Will McClay Leaving Cowboys? ESPN Starts Rumor With Loose 'Sources'

Will McClay Leaving Jerry Jones' Dallas Cowboys? ESPN Starts Rumor With Loose 'Sources'

FRISCO - Stop us if you're heard this before, because if you have followed our decades of coverage of the Dallas Cowboys and if you know who Will McClay is ...

You have heard this before: "There are some who think teams might try to lure vice president of player personnel Will McClay away from the Cowboys,'' writes ESPN.

Yes. Again.

We'll call this, as politely as we can muster, "loose sources,'' because we're not really fans of this "some people think'' style of reporting.

OK, we'll be less polite: It's sloppy. ESPN, with all its resources and connections, can't find one NFL person who will serve as a source, named or anonymous, who will come out and say it? Because without that, this edges toward "rumor-mongering'' - a habit that should be beneath the Worldwide Leader.

Fine. CowboysSI.com will come out and say it ...

In what is now a tradition in Dallas of more than a half-decade, other NFL teams will absolutely investigate the idea of luring McClay away from the warm and familial embrace of the Jones family by offering him a GM title.

And maybe, one of these days, McClay will change his tune and he will listen.

What ESPN either doesn't know or neglects to report: In addition to the non-issue of salary (McClay is already paid "like a GM'' and staff budget, a concern for some franchises, is not a concern here), the lure of a "title'' in another city would have a difficult time being more powerful than McClay's connection here.

We've had this conversation with McClay often. While outsiders are bothered by it, he's not troubled by the fact that team owner Jerry Jones holds the GM title here. 

'Drafting Ain't Our Problem!' Inside Jerry's 'Roasts' of McCarthy & McClay

McClay has GM-like authority and an GM-like salary; if he doesn't care whether it says "GM'' on his business card, why do fans and the media care?

According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, "Dallas values McClay highly and likely would spend big to keep him.''

No kidding? Really? Yes, you've heard this before. "Some people think'' some things. What Cowboys Nation should care about is what Will McClay thinks.

And if that ever changes? We'll let you know. And we won't need what "some people think'' to keep you informed.