FRISCO, Texas – This was inevitable.
The writing had been on the wall for months on this entire Trevon Diggs deal.
The Cowboys, they were bidding their time to rid themselves of a consistent headache over the past two years.
Diggs, consciously or subconsciously, consistently was sabotaging his days with the team.
Finally, this matter came to a head, and Brian Schottenheimer, who had to put up with the Diggs-Micah Parsons independent contractor type of shenanigans without a voice as first a consultant and then a figured-head offensive coordinator under head coach Mike McCarthy, finally had a voice. He sounded off.
Outta here, the Cowboys outright releasing their two-time Pro Bowl corner, although those days seem light years behind us heading into Sunday’s final game of the season against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium.
Now Schotty, as expected, took the high road, diminishing the last straw when asked about Diggs purposely being disrespectful to the team when making the decision not to fly back from the Christmas Day game at Washington for his personal benefit, after being denied permission.
Diggs already was long gone before that. In fact, if the Cowboys weren’t sorta forced to remove him off injured reserve/return after DaRon Bland was placed on injured reserve in need of foot surgery, the team likely would have left him there after his 21-day return to practice window expired. The Cowboys would talk about his health for the delay. Yeah, they wanted to keep him “healthy” so there were no complications releasing him once the season was over after the Giants game. Just wanted to wash their hands of him.
Schottenheimer termed the abrupt release as “looking at the culmination of multiple factors,” then following up on Diggs’ disobedience by saying, “It was one of many factors. Not the only factor. I’m not the Grinch who stole Christmas,” and making a point to reaffirm, “It is not the only reason this decision was made.”
Yeah, like failing to interact with the team. Like missing the 84 percent of the offseason workouts with the Cowboys while rehabbing on his own after a significant knee surgery. The clause in his contract cost Diggs a $500,000 salary deduction, and worse delayed his ability to not only return to practice for the start of training camp but also begin the season as a starter.
Then there was his play in the eight games he was on the field, six of those starts. Pitiful, though the Green Bay Packers, in need of cornerback help heading into the playoffs, did claim Diggs off waivers, reuniting him with his former Cowboys teammate Parsons, who is out for the remainder of their season after suffering a torn ACL.
There is also the mysteriously lame reason for suffering the home-related concussion the team wasn’t close to buying. On and on and enough.
Oh, and here is Diggs’ biggest miscalculation: his salary. He was out of guaranteed money going forward on his five-year $97 million deal. The Cowboys could move on from the final three years, his base salary in 2026 ballooning from an $8.5 million base to $14.5 million. With no guarantees remaining in his base salaries, the Cowboys could release him for basically the $5.8 million in unaccounted prorated signing bonus already paid him.
That’s it, that and then accounting for the $58,800 per-game-active bonus for each of the eight games he played this year. You know, when started covering the NFL, quickly learned to follow the money. That will determine a whole lot. Count all this as one of the big “multiple factors” for his dismissal.
The final factor of a whole lotta straws.
- Hail The Mary: You realize it was 50 years ago Sunday, Dec. 28, 1975, when that prayer, the Hail Mary, was invoked into the sports-world lexicon. That’s when Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, the Catholic-raised boy from Ohio, was asked what was going through his mind while being smashed to the ground at the old Metropolitan Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the final seconds of Dallas’ playoff game against the heavily-favored Vikings. The Cowboys were down 14-10, ball at the 50-yard line, second-and-10, 32 seconds to play. In the huddle, Staubach, sort of ignoring whatever play call came in from head coach Tom Landry, tells his star wide receiver Drew Pearson, “You remember that play we ran?” referencing a few games ago. “Run that route, and I’ll hit you.” So Drew does, and with the blocking breaking down, Staubach heaves the ball down the right sideline for the controversial touchdown to win the game, 17-14, and advance to the next round of the playoffs, propelling the Cowboys on their way to Super Bowl X. After the game, a reporter asks Roger what he was thinking when laying there on the ground. He recalls how quiet the stadium grew, admitting he never saw Drew actually catch the ball, then said in desperation of hope trying to be cute, “I said a Hail Mary.” With respect to Paul Harvey, “And now you know the rest of the story.” And let me add, as one who was asked hundreds of times growing up to say Hail Marys as penance after exiting the confessional box, that prayer takes like 15 seconds, tops, to recite. So not like he began to recite, “Hail Mary full of grace …”
- Run Tony Run: And while we’re at it, 42 years ago this coming Saturday, back on Jan, 3, 1983, in the final game of the strike-shortened 1982 season on a Monday night, again against the Vikings at Minnesota, Tony Dorsett ripped off his 99½-yard touchdown run, which can only be tied for the longest run in NFL history. Oh, and on Dec. 6, 2018, Derrick Henry, with the Titans at the time, ripped off a record-tying 99-yard TD run against Jacksonville. Unlike Dorsett, who scooted through a big hole after taking the handoff 2 yards deep in the end zone and basically only had to break one feeble attempt at a tackle way downfield, Henry had to bulldoze through a mass of people at the line of scrimmage and then along the way stiff potential tacklers aside at least three times. Oh, and remember Cowboys quarterback Danny White, the play clock running out of time, went ahead and snapped the ball with just 10 guys on the field.
