More speculation swirls about NFL trying to take away the Cowboys from Jerry Jones

Folks generally observing the NFL landscape might assume it's impossible for the league to really take any action against Jerry Jones for his attacking approach to Roger Goodell's contract. Don't be so sure -- at the very least the league is letting Jones know that his behavior is unwanted and, as CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora reported, that he's losing credibility with some other NFL owners.

And perhaps the league will want to come after Jerry's franchise, with rumors continuing to swirl about interest in the league yanking the Cowboys away from Jones.

The league sent a letter to Jones letting him know that his recent conduct was "detrimental to the league's best interests" and telling him the league did not appreciate him leaking information about Roger Goodell's contract negotiations to the public.

So there is certainly some groundwork laid for trying to come after the Cowboys.

And on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal became the second major outlet to report that other NFL owners had considered the idea of trying to come after Jones's franchise, or at least remove him as the primary owner.

The WSJ claimed an "exclusive" on the report, but they were certainly not the first to report it, and were rightfully skewered by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, who reported the same story on Sunday night, saying owners were discussing the "nuclear" option for firing back at Jones over his meddling in the Goodell situation.

Everyone thought Goodell's contract was going to be a done deal, but Jerry has stuck his hands in the whole process even though he's not a member of the compensation committee and now with other owners trying to push this thing through, he has threatened to start suing everyone else.

It's not going over well. And as La Canfora and I discussed on the Pick Six Podcast this week (subscribe on iTunes right here!), it could continue to get uglier if Jones is unwilling to back down from other owners.

My belief is Jones will not back down if the Cowboys continue to lose football games -- they get the Eagles at home on Sunday night with Philly coming off a bye and Tyron Smith/Sean Lee could be out, which would spell trouble -- and in fact will start to pin his lack of success on Goodell and the Ezekiel Elliott suspension, which will now last through December 24 and Week 16.

La Canfora agrees and said that there is a lot of "internal squabbling" and that things are turning into a "soap opera," with the league confused how to actually deal with everything that is unfolding.

"There's been internal squabbling about the timing of [Goodell's contract] and when to finalize it and what the PR hit is going to look like and do you just take it and whatever. I continue to hear the push is on to get it done sooner rather than later and that Jerry Jones doesn't have nearly the backing and the consortium of owners in his corner as you would think. In fact, he continues to alienate himself and to draw the ire of other owners who previously were inclined to at least put up with him," La Canfora said. "I don't know where it's going. This is uncharted territory. This is sort of out of a soap opera now -- this is more like fitting in the plot from an old 'Dallas' episode ... two oil tycoons fighting each other at the country club. It's bizarre. And the league I don't think knows exactly how to handle it one way or another because it's so out there.

"But I can tell you there are people out there who are legitimately concerned now about Jerry Jones' impulse control, Jerry Jones' decision-making processes ... people think he's acting in a negligent manner and a manner that's harmful to the league. And they're trying to ascertain beyond him being pissed off about Ezekiel Elliott why it's so deep-seated. And is it even rational?"

La Canfora points out that if this vitriol continues through the year and into the offseason and is still going on when the spring owners meetings roll around, "there could literally be a faction who wants him stripped of his franchise" and want someone like Stephen Jones or another member of the family take over for Jerry.

This is a realistic situation. If the other NFL owners believe Jerry simply won't back down and will continue to try and push his own agenda instead of the "good of the league," and if they think he might try to submarine Goodell's contract or sue the league if it pushes forth with Goodell's contract, the threat of Jerry losing his franchise could become reality.

If it does, the ramifications would be severe. Jerry would fire back at the league, there would be dirt thrown all around and ownership circles might descend into chaos. It would essentially be the NFL's real-life version of "Game of Thrones," albeit with slightly less blood and fewer sympathetic characters.

In short, as La Canfora said, if this continues on, "there's not going to be any winners."

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