How Staubach Helped Jerry’s Cowboys Sign Dak
FRISCO - The conversation is not a new one. But Jerry Jones' spin on it is.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was a few years ago involved in a conversation with Roger Staubach about a QB's style of play. Running quarterbacks. Pocket passers? What's the best way?
"Get somebody at quarterback,'' the legendary Staubach told Jerry, "who the players will follow. That’s the biggest thing of all.”
Jones used the recent Cowboys celebration of Dak Prescott’s new four-year, $160-million contract to loop Staubach into the picture - which is always a fine idea when it comes to Cowboys business of any form.
Again, while Jones painted a picture of Roger's pitching in being a recent thing, specific to these negotiations, this was actually a conversation that occurred very early in Dak's career ... while Tony Romo was still the top QB ... but with Jones obviously pondering the team's future at the position.
And now we know. While Jones, and now Prescott himself, talk openly about a slightly different playing style for the mobile Dak - he suggests he won't be running quite as aggressively as he did when he was "a young bull'' - it is likely that the quarterback will want to continue to develop his skills in the areas of passing precision, the reading of defenses and the like ... while surely not completely erasing the physical advantages he has as a runner.
But without question, this is where Roger's advice, Jerry's listening and Dak's greatest strength come together: Dak's greatest credential as a starting QB, and indeed, his greatest credential as a person, is about his character-rich leadership.
This is why he gets compared to Tom Brady. This is why his locker room universally pulls for him and backs him, and did so even when he was a rookie, the room essentially turning away from Romo. This is why he's worth the "extra'' that the Cowboys had to pay him to close the deal.
“They believe that Dak Prescott is their quarterback,'' Staubach said on Doug Flutie’s SiriusXM podcast. "And I do, too.''
And the Cowboys also believe in the testimony of Roger Staubach.
READ MORE: Cowboys NFL Free Agency Tracker - By The Minute