- Signing Of The Times: When asked about potentially participating in free agency once the 2026 NFL league year kicks off on March 11, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said absolutely. And he already has his priorities, saying there are three guys he will be going after: wide receiver George Pickens, running back Javonte Williams and defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. Why not, if the money is right. Look, with one game to play, Pickens leads the Cowboys in receptions this year (92), receiving yards (1,420) and receiving TDs (9). Williams leads the team in rushing yards (1,201), rushing TDs (11) and total TDs (13). And Clowney, after not signing until Sept. 15, not playing in his first game until Sept. 28, not starting for the first time until Nov. 3 – he has totaled 12 games, five starts and just 30 percent of the defensive snaps – is currently tied for the team lead with 5½ sacks and tied for third with 30 QB hits. Said Schottenheimer of Clowney, “What I love is the impact he’s having on the younger players.”
- Bingo Card: Before the season began, did anyone project Clowney and James Houston being tied for the team lead each with 5½ sacks? Why, the Cowboys didn’t sign Houston until July 22, the outset of training camp. And consider this circuitous route into the NFL. Houston, a linebacker coming out of high school, played four years at Florida before landing at Jackson State in 2021 after COVID for a fifth collegiate season. There, head coach Deion Sanders suggested to Houston, 6-1, 244 at the time, a move to defensive end. Sanders told Houston he reminded him of the Cowboys’ Micah Parsons as a pass rusher. And voila, Houston leads the SWAC with 16½ sacks that season. At the NFL Scouting Combine in 2022, he ran a 4.6 time in the 40-yard dash, benched 22 times and had a 39-inch vertical. Detroit drafted him in the sixth round, and here he is, preparing to play his 17th game of a season for the first time.
- Sack This: Since sacks became an official NFL statistic in 1982, no Cowboys player has led the team with fewer than six sacks. That six has happened five times, last in 2016 when Benson Mayowa led the team with but six sacks. Same in 2014 with Jeremy Mincey. And then you have to go way back to 2001 when Greg Ellis led the team with six sacks with this all-time low first being set in 1997 and 1998 with Shante Carver and Kavika Pittman, respectively. This is a sign of the times for the Cowboys, an inability to get to opposing quarterbacks. With one game to play, the Cowboys have registered 31 sacks. At this point, the 31 sacks match the fewest (2015, 2020) since totaling just 28 in 2014. Only six teams in the NFL have fewer than the Cowboys’ 31 this season.
- Eve Toasts: Here we go again, in his 18th year of eligibility, Cowboys Ring of Honor safety Darren Woodson has advanced to the 15-man finals for the fourth time in Pro Football Hall of Fame voting, this time joined by first-time eligible tight end Jason Witten. And have argued Woody’s merits for induction until I’m blue in the face … Williams’ 11 rushing touchdowns currently is the most by a Cowboy since Ezekiel Elliott had 12 in 2022 … Currently, Dak Prescott leads the NFL with 4,482 passing yards, trying to become the first franchise QB to lead the NFL in passing, owning just a 34-yard lead over the Rams’ Matthew Stafford … And defensive alert: Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, in 11 starts, already has rushed for nine touchdowns, the most by a Giants quarterback in a single season. And they did have Charlie Conerly (5) in 1948, as I smile. Dart’s nine in the history of NFL rookie QBs trails only Cam Newton’s record 14 in 2011 and Billy Kilmer with 10 in, uh, 1961.
And for this week’s last word, we go to Jones. Seemingly, at the completion of every season, especially when the Cowboys fail to qualify for the playoffs as they have now in consecutive years for the first time since 2019-20, the 83-year-old owner is asked if it’s time once again to change how the organization is run. As in Jerry carrying the title of owner, president and general manager even though it’s a well-known fact the day-to-day responsibilities of running this team fall in the lap of co-owner son Stephen Jones and vice president of player personnel Will McClay.
And so he was asked again on Tuesday during what is supposed to be his final morning 105.3 The Fan radio segment if he will continue to run things the way he has for the 30 years now during this Super Bowl drought, and why does he think his way will change the results.
Without missing a beat, Jerry delivers this answer, sort of an off-the-cuff personal parable:
“Well, let’s picture a gold miner, a gold miner out in the old 49ers days of California. And picture that gold miner, and he’s swung that pick hundreds and thousands of times. His ol’ hands calloused, his ol’ back is screwed up because he’s been throwing that pick around all those years. Yet the next pick, it could be the gold strike, and you got it. With the next pick.
“The only way it might not happen is to not have that pick in your hand swinging it. And so we’re keeping swinging, and that’s the way I operate. And I’ve had really the majority of the things in my life have most of the time, when you hit that pick, you got rock. But every now and then, that gold pops up there, and that’s why you keep swinging … no matter how many times.”
Happy New Year, one game left to play.
