nfl
Jerry Jones says coach pay doesn't matter. His $17 billion Cowboys say otherwise.
The Cowboys owner claims there is zero correlation between coaching salaries and winning. Dallas is worth $17 billion, leads the NFL in revenue, and hasn't reached an NFC Championship Game since 1995.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Tuesday there is “zero correlation” between how much a team pays its head coach and whether it wins, ESPN’s Dan Wetzel reported.
“In the NFL, this is after years of looking at all the teams and all the coaches, there is zero correlation between how much you pay a coach or how many coaches you have as to winning,” Jones told 105.3 the Fan in Dallas. “So put that in your hopper and smoke it.”
The comments came as the Cowboys sit at 3-5 under head coach Brian Schottenheimer, who is reportedly making between $5 million and $8 million annually, making him one of the lowest-paid coaches in the league. Schottenheimer is 10-14-1 since taking the job.
Forbes values the Cowboys at $17 billion, 25% more than the second-most-valuable NFL franchise, the Los Angeles Rams at $13.5 billion. Dallas generated $677 million in operating income on $1.28 billion in revenue in 2025.
A coaching agent told NFL Network’s Jane Slater that Jones “won’t pay $13M and up, and that’s the starting point” for established head coaches.
What the coverage missed
Wetzel’s column is an opinion piece. It makes the argument but does not test it.
Recent Super Bowl-winning coaches have been among the highest-paid in the league. Andy Reid, Sean McVay and Bill Belichick were all at the top of the pay scale when they won. The New York Giants hired John Harbaugh this offseason at $20 million per year and are in first place in the NFC East.
Jones’s claim of “zero correlation” is not supported by the evidence he cites. He does not name the study or the data. He asserts it as fact and tells the radio audience to “put that in your hopper and smoke it.”
The Cowboys have not appeared in an NFC Championship Game since the 1995 season. That is 31 years. In that time, 14 different franchises have played in the Super Bowl. The Cowboys have not been one of them.
Jones also serves as his own general manager, a role that has grown more complex with the salary cap, analytics and player evaluation. The Cowboys are the only team in the NFL where the owner is also the GM. Every other owner has delegated that role to a professional.
What I think
Jones is wrong, and he knows it.
The Cowboys are worth $17 billion. They generate more revenue than any team in the league. Jones can afford any coach he wants. He chooses not to pay market rate, and he justifies that choice with a claim he cannot back up.
The evidence is against him. The coaches who win Super Bowls are paid like winners. The coaches who are paid like assistants are not winning them. Schottenheimer may turn out to be good. He has 10 wins in 25 games. That is not good yet.
The Cowboys’ problem is not that they cannot afford a coach. It is that the owner will not hire one. Jones has been the general manager for three decades and has produced one playoff win in the last 15 years. He promotes from within because it is cheaper and because he does not want to cede control. The result is a franchise that prints money and cannot win in January.
Jones will not sell the team. He will not hire a general manager. He will not pay a coach what the market demands. The Cowboys will continue to be the most valuable franchise in sports, and they will continue to not win. That is the system Jones built, and he is the only one who can change it.