Cowboys exploring the dark side: Aldon Smith rushes from the edge
Jerry Jones operates his Dallas Cowboys much the way Al Davis did the Oakland Raiders. Davis was owner and general managar of the Raiders, who won three Super Bowls. Jones has won three as owner/GM of the Cowboys. Both men have been termed “mavericks” — not shy about confronting an NFL commissioner and eager to hire skilled athletes who lacked social skills and respect for laws.
Jerry Jones is at it again.
In desperate need of an edge rusher (isn’t he always?), Jones signed a vagabond free agent, Aldon Smith. He was the best edge rusher in the NFL until he fell from his pinnacle with a series of DUIs and Second Amendments run amok. He also pushed the limits of the First Amendment: arrested for a fake bomb threat at the LA airport. He had three arrests in two months — an out-of-control Antonio Brown.
Aldon Smith had been the 7th overall pick – ahead of J.J. Watt – in the 2011 draft. In his second year in the league he had 19 sacks and played in the Super Bowl. Now he’s 30, sounding very repentant, and Jones will give him the benefit of the doubt. That’s his nature.
He’s hoping for another Charles Haley, a linebacker who behaved horribly in San Francisco and then in Dallas but played at an All-Pro level in both cities.
Like Davis, Jones sees bargains in elite athletes with sketchy morality. Davis accepted hell-raising by a massive defensive end, John Matuszak, who was as destructive on the field as he was off it.
Jones in 2015 signed a Pro Bowl defensive end, Greg Hardy, who was accused of dragging his girlfriend across his living room floor. There was supporting audio and video. The Hardy acquisition drew a public rebuke from the mayor of Dallas, Mike Rawlings, who called it “a shot in the gut.”
Hardy in 2015 led the team in pass pressures (32), but he was a cultural failure, frequently tardy for practices and making offensive remarks and tweets. The Cowboys signed him for $11 million but waived him at the end of the season.
That same year Jones procured another troubled defensive end, Randy Gregory, who was rated a first-round pick but slid to Dallas in the second round because he was quite openly battling a marijuana addiction. Gregory has not shown much maturity with the Cowboys, who assess part of the blame to the negative influence of Hardy, at the locker next to him.
The new Collective Bargaining Agreement removes sanctions against players using drugs that are not performance-enhancing. No longer will positive tests for marijuana — or even cocaine — be grounds for suspension. It’s been pretty well established that marijuana does not enhance the performance of anyone who’s not a jazz musician.
At any rate, the new rules are not retroactive; they do not let Gregory off the hook for using marijuana for relaxation.
Roger Goodell is likely to be lenient with the 27-year-old Gregory. The commish doesn’t want to butt heads with Jerry Jones when he’s on the right side of history. Gregory wasn’t hurting anyone but himself. Aldon Smith, however, is another matter.
The new CBA is tougher than the old one regarding DUI. The penalty doubles, from two games to four. Smith’s rap sheet also includes an arrest for assault in a domestic violence incident — girlfriend accusing him and then recanting. Smith’s sordid past in San Francisco and Oakland is well documented by Rory O’Toole of The Daily Californian (CLICK HERE for link). O’Toole suggests there could be an element of concussive brain damage.
Smith showed some self-awareness last March, checked himself into alcohol rehab. But he was out in June and was arrested again for drunk driving. With so many lessons unlearned it’s hard to summon much confidence for him conquering his problems.
Jones, a wise businessman if ever there was one, is not taking a huge risk. Smith’s contract with the Cowboys guarantees him only $95,000, and even that’s contingent on his being reinstated by the league.
Smith can make $4 million for the upcoming season if he has 14 sacks and stays out of trouble. As rusty as he would have to be, 14 sacks seems optimistic, but he could be an acceptable replacement for Robert Quinn, who had 12.5 sacks for Dallas last season and then signed a 4-year, $66 million contract with Chicago.
Meanwhile, a former Cowboys All-Pro receiver, Dez Bryant, is working out with Dak Prescott and hoping to return to a team that released him in 2018. At 31, Bryant probably can still find the end zone, but this is a guy who was arrested for punching his mother. In college he was sued for $800,000, accused of buying jewelry on credit and not paying for it. In 2016 he was sued by a Texas state senator, Royce West, for causing $60,000 damage to a rental house.
A great American mobster, Bugsy Siegel, builder of Las Vegas, liked to say, “Everybody deserves a second chance.” But some Cowboys are going for thirds and fourths. Is it any way to build a championship?
