Jerry Jones says he'll remain as Cowboys GM and 'nothing new' in Micah Parsons contract talks

OXNARD, Calif. (AP) — Given that the Dallas Cowboys have gone 29 seasons since appearing in an NFC championship game — the longest drought in the conference — owner Jerry Jones has found himself occasionally considering whether to step down as general manager.

“Yes, momentary,” Jones said Monday. “Small fractions of seconds, I promise you.”

With his player personnel duties seemingly not changing anytime soon, Jones remains focused on how to get the Cowboys back to the Super Bowl. That seems unlikely to happen anytime soon without a happy, healthy and productive Micah Parsons in the fold, and the star defender’s contract dispute was primary topic of discussion Monday before the start of training camp.

“There’s nothing new about what we’re talking about here today relative to contracts. That’s been going on a long time now,” Jones said.

“If you say, well, if you don’t get him in you’re going to lose the first two games, then go on to win the Super Bowl, well, we’ll take that,” he continued, referencing running back Emmitt Smith’s 1993 holdout.

There were no updates on Parsons’ on-field status from Jones, executive vice president of personnel Stephen Jones or new coach Brian Schottenheimer ahead of the team’s annual, nearly monthlong stop in Ventura County. It's the second straight offseason where financial dealings with standout players risk overshadowing the Cowboys' football preparations.

Quarterback Dak Prescott participated in training camp last year before getting a new contract before the start of the season that made him the NFL's highest-paid player. Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb held out of camp before receiving a new $136 million, four-year contract with $100 million guaranteed last August. Those protracted dealings came ahead of a 7-10 season that marked the end of Mike McCarthy’s five-year run as coach.

Parsons had 12 sacks and 12 tackles for loss in 13 games, the lowest tallies of his four seasons in Dallas in each category. The 26-year-old defensive end is at camp, something the elder Jones appreciates, but it isn’t clear if Parsons will participate in the first practice on Tuesday. He is going into the fifth and final year of his rookie contract, and the Cowboys would be able to able to apply the franchise tag in 2026.

Jones said he had not negotiated directly with Parsons' agent, David Mulugheta, though Stephen Jones later clarified that he is typically the one who might handles such discussions.

“Obviously, we don’t have a deal with Micah, and we have work to do. That’s the only thing I would comment on,” Stephen Jones said when asked what was holding up a potential deal that will almost certainty make Parsons the league's highest-paid defender.

Jerry Jones doesn’t believe a likely Parsons hold-in would impact the team’s development during camp, which runs through Aug. 14.

“I’m not concerned at all about what our team can be this year, and develop and develop into, and what we make of our training camp,” Jones said. “I’m not at all concerned about a contract that involves and will affect that in any way, I can’t emphasize that enough.”

The ever-loquacious Jones alternated between praising Parsons’ business acumen and pointing out he dealt with an injury for the first time in his career, missing four games because of a high ankle sprain, during a typically freewheeling hourlong news conference.

The 82-year-old Jones said he still enjoys making player personnel decisions, even against the backdrop of constant criticism as the Cowboys have won five playoff games in the past 29 seasons.

“I like it this way, and if you watch this (upcoming documentary on) Netflix, you’ll see I gave every frigging thing in my life and then exposed probably two or three times that to get to sit up here,” Jones said.

“Listen, listen, I haven’t worked in 35 years,” Jones added later. “I’ve had the damnedest run and the most fun that you could ever imagine.”

That includes a memorable recent cameo in the streaming series “Landman.” Appearing as himself opposite actors Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Hamm to deliver a monologue about the importance of including family in his business pursuits, Jones joked the filmmakers cut the best take of an off-color joke he tells during a hospital room conversation with Hamm’s stricken oil baron.

“They took that out, and I thought it was the best scene in the whole thing,” Jones said.

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Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys owner, president, and general manager speaks to reporters during a news conference to open training camp Monday, July 21, 2025, in Oxnard, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Jerry Jones, right, Dallas Cowboys owner, president, and general manager speaks to reporters as Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer, left, and Stephen Jones, Dallas Cowboys co-owner, executive vice president, CEO, and director of player personnel listen during a news conference to open training camp Monday, July 21, 2025, in Oxnard, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Jerry Jones, right, Dallas Cowboys owner, president, and general manager speaks to reporters as Stephen Jones, Cowboys co-owner, executive vice president, CEO, and director of player personnel listen during a news conference to open training camp Monday, July 21, 2025, in Oxnard, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys owner, president, and general manager speaks to reporters during a news conference to open training camp Monday, July 21, 2025, in Oxnard, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is meeting with oil executives at the White House on Friday in hopes of securing $100 billion in investments to revive Venezuela’s ability to fully tap into its expansive reserves of petroleum — a plan that rides on their comfort in making commitments in a country plagued by instability, inflation and uncertainty.

Since the U.S. military raid to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, Trump has quickly pivoted to portraying the move as a newfound economic opportunity for the U.S., seizing tankers carrying Venezuelan oil, saying the U.S. is taking over the sales of 30 million to 50 million barrels of previously sanctioned Venezuelan oil and will be controlling sales worldwide indefinitely.

On Friday, U.S. forces seized their fifth tanker over the past month that has been linked to Venezuelan oil. The action reflected the determination of the U.S. to fully control the exporting, refining and production of Venezuelan petroleum, a sign of the Trump administration's plans for ongoing involvement in the sector as it seeks commitments from private companies.

It's all part of a broader push by Trump to keep gasoline prices low. At a time when many Americans are concerned about affordability, the incursion in Venezuela melds Trump’s assertive use of presidential powers with an optical spectacle meant to convince Americans that he can bring down energy prices.

The meeting, set for 2:30 p.m. EST, will be open to the news media, according to an update to the president's daily schedule. “At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” Trump said Friday in a pre-dawn social media post.

Trump is set to meet with executives from 17 oil companies, according to the White House. Among the companies attending are Chevron, which still operates in Venezuela, and ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, which both had oil projects in the country that were lost as part of a 2007 nationalization of private businesses under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez.

The president is meeting with a wide swath of domestic and international companies with interests ranging from construction to the commodity markets. Other companies slated to be at the meeting include Halliburton, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Singapore-based Trafigura, Italy-based Eni and Spain-based Repsol.

Large U.S. oil companies have so far largely refrained from affirming investments in Venezuela as contracts and guarantees need to be in place. Trump has suggested on social media that America would help to backstop any investments.

Venezuela’s oil production has slumped below one million barrels a day. Part of Trump's challenge to turn that around will be to convince oil companies that his administration has a stable relationship with Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez, as well as protections for companies entering the market.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are slated to attend the oil executives meeting, according to the White House.

Meanwhile, the United States and Venezuelan governments said Friday they were exploring the possibility of r estoring diplomatic relations between the two countries, and that a delegation from the Trump administration arrived to the South American nation on Friday.

The small team of U.S. diplomats and diplomatic security officials traveled to Venezuela to make a preliminary assessment about the potential re-opening of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, the State Department said in a statement.

Trump also announced on Friday he’d meet with President Gustavo Petro in early February, but called on the Colombian leader to make quick progress on stemming flow of cocaine into the U.S.

Trump, following the ouster of Maduro, had made vague threats to take similar action against Petro. Trump abruptly changed his tone Wednesday about his Colombian counterpart after a friendly phone call in which he invited Petro to visit the White House.

President Donald Trump waves as he walks off stage after speaking to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)