Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones admits cancer diagnosis was 'motivational'

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones took the opposite approach when it came to his cancer diagnosis. It actually gave him strength and motivation, he said. 

Funny enough, well not really funny, but Jones admitted he did not know his cancer was terminal prior to an experimental drug treatment. He’s at full health at the twilight of his career with the Cowboys.

So there’s no time like the present to try and win another Super Bowl before it’s all said and done. Jones indicated the Micah Parsons trade sets them up with more capital and players and a chance to be more successful. It’s a wait-and-see-approach, but Jones’ motivation is certainly there.

“No, not at all, really,” Jones said on Good Morning America. “It was motivational, and it basically gave strength. I can look no further than the players on the field out here. These guys play hurt, and they line up out there every day and go and there’s no question that being around that atmosphere makes you realize that it’s really okay if you don’t feel all right.”

Jones, 82, heads into the 2025 season with the Cowboys looking to return to the playoffs and make a run. Dallas is searching for their first Super Bowl title since Super Bowl XXX from the 1995-96 season.

Per the original report, Jones was diagnosed in 2010 and then he began treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Over the course of the last decade-plus, he had four surgeries: two lung surgeries and two lymph node surgeries.

“I just really didn’t even recognize that it was terminal,” Jones said on Fox and Friends. “And I listened to some good advice. I had some great doctors, really, all over this country, but in doing so, I tried something very experimental. And the people down at MD Anderson, I had a great doctor in Little Rock, Arkansas, and we got involved in a drug called PD 1, and it was experimental. It was very, very effective. I had several tumors at that time. They’re all gone. Now, it’s 15 years later, and there are just no tumors and haven’t had (them) for many years.”

As long as Jones still has motivation, he’ll continue to make headlines and do whatever he can to deliver at least one more championship. The Cowboys’ 2025 season begins Thursday at the Philadelphia Eagles at 8:20 p.m. ET.