As Troy Aikman officially begins exchanging his football knowledge with the Miami Dolphins, prompting another Dallas Cowboys legend to wonder why Jerry Jones hasn’t made a similar move. Aikman spent his entire NFL career with the Cowboys and helped them win three Super Bowl titles. This offseason, the Dolphins tapped into that Hall of Fame mind by hiring him as a consultant. Now, Emmitt Smith believes that the Cowboys could also benefit from hiring him.

“Shoot, I even wish the Cowboys would do something like that with me,” Emmitt Smith said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News on April 7. “Nonetheless, I understand why Troy is doing what he’s doing. I’m glad that somebody reached out to someone, because there’s a lot of smart football players out here that come from a winning organization that knows what it’s like to build it.”

“And there’s a lot of Cowboys in the ‘90s that started with an organization that was 1-15, leaking $1 million a month, and helped build an organization into a $10 billion organization. There ain’t many players like that who could say that.”

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Smith’s confession dates back to the franchise’s turnaround in the 1990s. When Jerry Jones bought the team in 1989, it was losing $1 million per month after a 1-15 season. Though Troy Aikman went 0-11 as a rookie, he and Smith became the cornerstones who led the Cowboys back to championship contention, building the dynasty Smith feels is now being ignored.

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As the NFL’s all-time rushing leader with 18,355 yards, Smith’s perspective on winning is invaluable. Aikman’s is arguably even more relevant today; after retiring, he spent over two decades as a top NFL analyst for FOX and ESPN, building relationships and gaining detailed insights into how various teams operate—knowledge the Cowboys have chosen not to tap into.

Meanwhile, since 1996, Dallas has not reached an NFC Championship Game or won a Super Bowl. Last season only deepened the frustration as the Cowboys finished with a 7-9-1 record and missed the playoffs again. Despite the drought, Jerry Jones hasn’t turned to Emmitt Smith or Aikman for advice. So, after Miami brought Aikman aboard, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith criticized the Cowboys for overlooking one of their greatest assets.

“What the hell are you thinking?” Stephen A. Smith said this week on the NFL on ESPN. “You capitalize off of the assets that you have. This is one of your own. “You’re trying to tell me all of this time has passed, and it never occurred to you that ‘You know what, maybe I should employ one of them at the very least as a consultant answerable to me so I can steal knowledge from them?’ It’s dumb that they didn’t do that.”

Now, Jones has built a $10 billion empire in Dallas, but he has also been reluctant to spend on outside consultants. So, that could be why Aikman is sharing his expertise with another NFL team. 

In what role will Troy Aikman work with the Dolphins?

The Dolphins’ decision to hire Aikman stemmed from the value of his unique position as a broadcaster who speaks regularly with coaches and executives across the NFL. Miami believed that Aikman could offer valuable insight during their franchise rebuild, and they hired him as a consultant. The Dolphins then hired a new general manager and head coach and released their starting quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa. Aikman helped guide some of those decisions, and he plans to continue advising the Dolphins in an undefined consulting role.

“I think the Dolphins were wise in understanding my relationships around the league, and knowing that I have information that they don’t have, or can’t get,” Aikman said in an interview with the Dallas Cowboys podcast last month. “I think they were smart in taking advantage of that, whether it was through me or through somebody else.”

Miami hopes Aikman’s insights will help elevate its offense, which ranked 19th in the league during the 2025 season. But the NFL has often been cautious about broadcasters like Aikman maintaining close ties with any specific team. Similar concerns surfaced when FOX analyst Tom Brady took on the role of a minority owner for the Las Vegas Raiders. 

But since then, the NFL has reduced those restrictions on Brady’s situation. So, Aikman can also continue his broadcasting duties at ESPN while maintaining his advisory position with Miami.