Those who’ve been there with the Cowboys long enough have seen the highs and the lows. They’ve seen Jerry Jones as the guy who built champions, made splashy trades, and turned the Cowboys into a worldwide brand. Now they’re seeing him as the guy who’s making the most valuable brand in the world bleed. They are calling him out, and rightly so. But now? It’s not just fans venting or the media stirring the pot. It’s coming from someone who’s actually been there, suited up, stood in that locker room, and felt the weight of that star.

You know how some die-hard fans draft up paragraphs when they’re not satisfied with something? Well, Cowboys legend Dez Bryant wrote something a lot bigger. Bryant summarized everything wrong with how Jerry Jones is running things. And let’s just say the Cowboys fans are with him on this. “This isn’t a drama show…this should be about football and only football,” he said. Or at least, how he started.

It does feel like a soap opera, doesn’t it? Take CeeDee Lamb or Micah Parsons‘s contract negotiations. You could film a Netflix documentary about it, and it’d get you more streams than most originals. “If the organization messes with what you love, it can fuck with you mentally,” he added. And you know what? Fair enough. There’s a weird tension in Dallas that always seems to build up when players are in for an extension.

For example, the Ezekiel Elliott contract saga (with Jerry publicly dismissing Elliott as “Zeke-who?”). Or Jerry taking a public jab at Micah Parsons by saying: Guys like Dak Prescott ‘wanted to be here.’ What’s the endgame here? These public jabs only fracture the player’s confidence and the locker room culture. Nothing more, nothing less.

And Bryant cares. He was so excited about George Pickens that he ended up texting Stephen Jones to share it. But he really couldn’t help himself after seeing how things are behind the scenes. He felt compelled to share this warning. And Jerry might not hear what the fans have to say. But when a legend comes at you? You have nowhere to hide. And all this criticism? It’s all embodied in Parsons’s contract saga.

Micah Parsons’ contract saga underscores Jerry Jones’ criticism

You’d think his team, no matter what it took, has already penned the best defensive end (who still hasn’t reached his ceiling yet) in the league down. Right? Wrong. It hasn’t progressed at all. And according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, it’s not just stalled; it’s indeed going backwards. Talks have reportedly cooled off to the point where the two sides “aren’t even really speaking” right now.

Parsons is still under contract through 2025 thanks to his fully guaranteed fifth-year option, worth around $24 million. But make no mistake, he’s gunning for a record-breaker. Word is he’s aiming for a deal north of $200 million, which would make him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. The problem? The Cowboys haven’t exactly rolled out the red carpet.

Instead, Jerry Jones stirred things up with some head-scratching comments. He questioned Parsons’s durability, mistakenly claiming Micah missed six games last year (it was actually four), and brushed off mounting fan pressure by saying Parsons “needs to want to be paid” too. It’s the kind of response that feels less like negotiation and more like poking the bear.

Now, it’s easy to blame both sides on this. Neither of them is willing to settle. But take some context into account. Just a couple of weeks ago, Micah saw the Steelers giving a $123 million extension to T.J. Watt. They made him the highest-paid non-QB in NFL history, and the man is 30 years old. How can Micah (not even in his prime) watch that and settle for less?

It all comes down to Jerry Jones and his priorities. If he does see Dallas as a football team instead of a business, he’d be backing up the Brinks truck for him. Without a second thought. But that’s clearly not the case.