowboys will never win s*** because Jerry Jones can’t help himself," Schlereth said on the Stinkin’ Truth podcast. "I said it, it’s there.
"You think about Jerry Jones, you’re going to go out there, and you’re going to make a trade for a guy without talking to anybody else in your organisation, Steven Jones, your head coach, Mike McCarthy, your quarterback."
Trey Lance was a huge bust for the San Francisco 49ers. (Loren Elliott/Getty Images)"I really don’t care if you involve your quarterback in it or not. But to not involve your head coach. What does it say about your head coach? ‘Hey guys, I know he’s your head coach, but he truly has no authority within this organisation. So, you don’t have to listen to him. You don’t have to pay attention because the buck stops with me. Your coach doesn’t have the authority to fire you. I do.’ You cannot win in the National Football League that way."
The Cowboys last won the Super Bowl in 1996. In recent years, they have been perennial playoff contenders but they have failed to go all the way and lift the Lombardi Trophy.
Jones, 80, is one of the most heavily involved owners across the league, and he told reporters this week he completed the deal for Lance himself, without telling McCarthy or Prescott of his place in advance. "We didn’t tell anybody until we did it, period,” he said.
“There was nobody that knew about it. We told [McCarthy] after we had done it, but my point is we just wanted to get it done. Again, we didn’t waste any time. My point is, we didn’t want them to hang up.”
The Cowboys begin their season on September 10 against the New York Giants on the road at MetLife Stadium, and Schlereth expects them to have a solid season, but he believes they will fall short in the biggest games.
"They may win a bunch of regular-season games because they’re talented," he added. "They’ll get in the playoffs, and they’ll s*** in their helmets like they do every year. That’s the Cowboys."
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