Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in an ESPN profile Thursday he felt Jerry Jones the general manager made the wrong call by not drafting Johnny Manziel.
“I am still so mad,” Jones said in a late-May interview for the story. “I get madder every day, about missin’ him.”
Dallas, who had the No. 16 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, picked offensive lineman Zack Martin instead.
According to the report, Jones said the rest of the Cowboys football minds, including coach Jason Garrett, were against signing Manziel, especially because they had an established quarterback in Tony Romo. Romo is entering the second year of a seven-year, $119 million contract with $55 million guaranteed.
Nevertheless, that argument hasn’t stopped Jones from having regrets.
“If we had picked Manziel,” he’d guarantee our relevance for 10 years,” Jones said in the interview.
The ESPN report also said Jones had a conversation with Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson about playing for the Cowboys in Peterson’s home state after his time with the Vikings came to a close.
“This was a casual conversation between NFL colleagues in which I never indicated I wanted to leave the Vikings,” Peterson said. “I have always said I understand the NFL is a business but that I would love to retire as a Viking.”