The Dallas Cowboys own the No. 12 pick in the 2026 NFL draft on Thursday night. On Wednesday Jerry Jones sat down to talk to the press alongside his son Stephen Jones, head coach Brian Schottenheimer, and vice president of football operations Will McClay. Oh, and Bill Clinton was there too, obviously.
About 25 minutes into the press conference, while Jones was fielding a question from Joe Hoyt of the Dallas Morning News, the former president walked past the big glass windows. Jones immediately cut the reporter off and redirected everyone’s attention to the atrium. The assembled media seemed genuinely delighted to then see Clinton walk by out of nowhere.
Once Clinton disappeared Hoyt continued with his question and just as Jones started to answer Clinton then reappeared in the doorway. As Clinton slowly entered the room Jones jumped up to greet him. Then he tripped and nearly fell off the stage to the horror of just about everyone. While the Cowboys’ official stream of the press conference only captured the audio of Jones almost going down, ESPN's Jeff Darlington had the perfect angle to show just how close the press conference came to total disaster.
What an incredible moment in Dallas Cowboys history. Just a former president randomly wandering around, walking into a press conference to joke about negotiating, minutes before the Cowboys revealed that they would not be negotiating with George Pickens this offseason and would make him play the '26 season under the franchise tag.
Every video of Jones nearly falling that doesn't show him—like Jane Slater’s video, for example—makes it sound like George’s secret briefcase recording on Seinfeld.
These are the kinds of whimsical distractions that the modern Cowboys are trying to work around 36 hours before the NFL draft.
Of course, maybe Clinton showing up is a good sign for Cowboys fans. The team's last three Super Bowl victories all took place during Clinton's first term as president. His first inauguration took place on January 20, 1993 and the Cowboys beat the Bills in the Super Bowl just 11 days later. Then they won again in '94 and '96.
Unfortunately, Clinton has won more recently than the Cowboys. He was re-elected in Nov. '96, beating Bob Dole, while the Cowboys have not been back to the Super Bowl since and have failed to win a single NFC championship title since Clinton left office.
If Jerry tripping over a chair trying to greet an old friend is the worst stumble the Cowboys experience this week, that's pretty good for them.
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STEPHEN DOUGLAS
Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.
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