Five months ago, after the Dallas Cowboys had toppled the Seattle Seahawks 30-23 on the road and staked their claim as Super Bowl hopefuls, team owner Jerry Jones was floating through the locker room. Tapping players on the elbow and winking as he walked by, he joked that this was the kind of win that might have prompted him to form a line out of his office for contract extensions.

"And I might have signed them all, too," Jones said, half-jokingly.

View photos DeMarco Murray got a nice pay raise after leaving the Cowboys for the NFC East rival Eagles. (AP) More

Yet here we are, in the midst of what might be the most remarkable period of financial self-control in Cowboys history. All of the sudden, this is the team that passed on the searing media spotlight of Johnny Manziel and drafted offensive guard Zack Martin, who became an All-Pro as a rookie. It's the franchise that weighed the off-field concerns of superstar wideout Dez Bryant against his colossal on-field production – and chose to give him a safer, salary-cap averse, one-year franchise tag instead of a monster extension. The extension would have freed room to spend more money this offseason, but the Cowboys chose the conservative play.

And then came Thursday, when Dallas bricked up the vault and said it wouldn't pay league-leading rusher DeMarco Murray more than he was worth – and stuck to it, letting Murray slip away to the hated Philadelphia Eagles.

All of these moves are alarmingly prudent when placed against this franchise's history of being a slot machine for star players. As one high-level NFL agent put it, "The two best days in the year are your birthday, and when Jerry Jones takes your call."

All of which begged the questions Thursday: "Which chair is Jerry Jones tied to, and how dark is the closet where he's being kept?"

It's a joke, of course. It's undeniable that Jones will always be the rock-star front man for the Cowboys. But this streak of fiscal responsibility has some fingerprints on it, and those who know the Cowboys say those identifying marks belong largely to Jones' son Stephen. Outside of Dallas and NFL circles, not a lot is known about the man, other than he's the offspring of arguably the league's wildest owner, and carries a business card that lists a one-man corporation: "Stephen Jones: Dallas Cowboys Chief Operating Officer/Executive Vice President/Director of Player Personnel."

That's a mouthful in any organization but also not entirely uncommon for owners' sons who are expected to inherit the kingdom and all its glory. Stephen Jones is that guy in Dallas. He's the one who gets the party bus and the $4 billion franchise that accompanies it.

View photos The Cowboys are a family business for Jerry (left) and Stephen Jones. (USA TODAY Sports) More

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