Jerry Jones hilariously shares Cowboys’ draft grades with media
Sep 19, 2021; Inglewood, California, USA; Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Jerry Jones is prone to going off-script sometimes, and the Dallas Cowboys owner could not help himself speaking to the media on Thursday after the first round of the NFL Draft.
The Cowboys selected offensive lineman Tyler Smith with the 24th pick on Thursday, which came as a bit of a surprise. Many experts saw Zion Johnson and Kenyon Green, two other offensive linemen still on the board, as higher-rated prospects. The Cowboys disagreed, and Jones brought the proof. He even held up the Cowboys’ list of prospect grades to prove that Dallas had Smith ranked higher.
Jerry Jones told us the Cowboys rated OGs Zion Johnson and Kenyon Green below new Dallas OT Tyler Smith 3 days ago. Jerry held up a color-coded page to show us as proof.
Stephen: "Put that thing down!" pic.twitter.com/KpoRuNzUCf
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) April 29, 2022
At one point, Jones’ son Stephen swatted at Jones’ arm while laughing, telling Jones to put the paper down.
There are plenty of reasons teams prefer to keep their draft grades from public consumption. If anyone could see them, they could be used as motivational fodder, or cause the team to be second-guessed by fans and analysts. Jones is not your average owner, though.
On the bright side, at least Jones did not accidentally leak the grades, like one team did last year.