Troy Aikman’s next move keeps circling back to one name: Jerry Jones.
And according to longtime Cowboys insider Ed Werder, that’s exactly why a reunion inside the Dallas organization feels unlikely unless the job comes with serious power. Werder said on Media Mash, the roundtable podcast hosted by Newy Scruggs, that he simply can’t picture Aikman returning to the Cowboys unless he’s the general manager - the one position Jones has guarded for decades.
“Troy Aikman played quarterback on the teams where Jerry was a general manager after Jimmy Johnson prematurely left the organization. And I don’t think Troy believes that Jerry and his performance as a general manager made the most of the remainder of Troy’s career.”
Aikman and Jones had a lengthy conversation on the field Oct. 26 before the Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-21, and Jones fanned the speculation afterward by telling 105.3 The Fan that hiring Aikman was “very possible”.
But Werder pointed to something deeper than nostalgia or a possible post-broadcast role. Aikman has spent years airing his views from the booth, and Werder said that history matters.
“There have certainly been times where Troy, in a place where he’s free to deliver his opinion and obligated to do so, has been critical of Jerry’s management style and decision-making,” Werder continued.
That led him to the bigger point about what would actually bring Aikman back.
“I just can’t see Troy coming back to the Cowboys organization without being the general manager, which is the title Jerry has and has been very protective of, without having real control and real authority, that I just don’t think Jerry wants to surrender to anyone, much less somebody who’s as close to Jimmy as Troy is,” Werder added.
Aikman’s name has been floating in another conversation too, this one involving ESPN and his future in the broadcast booth. His contract runs out after the network’s first Super Bowl in February, and he has said the odds of him being in the booth next season are “50-50”.
The backdrop there is messy. Joe Buck, Aikman’s longtime booth partner, agreed to a reported six-year, $108 million extension in September, while Aikman was still waiting on a new deal.
Buck and Aikman have worked together for 25 seasons, and according to Front Office Sports, Buck and Aikman had an argument before Bills-Rams at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 12 before things were worked out. Puck’s Dylan Byers reported that Aikman felt Buck and ESPN had left him in the dark, and people close to him called it the ultimate betrayal.
ESPN declined comment.
The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported that ESPN was also reluctant to spend heavily on a relationship that had soured, especially in a year when the network was cutting costs and had plenty of other analysts available.
Aikman won three Super Bowls in 12 seasons with Dallas and was Jones’s first draft pick in 1989. He has spent two decades getting paid to tell the truth, and he has never sounded like someone eager to soften his edge.
Now the Cowboys host Arizona on Sunday while their front office stays exactly where it is. Aikman will call the Super Bowl in February and then enter a market where the best jobs may already be spoken for, with his next landing spot likely tied to whether real authority is on the table.
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