Recent Cowboys exec's statement ahead of 2024 NFL Draft is genuinely facepalm worthy

The Jones family loves to drop some juicy soundbites whenever they discuss Dallas Cowboys football, whether that's deliberately or inadvertently. 

The latest example of that was Stephen Jones saying on 105.3 The Fan that the Cowboys were switching defensive styles, which has led to many around Cowboys Nation pointing out two problems with the quote itself.

“Philosophically, I think we’ll have more of a 3-linebacker system rather than a 2-linebacker and 3-safety system, which is what Dan (Quinn) preferred," Jones curiously told The Fan. "I think the other thing is we’ll probably look to be bigger and stronger in the middle.”

The first eyebrow-raising element of the quote is the fact that NFL teams rarely use three linebackers on the field in this day and age, so alluding to switching from a two-linebacker system to a three-linebacker one comes off as inaccurate at best and concerning at worst.

In fact, Marcus Mosher shared on Twitter/X the following nugget: "Only 5 teams had 3 LBs on the field more than 18% of the time last year, none of them exceeded 28%."

And the Cowboys are moving back to a three-linebacker system? Pardon me? That's a facepalm worthy statement.

But let's cut Stephen some slack and hope he meant the Cowboys could move to a more traditional version of nickel defense with fewer three-safety looks while still playing two linebackers most of the time. Playing with five defensive backs is the new base defense in the NFL with all offenses using 11 personnel (three wide receivers) as their base offense.

The other seeming problem with Jones' quote is that pairing it with a quick glance at the Cowboys' current linebacker room suggests, it seems like a loud way of telling everyone that the front office will be heavily targeting a linebacker in Day 2 of the 2024 NFL Draft, which not only could tip their hand but also shows they might be ready to reach for at least one prospect at the position.