The Dallas Cowboys are weighing up whether they should try and sign veteran safety Earl Thomas, team owner Jerry Jones has said.
Thomas was cut by the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday for "personal conduct that adversely affected" the AFC North team, with the seven-time Pro Bowler reported to have had a training camp fight with a team-mate two days earlier.
Back in 2017, Texas-born Thomas, who played his college football for the state's Longhorns, told the Cowboys to "come and get me" when his time with the Seattle Seahawks ended.
However, the boyhood Dallas fan signed a four-year deal with the Ravens last year and, though he is now available again, a report from NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport said the Cowboys were not expected to make an offer for Thomas.
When that was put to Jones, he told 105.3 The Fan: "He doesn't know what he's talking about. He has no idea what he's talking about.
"The only one that knows that is me, standing right here."
Coach Harbaugh on today's statement on Earl Thomas: pic.twitter.com/jmDNxFMQXn
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 23, 2020
Jones said that Dallas were doing their due diligence and discussing whether Thomas was a player they wanted to go after.
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Xavier Woods are slated to be the starting safeties for Dallas, who lost versatile defensive back Byron Jones to the Miami Dolphins in free agency.
"One of the biggest things that you weigh - it's obvious but it's right - is you evaluate where we are at safety, in the secondary, with our numbers," Jones said.
"We are going to have limited time as far as our evaluation is concerned. These decisions - like the one you're talking about with Earl - they're never served up like a softball, they always come in awkward, in a lot of different ways.
"That's where I step in and basically put all this together to see whether or not it is smart to make a decision like that.
"I haven't visited personally with Earl, I don't know that anybody has, but that would probably be the next step, if we are at a point where we need to sit there and activate this thing.
"We know the player, we've got a good read, everybody in the league does.
"You know where he is skill-wise and where he is at this part of his career. All of those go into consideration. We have a lot of things to put in and then I'll make a decision."