Jimmy Johnson pushes back on Jerry Jones' putdown of the Eagles

Left coming up with reasons why the Philadelphia Eagles are once again fighting for the Super Bowl while the Dallas Cowboys are not, Jerry Jones made some surprising remarks about the NFC East rivals. Jones likened the Eagles to the Rams who “put it all out there” and “paid for it later.”

Jones’ comments were so out of left field that Eagles team owner Jeffrey Lurie called former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson to discuss it. Johnson shared with the Philadelphia Inquirer how he responded to Lurie’s call.

“I said, ‘I have no idea,’” Johnson said. “Philadelphia has a couple of first-round picks in the [2023] NFL draft. They’ve got extra picks down the road… got some very talented players. They’ve got some talented young players.”

“I think the Philadelphia Eagles are gonna be good for a long time,” Johnson added.

Ahead of Super Bowl LVII between the Eagles and the Chiefs, the FOX analyst admitted that he was wrong about quarterback Jalen Hurts.

“Unfortunately, I was one of the doubters on Jalen Hurts,” Johnson said. “I didn’t know him personally, I didn’t realize how hard he worked, and I didn’t realize how much he was going to improve. He has come a million miles from day one, and is an outstanding franchise quarterback now.”

Jones thinking ‘longer term’ for Dallas

The L.A. Rams famously pushed in their chips to acquire Matthew Stafford, Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr., among others, in an effort to win a Super Bowl. When asked whether the Cowboys would be willing to be that aggressive, Jerry Jones said he’s not unwilling to take a chance but prefers to think “longer term.”

“Anybody who thinks I won’t take a chance, has misread the tea leaves. But I do think longer term,” Jones said. “And I’m real hesitant to bet it all for a year. There’s a lot of things that can happen for that year. In essence, we’re seeing a couple of teams that have had some real success putting it all out there and paying for it later, in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.”

The Rams’ big moves came around to bite them in 2022 as they recorded five wins after winning it all a year prior. However, as much as Jones might want it to happen, it’s unlikely that the Eagles follow the same path next season.

For starters, while Philadelphia did acquire A.J. Brown in exchange for a first-round draft pick, they’ll still have two first-round picks this year, as well as a pick each in the second and third rounds.

The Eagles are also still in the green in projected cap space for 2023 – unlike Jones’ Cowboys.