Jerry Jones Has Interesting Thoughts Around Idea Of The Cowboys Tanking This Season

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The Dallas Cowboys have been dealt a brutally tough hand this season. Losing Dak Prescott for the season, having a countless number of injuries along the offensive line, Andy Dalton suffering a brutal concussion, and on top of that having one of the worst defenses in the NFL, things are not well in Dallas.

The Cowboys playing in the NFC East is both a blessing and a curse at this point of the season. Dallas is just 2-6 on the year, but if it could reel off two or three straight wins it could be sitting atop the division. With that being the case, as crazy as it sounds, the Cowboys still have something to play for which means officially throwing in the towel on the season isn’t an option on the table, at least not with eight more games left on the schedule.

Given how their season has gone, the idea of the Cowboys tanking the rest of the way has been an idea on most fans and media members out there, but owner Jerry Jones isn’t on board with it, at least not the traditional idea of ‘tanking.’

Jones was asked about his thoughts about tanking in order to try and secure a better first-round draft pick for next year’s NFL Draft, and for him, playing younger players with an eye toward the future may be in the plans, which could ultimately create a tanking situation of its own.

“Tanking has nothing to do with the performance of a player, the performance of a coach, the performance of getting better, the performance of the things you do to try to win the ballgame in my mind,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan, according to Pro Football Talk. “Could you make a decision to play a younger player more or a player that you’re going to be pretty firm that you’re going to be going forward with in contract wise than a different situation? And the answer is I can see that. Yeah. I can see that you make sure that you get these guys those reps. The only way to have and get better in the NFL is for reps, and game reps are precious, hard to come by.”

“I think it makes you see more young players — maybe should be doing it anyway, candidly in regard to that definition of tanking. You maybe should be playing in football, you maybe should be playing those players out there anyway,” Jones said.

Essentially, playing younger, less experienced players around the field could be a kill two birds with one stone situation. Those players could get some valuable reps in, Dallas can evaluate them, but it also means the Cowboys could likely continue on this downward spiral which in the long-run means a better draft pick.