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Cowboys Cut TO to Give Romo Chance to Be Leader

Posted Jun 20, 2009 11:45AM By Ryan Wilson (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Cowboys, NFL Fans

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Terrell OwensThe Cowboys cut Terrell Owens in early March, and we've been subjected to a story or so a week about why it happened, who was to blame, and what it means for both parties going forward.

This is newsworthy for a few reasons: it's the offseason, it's the Cowboys and it's T.O. Anybody else, or any other time of year, and these headlines have a shelf life of a few days. But it's June, so here we are.

And according to Yahoo.com's Michael Silver, who spent a couple days talking to Jerry and Stephen Jones, the real reason T.O. got axed was because he was too popular. Seriously.
The bottom line, team executive vice president Stephen Jones said Thursday, is that he and his father came to this conclusion: For the team's highly paid quarterback to become a truly influential leader, the big man on campus had to be jettisoned.

"It's hard to take over leadership when you've got a strong personality like Terrell," Jones said. "If you look back at our old teams [from the 1990s], a lot of people would say maybe Michael [Irvin] was the leader. Then you might say, 'He was a receiver. What about Troy [Aikman]? He was the quarterback. Wasn't he the leader?' And the answer is, yeah, Troy was a leader. But if Michael wasn't supportive of him, Troy would've had problems.

"A lot of our players thought the world of Terrell – they still do. They loved the way he prepared and how hard he played, and everybody respected his skills and what he'd done in the league. And with him here, I think he was always going to carry that kind of weight."
Despite what Jerry and Terrell might have discussed prior to the team's decision to cut him loose, I can't really argue with the rationale Silver writes about. Sure, it would have been nice if Jones was on the level with TO, but in the immortal words of Rich Eisen, "it isn't what it isn't."

Jerry also said that releasing T.O. frees up Roy Williams to assume the No. 1 wide receiver job. That's a risk, of course, particularly when Owens is a legit go-to target and Williams struggled to transition to Dallas from Detroit.

But silver linings and whatnot, this is potentially good news for T.O. and the Bills. Trent Edwards is a young quarterback still learning the position. Maybe Owens' arrival will lessen the pressure on the third-year quarterback, and allow him to mature into the job.

And, yes, T.O. has a history of blowing teams up from the inside out, but he's also been a model citizen during his first year in a new city. So, Bills organization, you're on the clock.

Tags: Jerry+Jones, JerryJones, Roy+Williams, RoyWilliams, Stephen+Jones, StephenJones, Terrell+Owens, TerrellOwens, Trent+Edwards, TrentEdwards

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