FRISCO, Texas _ A day after Jason Garrett walked back his comments on no staff changes for 2019, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones proved to be even more elusive.
Jones refused to be boxed in regarding the future of offensive coordinator Scott Linehan when asked about the staff Tuesday morning on his radio show on 105.3 The Fan.
"There is no record, not just for the record. I reserve the right to change my mind when I hang this phone call up," Jones said. "Why would I put some kind of statement out that says this is what we're going to do when we might have an opportunity here next week? This is the time when these things are thought about. This is the time when they are chewed on. This is when you may see an opportunity next week that you didn't know existed this week in the area of personnel or in the area of coaching. And I'm not trying to be cute here. I'm just saying that one of the advantages that we have is that we can operate with that kind of flexibility."
However, don't confuse Jones' so-called "flexibility" with a purposeful interest to make changes in his coaching staff that helped the Cowboys rebound from a 3-5 start to win the NFC East and a wild-card playoff game before losing to the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional playoffs.
Even though the Cowboys fell short of the NFC title game, and thus the Super Bowl for a 23rd straight season, Jones is pleased with the work of the Garrett-led staff. He even said Garrett would have gotten five offers for head coaching jobs if he was free when the season ended two weeks ago.
"When I look at our coaching staff and how it's evolved, I give it a good grade," Jones said. "I give it a grade when I look around at what other teams are doing and trying to do to find their head coach. If Jason Garrett had been out on the market two weeks ago, he would have had five offers for head coaching. I know that ... I like the direction that we're going in. I like where we're going. I don't have any comments this morning about extensions or if we're going to do any replacing because my options are open. Nobody knows. Anybody tells you there's going to be a change out there or what have you, they don't know because I don't know this morning and I'm the last say."
Jones is remaining flexible but committed partly because of the lack of known and proven alternatives. He also understands how changes could impact the continued growth and development of Dak Prescott, in particular.
"You've got to look at what your alternative is," Jones said. "We got a very young team. We've got a team that we got going in a direction. We've got players that we've got going in a direction. You make changes and you're going to change direction, and you may not know if you've got what those coaches or that particular coach has in mind relative to your personnel. Well, when you're sitting here doing contracts on players for years in advance and you're sitting here with investment in draft picks, stepping up here and making a change each year is tough. I've done that. I've been there and I know the price you pay."
Regarding Linehan, Jones said he played a big role in the coaching changes that were made before the season, including the additions of offensive line coach Paul Alexander, receivers coach Sanjal Lal, quarterbacks coach Kellen Moore and tight ends coach Doug Nussmeier.
They fired Alexander and replaced him with Marc Colombo midway through the season. That caused another scheme change in the middle of the year, not to mention navigating the loss of All-Pro center Travis Frederick before the season and replacing him with career backup Joe Looney.
"We brought the staff in to really accommodate what we were doing with our offensive coordinator," Jones said. "We started off slow. Then, I think the coaching staff kicked in and I think it got better and got better and got better and we made adjustments. We were putting emphasis on run-pass option, which we think Dak does well. He certainly came from a run-pass option type offense in college. That caused us to go east and west quite a bit with our blocking. We moved back into, by changing out the offensive line coach during the year, we moved into a more north-south, more to our liking. We compensated for the loss of an All-Pro center that we had planned. We brought in a rookie guard. We brought in a backup guard that turned out to play outstandingly well. The way we adjusted. We changed out with our offense on the offensive line, changed coaches right in the middle of the year.
"From my standpoint, it was a year that was from evaluating where we go from here was one of the best reads that I've had."
Jones said the offensive coordinator is the most scrutinized position in the NFL and also the one that changed out the most from year to year. They have to evolve. They have to adjust. They have to perform in a league that favors the offense.
The Cowboys averaged a little over 21 points per game and struggled in the red zone.
"So, it doesn't surprise me at all that since we have the record we had this year on our low scoring that our coordinator would probably be the most criticized behind the general manager for being a part of keeping him there," Jones said.
There will be no change with the general manager who is also the owner.
Will there be at offensive coordinator?
Jones is keeping his options open and staying flexible for now.
