Stephen A. Smith typically serves as the honorary Dallas Cowboys hater on ESPN’s First Take, providing countless rants about the organization on the show over the years. But on Tuesday’s edition of the show, Smith sat back and watched as legendary actor and noted Cowboys fan Denzel Washington openly spoke his mind about the state of the team.
The offseason has been a tumultuous one for the Cowboys, highlighted by an ongoing feud between star edge rusher Micah Parsons and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
This, of course stems, from Parsons seeking a lucrative contract extension to stay in Dallas, which has ended up going south after Jones bluntly declared that Parsons has to “want to get paid” and that signing him to an extension is risky for the Cowboys because Parsons could “be hit by a car” in the future.
We’ve seen plenty of contract disputes between owners and players around the league. But what we haven’t commonly seen is an owner like Jones blatantly disrespecting one of his best players amidst the negotiations as he has done with Parsons.
During an appearance on First Take alongside Spike Lee to promote their new movie Highest 2 Lowest, which premieres later this week, Denzel Washington aired his grievances with Jones’ offseason behavior when it comes to Parsons. In particular, Washington claimed that Jones was “thinking of his pocket” before thinking about Cowboys fans.
“He ain’t thinking about us. He’s thinking about his pocket,” said Washington. “There is box office and there is Oscars. Jerry, been a while, huh? Ain’t been to the show, you wouldn’t know. Ain’t been to the show, wouldn’t know. Haven’t been to the show, wouldn’t know what it is to win.”
Washington’s message for Jones left Stephen A. Smith speechless, who only commented that there was nothing else he needed to add to the conversation.
“I don’t need to add,” said Smith. “I don’t need to add anything.”
“All money ain’t good money, Jerry.”
Denzel Washington is not pleased with Jerry Jones and the Cowboys 😯 pic.twitter.com/u9odJDHKQt
— First Take (@FirstTake) August 12, 2025
Washington then continued to rip Jones and the Cowboys, explaining that while he is a devoted Cowboys fan, he is quickly becoming tired of the yearly drama that is involved with being a fan of the team.
“I love the Cowboys. Because I really love them, this is why I feel the way I feel. But that’s not what I’m hear to talk about. I’m here to talk about the movie. And speaking of the movie, what does it say at the bottom of the movie? All money ain’t good money, Jerry. All money ain’t good money, Jerry. August 15th, we open Friday.”
It’s hard to argue with Washington’s sentiment here. If we’re correlating Oscars to Super Bowl championships, it has been 30 seasons since Jones has put together an Oscar-worthy team.
Still, it is pretty wild to see Washington go at Jones so directly considering the two-time Academy Award winning actor has frequently been a motivational speaker for the Cowboys in years past.
On paper, it doesn’t seem like that is set to change in 2025. Aside from bringing in George Pickens to pair alongside CeeDee Lamb, the 2025 Cowboys roster don’t look all that different from the 2024 team that finished with a 7-10 record. So unless we see some drastic improvements in 2025, Denzel Washington, and millions of Cowboys fans, could be in for another disappointing year.