Jerry Jones Fumes After Dallas Broadcaster Says No Team Would Hire Him as GM Without His Wealth

Back in January, Jerry Jones doubled down on why he’ll never give up his GM role, saying, “Hell no, I bought it for me,” and stressing that since he makes the financial calls, he’s the one running the Cowboys. He brushed off critics by pointing out how much Dallas has won in the past 15 years. Fast forward to now, Dale Hansen revealed the moment when he poked the same bear during his sit-down with Jones inside WFAA’s Victory Park studio in 2021, highlighting the maddest he’s ever seen him… And in classic Jerry fashion, it turned into one of the funniest football storylines out there.

It all started with one rather straightforward question Hansen pinned on Jerry. “Can you name a team in any sport that would hire you to be their general manager based on your record, unless of course you bring your chequebook with you?” And when you ask Jerry that question, you know you’re giving an open invitation to a big wave of chaos.

If you know Jerry (even the tiniest bit), you know he’d never answer with a ‘no’ to that question. But you probably also know that there really is no team that would take him without that bag. But Jerry, being Jerry, answered with a little, “Yes, there is.”

Well, it seems Jerry wasn’t ready for the obvious follow-up. When asked which team might actually let him run football operations, his answer dragged. Dale Hansen joked it felt like “15 minutes,” though in reality it was just 12 seconds of Jerry circling around with no clear response. For a man who usually thrives at the podium with quick, sharp answers, this was rare dead air.

Dale put it perfectly: “Now, it felt like I waited 15 minutes. I probably waited like 12 seconds, if that. But you know how dead air is, and I’m just staring at him. And he’s kind of blubbering around.” And really, how could Jerry answer it? Run through all 31 other franchises. Study their front offices. And not one of them would hand him the keys unless he shows up with that famous checkbook in hand.

And that’s exactly the point Dale Hansen was trying to prove. “Jerry, that’s my point. There’s not a single team in any sport that would hire you to be their general manager, not a one, and yet you insist upon being the general manager of one of the most iconic franchises in all sports. That’s my problem with you as the general manager. That’s why the Cowboys can’t get back to the Super Bowl,” he said to him.

And you just know Jerry wasn’t going to take that lightly. But instead of coming up with a (semi-decent) comeback, he threw a tantrum. “Jerry stands up, I then reach out to shake his hand to thank him for his time, and he just slaps my hand and storms out,” Hansen said. Picture Jerry slapping Hansen’s hand with a sour face, and you’d end up laughing your lungs out. But the main question is this: Is Hansen’s claim justified?

Does Jerry Jones deserve the criticism?

You don’t tell the owner of the richest franchise in the world that you’re the reason the team hasn’t come close to a Super Bowl. Well, at least not unless you’re absolutely convinced that’s the case. And when you take history into account, that really might be the case.

Jerry’s a great businessman. Arguably, one of the best in the world. Of course, he bought the franchise for $140 million back in ’89 and turned them into the richest franchise in all of sports. Upwards of $12 billion. And he was pretty good at it, for a while. Three Super Bowls in the 90’s. But when he started perceiving this franchise as a business rather than a sports team, that is where it all went downhill.

Put aside his business acumen for a minute, and see him from a General Manager perspective. You’ll start to see everything he’s done wrong. Whether it was releasing Jimmy Johnson, the ego-driven firing of Tom Landry, failure to sign Randy Moss, or the Jimmy Johnson saga, it was one bad decision after another. And if we dig into every bad decision he has ever made, you won’t be done reading till tomorrow.

It was never just about the football calls. It was how Jerry handled his stars along the way. The Micah Parsons standoff is a case in point—public shots at his conditioning, questioning his loyalty, even claiming Parsons’ agent told him to shove the contract “up his a–.” Over and over, Jerry painted his own cornerstone as the villain. That’s not how a stable franchise operates.

And it’s why every big-name contract in Dallas turns into a circus. Time after time, Jerry gets it wrong—on the field, at the table, and in the locker room. Which makes Hansen’s words hit a little too close to reality.