Mike Greenberg calling out Jerry Jones after missing out on Derrick Henry this offseason Photo Credit: ESPN
By Reice Shipley on

On Sunday, Dallas Cowboys fans were haunted by the team’s lack of activity in free agency, particularly in the form of star running back Derrick Henry, who had himself a great game against a Cowboys team looking for answers.

Henry, who was linked to the Cowboys throughout much of the offseason, looked like the Derrick Henry of old, rushing for 151 yards on 25 carries and two touchdowns en route to a 28-25 victory as the Ravens picked up a much-needed win.

Sunday’s game was a get-right spot for both the Ravens and Henry. Conversely, the Cowboys — specifically owner Jerry Jones — were left with questions about how they didn’t end up bringing in Henry this offseason.

When asked by reporters about not ultimately signing Henry, Jones said that the team simply couldn’t afford it, likening the situation to “why someone can’t buy a mansion” when they live in a “different kind of home.”

“We couldn’t afford Derrick Henry,” the Cowboys owner told reporters after the game. “I don’t know, why can’t you buy a mansion when you live in a different kind of house? We couldn’t afford it. We can’t make that all fit. It’s as simple as that.”

Henry signed a two-year $16 million contract to play for the Ravens. Meanwhile, the Cowboys decided to bring back former Pro Bowl running back Ezekiel Elliott on a one-year deal up to as much as $3 million based on incentives.

Given Elliott’s lack of production on the year, and in Sunday’s game in particular compared to Henry’s, you can clearly tell which deal has worked out better to this point.

The team did decide to sign both Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb to significant long-term extensions before the start of the season. But the timing of said moves was the reason that ESPN’s Mike Greenberg isn’t buying Jones’ explanation for not signing Henry, ripping the Cowboys owner on Monday’s edition of Get Up. 

“I’m sorry sir but with all due respect it is not as simple as that,” said Greenberg. “Sometimes you can’t buy a mansion because you ran up a lot of credit card debt or something like that. You made bad financial decisions. And that’s what his team and his leadership have done. Maybe if you had decided to treat the offseason like it began sometime before Sept. 1, you would have been able to make some of these moves.

“But when you wait on the CeeDee Lamb deal until you are the last mover. You ever heard of the term first mover advantage? Well, they were the last mover when it came to the great receivers. So it cost them way more than it otherwise would have. And they were the last mover… They literally signed their quarterback to the biggest contract of all time an hour before the season began. They had no offseason. So they got worse and more expensive. Which is terrible management. So they could easily have afforded Derrick Henry if they had taken care of their business when they should have. And instead, he ran all over their non-existent defense yesterday.”

It’s hard to argue anything that Greenberg said here. As he alluded to, the market is always going up when it comes to big-name players like CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott.

When you are the last team to the negotiation table for these kinds of stars, you are going to be paying at the very top of the positional market value for any elite player.

If the Cowboys’ plan was to pay Prescott and Lamb at the very top of their market as they did, then they really couldn’t afford someone like Derrick Henry on top of that. But with some better planning, bringing in Henry would have likely been more than feasible.

[Awful Announcing on X]

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

View all posts by Reice Shipley