The Cost of Keeping Stars — and the Price of Speaking Up | Just Wondering with Norm Hitzges

Today is Wednesday, January 28th, and I'm just wondering about one of a number of Jerry
Jones offseason problems, and free speech in the NFL gets another kick in the pants.
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Perhaps the biggest of Jerry Jones offseason concerns is the Pickens problem.
George Pickens is outstanding, terrific wide receiver, wonderful after the catch, strong
at the point of catch, had his best numbers by far and is in the NFL career this season
with the Cowboys.
We've always known George Pickens is going to be a star, at least we thought so.
But he'd always been held back by some personal difficulties.
At Georgia, maturity issues, unfield attitude, discipline problems, being late for things,
but he got drafted both Steelers still in the second round.
And he played for them for three years, but again he had significant off-field problems.
The lateness continued, the discipline problems continued.
And after three years, head coach Mike Tomlitt had simply had enough and said, get him out
of here.
And the Steelers did.
They got him out of here for a third and a fifth round draft choice from the Cowboys,
which after Pickens season last year looks like a bargain.
But some of the problems still showed up here last year.
Some of those lateness situations and there was a game, game in a half where he just didn't
look terribly interested, but overall George Pickens was outstanding.
And if you want to be sinister, you can suggest that Pickens' sudden arrival to Stardom
could have been caused by the fact that he's about to be a free agent.
And he wanted to be far less of a problem and far more of a star as he anticipated getting
big money in free agency.
Well, he is now free, but Jerry obviously wants him back.
Jerry, when speaking about Pickens, sloppers all over himself.
But the price Pickens expects, well, last year he was as good or perhaps a touch better
than CD Lamb, and Lamb got four years for 136 million with a hundred guaranteed.
That's probably the area Pickens is thinking in.
Now the Cowboys could keep Pickens by giving him the one-year franchise tag and paying
him just a bit over 28 million.
Would he be happy with that?
He expected a hundred million guaranteed over four years, and he would get 28.
And if in that next season he gets hurt, it would affect his value going forward.
And if he's unhappy, well, you can ask for University of Georgia and the Pittsburgh Steelers
about that.
So you say, give it to him.
He's worth it.
Well, he probably is pretty close to worth it.
Most people suspect he'll be the first or second most sought after free agent of this
off-season, not free agent-wide receiver, overall free agent.
But for Jerry Jones and the Cowboys, that would be yet one more massive, offensive investment.
And that's the side of the ball the Cowboys are best on.
And remember now, they also intend to give a fair amount of money to running back to
Vante Williams to come back and kick her brand in Aubrey's expecting a pretty nice raise.
But money spent on the offense means less money to spend on the defense.
And that's where the Cowboys have real need.
Oh, Jerry will redo lots of contracts again, probably back in CD Lamon, Tyler Smith,
and Oso DiZua, and maybe even Jake Ferguson.
But kicking that salary cap can forward is why the 24 and 25 seasons were so poor.
That created situations where the Cowboys couldn't add significant free agent players
to not only fill holes, but fill them well.
But Jerry says this year, he'll bust the budget.
And that means he'll keep pickings.
And yes, he'll redo all those contracts and create some money to spend on the defense.
But how much money would be left to help new defensive coordinator, Christian Parker?
Besides two potential first rounders starting on his defense, it appears to be the Cowboys need
at least three more solid defensive starters.
If they want to turn the corner significantly on their defense to solve season.
But this has been Dallas, recent history.
Spend money on the offense and cobble together the defense.
And yet history shows us, as the Super Bowl approaches, that are the 59 past Super
goals. 48 of them have been won by the team with the best regular season defense.
Next, free speech suffers another blow.
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Freedom of speech in America seems under attack.
Those who speak out are labeled criminals or terrorists or the target, they are the target of revenge.
Now, freedom of speech seems to be losing more ground in the NFL.
For example, in this year's AFC Wildcard Playoff game between Houston and Pittsburgh.
The league-fine Houston standout linebacker, Aziz Al-Shire, $11,593.
Where'd they come up with that figure? $11,593.
What did he do? Well, you know those black strips beneath the eyes that players
wear to cut down on glare? Well, on his black strips,
Al-Shire had written, stop the genocide. His message referred to atrocities reported
during Israel's occupation of Gaza. He has supported Palestine throughout his NFL career.
And he did so in the NFL's Mycleats My Cause program,
which allows you to put your cause on your shoes, just not on your anti-glare strips.
He's also Houston's nominee for NFL's Water Patent Man of the Year award.
It's given annually to the player who demonstrates excellence on the field and get this,
significant commitment to philanthropy and community service off the field.
But this acclaimed player and man is now 12 grand lighter because of NFL Rule 5 Section 4
article 8 of the rulebook. It says that the NFL does not grant permission to players
to convey messages concerning, quote, political activities or causes, or campaigns, or charitable
causes or campaigns. Note, Al-Shire's message never mentioned Israel or Gaza.
Well, it's wonderful for the NFL when players partake in or promote food distribution programs,
education assistance, community improvement. But if you dare to simply write, stop the genocide,
that'll cost you 12 grand. And if Al-Shire is ever disobedient in this way again, ever the fine
jumps to 17 in the half grand. So now, the NFL has established the bottom line cost of freedom of
speech. And now a word from our title sponsor. Today's episode has been brought to you by
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episode of Just One Ring. I'm Norm Hitzkes and know that every day I'll be just wondering about
something. And I'm Mary Hitzkes and I'll just be wondering too.
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