Jerry Jones: Cap space and Kenny Clark give us a chance to be better..!

Jerry Jones insists the Cowboys got better Thursday despite trading a generational player to a conference rival. The owner cited the cap space, the draft picks and the defensive tackle the Cowboys got in return.

Dallas freed up $19 million by swapping Parsons for defensive tackle Kenny Clark and now have $42 million in cap space for 2025. That gives them room to sign some other players to contract extensions, most notably cornerback DaRon Bland and left guard Tyler Smith."[We got] a lot of capital that is required to build a team,” Jones said.

 “It takes many players, to be trite, to play in the NFL. It takes 11 on the field at the same time. It takes a minimum of 30 or 40 — at minimum — to have both offense and defense, not including players who are involved in our special teams. So, it takes more than one.

You do have to allocate your resources whether it be draft picks or whether it be finances. There was no question in our mind that [Micah] could bring a lot of resources in a trade. That has been on my mind since we hired Brian [Schottenheimer]. 

So, there was no question.”Jones said the Cowboys could use the two first-round picks now to trade for a player. (Yes, he and executive vice president Stephen Jones said this.) Or they could use those picks to get anywhere from “three to five” players. (Even though the Packers’ picks the next two years figure to be in the 20s or 30s.)

In the past four seasons, the Cowboys have made the postseason three times with a 1-3 record. Now, they’ve lost their best player, a player on a Hall of Fame trajectory.

But Jerry Jones said, with a straight face, that the Cowboys somehow became better today.

“In our judgment this gives us a better chance to be a better team than we have been the last several years,” Jones said.

The Cowboys went 7-10 last season but won 12 games for three consecutive seasons before that.