For all the vanity project accusations, Jerry Jones doesn’t know what he intended his documentary America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys to prove. As the credits rolled, he concluded that it perhaps exposed his flawed self. There were tears, reveals, and egos as the storied franchise rose and fell, warranting his remarks. But ask the team’s long-time rival, and you’d know the real impact.

The Philadelphia Eagles went from being an afterthought in the 90s to two Super Bowl appearances in three seasons. And through it all, an unwritten Philly code was passed down from one generation of players to the next: thou shalt hate Jerry Jones.

On a recent episode of the New Heights podcast, Jason Kelce, a former Eagles veteran, who has heard ‘Dallas S–ks’ chants several times, offered an admission that must have felt like a betrayal to some in the city of Brotherly Love. “I got to say from this documentary in Dallas, as an Eagles fan, or as an Eagles player, and on this side of it, you’re taught to hate Jerry Jones,” Kelce shared with Deion Sanders, the man who played for the Cowboys from 1995 to 1999.

“I gotta admit […] between this documentary and then his deal on ‘Landman’ when he talks about buying the franchise and like his family and everything, I’m like, ‘You know what? I’m kind of turning into a Jerry guy. I kind of like what I’m being told’.”

The documentary has birthed more polarizing views than one could count. The frustration of a three-decade-long championship drought could hardly be erased over eight episodes. But they will all agree, he has been too good a storyteller to dismiss.

Jones bought the franchise in 1989 when the Cowboys were struggling. We know the story that followed: Three Super Bowl wins in the 90s and a franchise that’d grow to $13 billion. With the documentary, though, the GM, owner, and an almost coach, took his time to bring about the untold and the long-forgotten behind-the-scenes.

The documentary delves into the night he bought the team from Bum Bright and doesn’t shy away from addressing the infamous White House – the Cowboys’ party den. He doesn’t mince words in asking for the team’s success either. While Jason Kelce may have played 24 games against the Cowboys and spent even more time loathing the Arkansas oilman, that’s a mix of confidence and self-reflection he witnessed in the documentary; something he couldn’t help but applaud.

For what it’s worth, though, ‘Jerry Jones is a much better anything else than he is a GM’ has been true for a while. Running off Jimmy Johnson, trading away Micah Parsons, or refusing to hand over the GM reins to a football mind have landed him in the negative spotlight time and again. In fact, a 2022 poll placed him in the top 20 hated men in the NFL. But think about building a brand, and you’ll think Jerry Jones. The man even turned the Cheerleaders into a $50 million entity.

Vanity project or not, Jones remains the guy who gambled his family’s assets to buy a struggling NFL franchise and turned it into America’s team; soap opera as it may have come to be.