Things are not going well for Jerry Jones lately, and the Cowboys owner is probably not going to be thrilled in the coming days and weeks. Jones, who has attempted to derail Roger Goodell getting a new contract and who has threatened to sue the NFL over Goodell's new deal, wanted the NFL owners to put any extension for the commissioner up for a vote.
According to a letter obtained by the Wall Street Journal, the competition committee has denied Jones' request and will proceed with working out a new deal for Goodell.
Per the Journal, the committee reminded Jones that his public tet-a-tet "reflects conduct unbefitting an owner and is damaging to the League."
Additionally, the letter, which was primarily signed by Falcons owner Arthur Blank, who is the head of the competition committee, accuses Jones of trying "to satisfy your personal agenda" instead of putting the league's best interests at heart.
In other words, the other owners believe Jones is mad about Goodell suspending Cowboys star running back Ezekiel Elliott for six games under the league's personal conduct policy -- Jones reportedly believes Goodell told him no discipline would be coming -- and in an act of revenge is attempting to derail Goodell's contract extension, which was previously thought to be essentially a done deal.
On Nov. 15, Elliott finally agreed to accept his full suspension and has missed the last two games. The Cowboys have been summarily manhandled in those two games by the Falcons and Eagles by a combined score of 64-16. You couldn't see real, actual steam coming out of Jones' ears during the NBC shots to his owner's box against the Eagles on Sunday night, but you might as well have.
The problem for Jones is that his public approach to Goodell's deal has created a ton of tension between owners and with the commissioner. Some owners have discussed the nuclear option of trying to take the Cowboys away from Jerry. Say that out loud.
Jones was part of the compensation committee as an ad hoc member, added by Blank, but relieved of his duties when he began meddling too much in the Goodell deal. Plus, Jones was part of a group that signed off on the commissioner's new extension several months ago, before the Elliott suspension was announced.
It is very possible that this latest step on further pushes Jones towards taking aggressive action back towards the league; with each Cowboys loss, it's easy to see him getting angrier. And with each public rebuttal of his desires, it's not hard to imagine Jones deciding to go full Texas on everyone else.
This has a very good chance of getting messier before it gets resolved.
