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'Pawns in The Process': Cowboys Assistants Express Frustration During Garrett Delay

Exclusive: Dallas Cowboys Assistants Express Frustration During the Jason Garrett Delayed Departure; They're 'Pawns in The Process'

Mike Fisher

'Pawns in The Process': Cowboys Assistants Express Frustration During Garrett Delay
'Pawns in The Process': Cowboys Assistants Express Frustration During Garrett Delay /

FRISCO - They accept that they are Pawns in The Process, many of them faceless relative to the fame of principals Jerry Jones and Jason Garrett. But after almost a week of waiting, multiple members of the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff are growing increasingly frustrated with Garrett’s delayed departure.

“I understand 'Jerry Time,''' said one long-time NFL exec with detailed knowledge of how Cowboys owner Jerry Jones works only at his pace. "But this is beyond dumb.'' 

Added an assistant coach, more politely: “Despite what the media reports, nobody's really told us much of anything.''

Garrett, almost surely scheduled to be jettisoned after a not-good-enough decade and a failed 2019 campaign, remains technically still employed by the Jones family, an awkward alignment that has led to varied speculation and errant reports.

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*WFAA-TV “broke the story” of Garrett and his entire staff being fired last Monday. The irresponsibility is shameful. ... but on Twitter it received 38,000 "likes,'' so ... cool.

*ESPN “broke” it “again,” on Thursday night suggesting a final meeting between Jerry and Stephen Jones and Garrett ended the coach’s employment. The problem with the report? Our sources tell us that a Thursday meeting never happened (all three men weren’t even here in Frisco). Therefore an official dismissal could not have occurred.

And now it’s more than 24 hours later - and it still hasn’t. But ... "SportsCenter's'' tweet received 68,000 "likes.' So ... cool.

*There are valid reports that hint that Dallas might have a plan in its pocket ...

... and invalid reports that Jerry could comfortably fit Jason into a GM-like role.

But alongside all of this, coupled with the sentimental Jerry’s reluctance to spit out the word “goodbye” and Garrett’s buying-time “Exit Interviews,” there are 25 other men, assistant coaches with families, careers and mortgages, who don’t know if they have jobs or need jobs, who have not been informed of much of anything by the Joneses or by Garrett, all of whom preach “loyalty” and now have 25 men waiting for them to demonstrate it.

"As far as we as a staff are concerned,'' one prominent Dallas staffer told CowboysSI.com, "we're showing up to work. That's what we do.''

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Mike Fisher
MIKE FISHER

Mike Fisher - as a newspaper beat writer and columnist and on radio and TV, where he is an Emmy winner - has covered the NFL since 1983 and the Dallas Cowboys since 1990, is the author of two best-selling books on the Cowboys.

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