Posted by ESPN.com's Matt Mosley
Joe Biddle, the longtime columnist at The Tennessean, thinks Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones got "suckered" on the Pacman Jones trade.
"It appears Cowboys owner Jerry Jones must have been the person P.T. Barnum had in mind when he supposedly noted, "There's a sucker born every minute."
Jerry Jones' super-sized ego gives him confidence he can make Pacman toe the line. Jerry looks at Pacman and sees a Super Bowl ring. Keep believing, Jerry."
Biddle's correct to say Jones has a large ego, but that's not exactly breaking news. The reason Jones made this deal is because Pacman needed the Cowboys a lot more than they needed him. He sees a player who has one chance left to salvage his career. And more importantly, he sees a rare talent who doesn't cost much.
As I've written before, a lot of this goes back to the Charles Haley trade in the early 1990s. Haley didn't have an arrest record, but he'd gained the reputation of a malcontent in the 49ers' locker room. Jones was the only "sucker" willing to forfeit a draft pick for the Pro Bowl player who helped the Cowboys win three Super Bowls.
This Pacman deal could definitely blow up in Jones' face. For all we know, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell may not reinstate him.
But for a veteran oilman like Jones, this barely qualifies as a risk.
