For nearly four decades, the Dallas Cowboys have been a family business, and a few things about the franchise happen quietly. Contracts become television stories. Draft picks become debates that last for years. Player disagreements can turn into national conversations. It is part of what has made the franchise so fascinating and, at times, so frustrating.
Darren Woodson Believes Stephen Jones Would Have Handled Micah Parsons Differently
Former Cowboys safety Darren Woodson believes that all this could change when Stephen Jones eventually takes over from his father, Jerry Jones.
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Woodson, a Cowboys Ring of Honor member who played for the team during its dynasty years, believes Stephen would bring a different kind of decision-making to Dallas. He would be less willing to let disputes linger and more comfortable making a difficult football decision before it becomes a months-long spectacle.
Woodson pointed to the Cowboys’ handling of Micah Parsons as perhaps the clearest example.
Parsons, who had a PFN EDGE Impact score of 82 in 2025, was among the most talented defensive players Dallas had developed in years. The Cowboys selected him in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. Yet his time in Dallas did not end smoothly.
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After months of tension, the Cowboys traded Parsons to the Green Bay Packers last August for two first-round picks and veteran defensive tackle Kenny Clark. Woodson believes Stephen would have reached that conclusion much sooner.
“I guarantee you Stephen wanted that to be a dead issue, and dad (Jerry) let it ride,” Woodson told The Athletic. “I think the off-the-field stuff the organization had to deal with: showing up late, not being a team guy, paying a guy that kind of money when he’s not really a leader? Yeah, that (expletive) ain’t flying.
“Jerry loves personalities, because Jerry is a personality. I don’t think that’s Stephen’s deal.”
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That distinction goes to the heart of the Cowboys’ future.
Stephen has spent almost his entire adult life learning the football business from his father. He was 24, working in the oil business and living in Arkansas, when Jerry called him with an unexpected proposition to come to Dallas and learn how to run a football team.
He came to Dallas just as Jerry was taking over the Cowboys, a franchise that was losing roughly $1 million a month. Stephen initially thought his father was paying too much for the team. Jerry, in true form, took the risk anyway.
Over the next 37 years, Stephen went from an inexperienced son learning the business to an important decision-maker in the organization.
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Today, his titles include chief operating officer, executive vice president of player personnel and president of AT&T Stadium. His father has called him a “devil’s advocate” and a “barometer.”
There is little mystery about what that means.
Stephen is often the person willing to tell Jerry what he does not want to hear. He did it when his father wanted to sign Deion Sanders in 1995 despite Stephen’s concerns about the salary cap. He did it again in the 2014 NFL draft, when Stephen convinced Jerry not to select Johnny Manziel, and the Cowboys took Zack Martin instead.
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Martin became a nine-time Pro Bowler and an incredible offensive lineman of his generation, whereas Manziel only played two seasons in the NFL.
Those decisions offer a glimpse of the man Woodson believes could eventually run the Cowboys differently.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.
