Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on reported heated exchange with Robert Kraft: ‘Probably accurate’

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones all but confirmed he and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft had a heated exchange at the NFL fall meetings on Tuesday. 

The argument was reportedly over the compensation committee beginning work on a new contract for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. 

The vote went 31-1 in favor of permitting the open negotiations to start, with Jones being the lone dissenter and saying to Kraft, “Don’t f— with me,” according to ESPN. 

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“It’s not surprising to me or, frankly, disappointing to me that anything that’s said in a meeting that you would think would really have a lot of real exclusivity or really protection so that you could really express your feelings. It’s not surprising to me that it’s out,” Jones said Friday on his weekly radio appearance on 105.3 The Ticket in Dallas.  

“When you are in those situations, you express yourself with people you know, people are around a lot, and you express yourself in different ways. I would say that, in this particular case, it’s probably accurate that I did express myself in probably a way that’s not in good taste.”

Jones added he’s a “real supporter” of Goodell but was questioning the structure of Goodell’s contract. 

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“What you were hearing from me, or what you heard, was an issue with the structure regarding how we were going to address the commissioner or his successor,” Jones said Friday. “So, I was basically expressing myself in that area, not my support of Roger. 

“As a matter of fact, I actually stood up and made a nomination for his potential extension. And then, when I hear the structure of how we were going to approach it, I didn’t agree with that.”

Goodell has been the NFL’s commissioner since 2006 and recently added a 17th game to the NFL schedule. 

Jones’ reported issue with Goodell’s potential new contract is the same issue he had in 2017, when the commissioner’s current deal was reached. Jones does not believe the stipulations around the bonus pool for Goodell are strict enough. 

“He believes in corporate good governance and wants accountability on the financial goals tied to Roger’s bonus,” a league source familiar with Jones’ thinking told ESPN. “He is sensitive to awarding a big bonus to Roger before he performs and earns it.”

Goodell’s got a five-year deal in 2017.