Jerry Jones was not locked out of Cowboys’ locker room after all

The rumor that he was being kept away from the team after Sunday night's game is just that: a rumor.

AP Photo/Sharon Ellman

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones

ARLINGTON — Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones discussed a couple of rumors Monday on his weekly radio show.

Jones briefly touched on the Sean Payton speculation and also gave his thoughts on his father not being immediately let into the Cowboys locker room after Sunday night’s 19-13 loss in Atlanta.

In regards to the Cowboys entertaining the idea of talking to Payton about a future head coaching position, Jones gave his shortest response of the 11-minute interview.

“That has nothing to do with us,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan [KRLD-FM]. “He’s head coach of the New Orleans Saints, albeit he is suspended. And that has nothing to do with us.”

ESPN reported Sunday morning that the NFL has voided the multiyear contract extension Payton signed with the Saints in 2011, making him a free agent at the end of the season.

There were conflicting reports that Jerry Jones was angry about not being immediately let into the Cowboys locker room after Sunday night’s game. So, was there a plan in place to keep the owner away from the team?

Not exactly.

“I was right there,” Stephen Jones explained. “What they do is they hold the door because there’s media and there’s different people coming in and out. He hit the door and said, ‘It’s Jerry’ and they didn’t realize it was him, and then they let him in.

“Obviously, they didn’t know that it was him. Once they figured out it was him, they let him right in. But there was nothing contentious or anything like that. It was just not knowing that he was the one trying to get in the door.”