Jerry Jones Says He Has No Succession Plan — But Stephen's Been Ready for Years
Jerry claims there's no plan for who runs the Cowboys next. The league mandates one, and it's been Stephen Jones all along — a shift rooted in a 2014 draft fight.
Still a WR1 with 14 TDs in 2025 — front-office drama changes nothing.
- Jerry claims he has no succession plan
- NFL mandates every owner name a successor yearly
- Zack Martin taken No. 16 in 2014 over Manziel
- Adams: 60 rec, 789 yds, 14 TD in 2025 (14 games)
- Adams ranks WR9, our overall #44
Jerry Jones told The Athletic's Zak Keefer he doesn't have a succession plan for the Cowboys — that one day he simply won't be around to offer his two cents. It's classic Jerry hyperbole, because the plan absolutely exists. The league office requires every owner to file, annually, the name of whoever takes over if an owner dies or is incapacitated.
And everyone who follows this team already knows the answer: Stephen Jones is the heir apparent, and has been for years. The interesting part isn't the mystery — there isn't one — it's how different Stephen might run the operation compared to his father, a contrast that traces back to one of the family's ugliest disagreements.
That fight was the 2014 first round. Jerry wanted quarterback Johnny Manziel at No. 16. Stephen led the push for offensive lineman Zack Martin instead. Stephen recalled Jerry telling him he'd never do special things making middle-of-the-road decisions, that he'd never have bought the Cowboys thinking that way, and that Stephen would never be great.
The scoreboard sided with Stephen. Martin became a future Hall of Famer, the best player left on the board when Dallas picked. Manziel flamed out as an all-time bust. That 2014 class was loaded — Aaron Donald, Mike Evans, possibly Khalil Mack, and second-rounder Davante Adams, who has his own Canton case brewing.
The Fantasy Fallout
Front-office soap operas rarely move fantasy needles, but the names dropped here still matter for your roster. Adams is now in Los Angeles with the Rams and remains a genuine WR1 — he posted 60 catches, 789 yards and 14 touchdowns in just 14 games last season (2025, actual), good for 223 PPR points and our WR9 ranking (#44 overall). That touchdown volume is elite.
Evans is the cautionary tale on the other end. Now with the 49ers, he managed only 30 catches, 368 yards and three scores across eight games in 2025 (actual) — 85 PPR points and a WR74 rank (#224 overall). Age and injury have caught up.
The move: hold Adams with full confidence as a weekly starter, because 14-TD production doesn't care who's running Dallas. Evans is a bench-depth flyer at best until he shows he can stay on the field. And for Cowboys fans specifically, take comfort — the guy inevitably steering the ship already won the biggest draft argument in franchise memory.
