“I thought Trevon had one of the most impressive beginnings in pro football and with the Cowboys that I’ve ever been associated with,” Jones said. “I personally think that there’s things that Trevon did back when he first came in the NFL that he physically has been compromised with to do.”
Jones went on to add that one of the Diggs’ specialties of taking the ball away reminded him of another former star Cowboy: Hall of Famer Deion Sanders.
“Deion could make a mistake, or he could bait a player, and then he had the burst to make up for it and go back and make the play and get the ball. Certainly Diggs had that early, he would go be out of position but not really because he’d intercept the ball…” Jones said. “He was a brilliant athlete, and he was a natural ball hawk. He was like a receiver, he would go to the ball.”
“That takes pristine talent and pristine reaction and reflexes. So consequently, a combination of all of that is the reason we paid him. He deserved to be paid… I wish him well.”
In his first three seasons with the team, Diggs recorded 17 interceptions and 49 pass breakups. Then, two major knee injuries that unfortunately continued to flare up came after Diggs and the Cowboys agreed to a five-year, $97 million extension heading into the 2023 season.
This offseason, Diggs decided to rehab his injured knee outside of the Cowboys’ team facilities and instead go to South Florida. Because of a clause in his contract that stated Diggs was required to be at 84.375 percent of Dallas’ offseason program, the team activated a de-escalator of $500,000 from his annual salary. Jones was asked if that incident broke the relationship between Diggs and the organization.
“A lot is made of relationships, and they’re important, but at the end of the day I’ve seen players have great careers and not necessarily be excited about who the coach is, or who their GM is, or who their owner is,” Jones said. “It gets down to the one that lives with what they are, themselves, and probably their second most important commiseration, their teammates…”
“I have an unbelievably high ceiling on what I think of players who give it up and play football. They have to really, especially at the NFL level, given up a lot to get here. The ones that really take advantage of it? I can’t tell you how much I admire them.”
The Cowboys now head into their Week 18 game against the Giants looking to finish 8-8-1 on the season, which Jones said he would categorize as a “winning record if it’s even.” Still, he recognized that the defensive side of the ball as a whole has not been good enough this year.
“What that defense represents is the personnel department, that represents above that, my department,” Jones said. “It represents everybody involved in contracts. We all take it, and that’s no kidding.”