Cowboys' Jerry Jones: 'I'm Real Hesitant to Bet It All for a Year' of Success

There was a time when Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had a reputation for going for the big swings in an effort to build a contender. In recent years, however, the organization has prioritized patiently building through the draft rather than making the sort of splashy moves that capture headlines but are more prone to backfiring.

And while Jones told reporters Wednesday he wasn't afraid to take a risk, he added that he was "hesitant to bet it all for a year."

The last two Super Bowl participants from the NFC, the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles, each took risks en route to the Super Bowl, though to far different degrees.

The Rams went for broke in the years preceding the Super Bowl, swinging huge trades for players like Jalen Ramsey and Matthew Stafford, alongside some aggressive free-agent signings.

While that has left them bereft of quite some draft capital, the Eagles did more of a retooling between their title in the 2017 season and this season. The Eagles stockpiled draft assets they would later use to maneuver around the draft and trade for players like star wideout A.J. Brown. They also used their cap space wisely, signing players like Haason Reddick and James Bradberry, among others.

The Cowboys will probably need to split that difference. Jones clearly doesn't want to empty his organization's cupboard of assets for one season of glory. But the Cowboys also haven't wheeled and dealed quite as effectively as Philadelphia general Howie Roseman, albeit in part because quarterback Dak Prescott is on a lucrative contract and Jalen Hurts remains on his rookie deal.

Prescott's contract, alongside the four years left on Ezekiel Elliott's prohibitive six-year, $90 million deal, will hamstring the Cowboys somewhat in free agency. Per Spotrac, the Cowboys will head into the offseason about $7.6 above the cap for next season.

So if the Cowboys do make a splash, it will have to come via trades, either for veteran players or at the draft. But Jones sounded like a man who might miss taking the occasional giant swing but who is also happy at the stability of a franchise that has won 12 games in each of the past two years and doesn't appear far off from being a genuine title contender.