For Jerry Jones, Parting Ways With Tony Banks Proved To Be Start of Trouble For 2001 Dallas Cowboys

Quarterbacks were in abundance on the Valley Ranch lawn during the 2001 campaign. The legendary Troy Aikman had retired in April, and team owner Jerry Jones was busy orchestrating a merry game of musical chairs in searching for a suitable ...replacement.
Cowboy enthusiasts remember the scene well, their beloved franchise owning five different starting signal callers from August to November, the once fabled "America's Team" looking strangely akin to a minor league baseball team searching desperately for a reliable arm out of the bullpen.
Tony Banks, Quincy Carter, Anthony Wright, Clint Stoerner, and Ryan Leaf each found their respective names at the top of the depth chart at some point during the season, a 5-11 marathon that seemed to accomplish more damage than good.
The unquestioned starter coming out of mini-camps, the sixth-year veteran Banks was inexplicably cut early in preseason by an owner who seemed determined to reach the 10-win threshold he had so outrageously predicted months before with the raw talent of Carter, a wide-eyed rookie from Georgia. While Jerry was busy touting excitement and a brighter future as the primary causes for such a bold move, fans and sportswriters could only shake their head in bewilderment. They didn't understand Jones using a second-round pick on Carter in the April draft, and they surely couldn't see why Banks should be ditched while his replacement had yet to even learn the proper grip of a professional size football.
Without a doubt, it was a decision that destroyed the season before it ever started, the Cowboys' once-aspiring offense destined for NFL ineptitude.

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Jerry Jones’ Worst Decision That Never Happened

The Cowboys were on the lookout for a new quarterback in the spring of 2001, having just released the legendary Troy Aikman.  It was unfamiliar territory for a Jerry Jones regime that had walked into Valley Ranch for the first time in 1989 virtually holding to the golden right hand of Aikman.

Now twelve years later, it was time to seek a replacement.  Without a first-round selection to look forward to in the draft, the free-agent wire was the operative avenue to find one.  Trent Dilfer, Elvis Grbac, and Tony Banks were the cream of the available crop.  Or so went the reports.  The Cowboys, so the story goes, had their eye on someone else.  Just who that someone was, is of definite interest.

Ryan Leaf

“In the spring, we did an evaluation of Ryan [Leaf],” Jerry Jones said in September of 2001.  “At that time, we thought he could help our team and have potential for the future.  That hasn’t changed.  He was our top choice in the spring for a veteran to come in, even before we made the Tony Banks decision.” An injury to his throwing wrist prevented the Cowboys from signing Leaf at the time, leading to the acquisition of Banks, an association that didn’t see the end of August.

There are so many ways that history could tell an even harsher tale of that season for the Cowboys had Leaf been healthy that spring.