Jerry Jones said that support for Cowboys linebacker Rolando McClain remained at the start of the offseason, even as he was missing early workouts.

In an interview with 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday, Jones said that the coaching staff lobbied to keep McClain around this offseason.

"Everybody lobbied to have McClain on the team. Every coach that's associated with the team lobbied for that," Jones said. "To be fair to everybody concerned, we didn't know that he was going to get suspended. But his issues were potentially recognized, maybe not to the extent that he would lose the games that he got in this suspension."

"But make no mistake about it: With all of his warts, he still considered a potential asset for the team by the coaches."

Jones was also asked about the effect McClain's 10-game suspension — coming just a year after another NFL drug policy violation netted him a four-game suspension — added to his missing workouts, affects the Cowboys' chemistry.

"Certainly he has very much respect as to what he can bring to the team. On the other hand, the way things worked this spring, his conditioning, the way it worked as far as letting his teammates down, all of that is frustrating for everybody involved," Jones told the station. "No one any more so or any less than his teammates. All of that's in consideration, but as far as him being around and involved in any way impacting the team during the year, that won't be an issue."

At Monday's news conference for the Canelo Alvarez-Liam Smith fight at AT&T Stadium, Jones explained that keeping McClain on the roster makes financial sense.

"There's some paperwork issues that are involved that impact the team, like salary cap," Jerry Jones said. "We've made a final decision that we don't want to pay the price on the cap."