This is not a flip-flop. This is not so much a change of heart as it is a reasonable reconsideration of the available evidence.
Jerry Jones for the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
Oh, OK. If you say so.
We have known for five months that Jones would be a finalist for the Hall on Feb. 4 when the voters convene in Houston the day before Super Bowl LI. We would never have guessed last August that Jones might be up for enshrinement with his Cowboys in town for the big game as well.
Timing. Is it everything in life or is it more than that?
I already thought Jones was headed for Canton based on what I have heard from voters (I am not one). While I understand the mostly accurate argument that Jones has changed the manner in which the NFL does business and rakes in billions, I have always questioned his candidacy for two reasons.
One is that if you are telling the story of pro football and the things that made it great through the years, how do you enshrine Jones and leave Jimmy Johnson behind? It's just funny to me that Jones' signature accomplishments are winning three Lombardi trophies in four years and building a one-of-a-kind stadium where the Tom Landry statue can gaze across the parking lot at a Wal-Mart.
Johnson had nothing to do with the latter and almost everything to do with the former. But Johnson left the Cowboys early, had limited success in Miami, coached less than a decade in the league and has fewer wins than Dave Wannstedt and a lower winning percentage than Wade Phillips. So I get why the voters turned their backs on Johnson once again this year.
But the second and greater reason for questioning Jones' Canton worthiness has been his insistence as serving as the team's general manager. This uncommon approach - close to what Al Davis did with the Raiders, although Davis was actually more of a GM and less of an owner than Jones - has contributed to two decades of failure in Dallas.
On Sunday, the Cowboys are five-point favorites to beat Green Bay in that previously mentioned stadium, one that even in its eighth season has Packers coach Mike McCarthy warning players not to look at the scoreboard as if it's the sun. If the Cowboys prevail as the line suggests they should, Dallas will play in its first NFC Championship Game in 21 years.
And that would begin to remove the final stain on Jones' scorecard as an owner. Even though his son Stephen and personnel chief Will McClay have assumed plenty of say in how this team is run, if you can't quarrel with Jones' flaws as a GM any longer, then there is no reason to suggest he should stay the heck out of Canton.
But until this happens, I would still suggest any owner's primary task is to hire the best general manager he can find. Jones has acknowledged he would have been fired several times as GM if that were his sole function with the Cowboys organization.
Jones is about to lay this criticism to rest, unless the more certainly bound-for-Canton Aaron Rodgers determines otherwise. And if the Cowboys prevail Sunday, then, fine, send Jones to the Hall and carve out extra time for that speech.
Mostly, it's just a football thing where the voters have decided it's really fun to put owners in the Hall of Fame. This is not so true in baseball, where, yes, Bill Veeck and Charles Comiskey and owners of a more ancient vintage are enshrined. I don't know if there will be a groundswell for Red Sox owner John Henry one day. Even George Steinbrenner, who presided over seven Yankees World Series champions and impacted the game in many ways good and bad, is not in the Hall.
But a year ago in San Francisco, the pro football voters inducted Eddie DeBartolo Jr. I can only assume the reasons for that were his hiring of Bill Walsh and for avoiding jail time in Louisiana in the Edwin Edwards corruption case that led to DeBartolo stepping down as owner.
So if that door has been flung open, then if the Cowboys do what it seems they are poised and prepared to do, by all means let Jerry Jones walk on through. The irony is that a quarterback he did everything to avoid drafting last May has shown him the way.