Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has a note or two for Netflix.
In an interview with Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, Jones expressed surprise over the decision of producers of the soon-to-be-released Cowboys documentary to overlook one specific aspect of the formation of the Cowboys team that won three Super Bowls in the 1990s.
Jones expected the eight-part series to address the team’s decision to use a first-round pick in the 1989 supplemental draft on Miami quarterback Steve Walsh, weeks after investing the first overall pick in the 1989 draft on UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman.
The tension sparked by the selection of Walsh was, per Jones, “the most trying time of all and I was surprised they missed that.”
It really was a battle. In September 1990, Walsh was traded to the Saints. He appeared in 80 regular-season games with 38 starts, but he never achieved anything close to the success Aikman enjoyed.
Walsh finished with 7,785 passing yards, 40 passing touchdowns, 50 interceptions, and a passer rating of 66.4.
For the Cowboys, it ended up being a footnote. But there’s an interesting alternate reality in which Walsh had become the starter. Would the Cowboys have won three Super Bowls? Would they have won even one?
And what would Aikman have become if he’d been traded to the Saints a year later?