Cowboys Proving It's 'Branding Over 'Brotherhood' as Jerry's 'Above The Fold'

All last season, we heard about the Dallas Cowboys' "brotherhood" within the locker room as the franchise endured a tough time en route to a 7-10 season.

There wasn't going to be anything that would create a divide in the locker room, right? 

Well, as it turns out, something was always bubbling beneath the surface that has now erupted on social media between former Cowboys leader DeMarcus Lawrence, who left in free agency to join the Seattle Seahawks, and Micah Parsons.

Lawrence stated in a Seahawks interview with Brian Nemhauser that he knew he would never win a Super Bowl in Dallas, and Micah took exception to that, calling it a "clown (expletive).''

Of course, that wasn't the end of it. Lawrence clapped back at Parsons and his podcast and stated, "If you spend more time winning, then maybe I wouldn't have left."

If you read CowboysCountry.com and watch The Fish Report, none of this completely shocks you. Indeed, hours before this spit hit the fan, we wrote about the true meaning of Parsons' "It's My Time'' tweet. To wit ...

"Parsons tweeted this right as 11-year veteran locker-room leader DeMarcus Lawrence was sealing a free agency deal to move to the Seattle Seahawks. That, and other transactions, like the retirement of Zack Martin, mark a sea change in the way that locker room might be led.''

We said it politely. But we said it. And ...

Oh boy, those cracks are now busted wide open. There's no keeping the harmony of the locker room from being the top priority anymore.

It's broken. It's baloney.

Our own Mike Fisher has coined the term "53 Brands" ... a theory that suggests that Dallas players feed off the marketing money to be made off the field in the same manner in which owner Jerry Jones does, and in a sense, we are seeing it play out here.

Tank thinks his voice is more important than the team he spent 11 years with.

Micah thinks his social-media voice simply must be heard, too.

"Branding'' over "Brotherhood''?

Micah and "Tank" were teammates no less than 48 hours ago, and now that "brotherhood" we have heard so much about appears to carry about as much weight as flypaper, and we are seeing that play out in real time.

Lawrence took a parting shot at the Cowboys, which seemed to many like a cheap shot, and Parsons took exception to that. Now the entire NFL world has all the ammunition to go after Dallas yet again.

I wonder what the leading topic of all the sports talk shows will be today? 

Jerry loves it when his Cowboys are above the fold, and with Micah and DeMarcus' feud, this might be headline stuff for the next week.

A quiet and offseason no more. ... and a question that looms even bigger than one or two players, or even all of them: Is Jerry Jones bothered by the attention, negative though it is? Or basking in it?