What's Jerry's Explanation for Cooper Rush Bonus Controversy?

As we explained, earlier this week, Rush had a contract incentive that could pay him an additional $500,000 (on top of his $2.5 million salary) should he play 55 percent of the snaps this year.

He'd already hit $250,000 of that for playing 45 percent of the Cowboys' snaps. But when it was revealed that Lance would play this game - and when he did so, from start to finish?

The conspiracy theorists oozed out of the woodwork, charging Jones with benching Rush because he's too "cheap'' to pony up the extra $500,000. (Sidebar: Teams, including the Cowboys, certainly have done "bean-counting'' on late-season snaps to keep from paying. So there is precedent.)

Our problem with the theory is our knowledge that a team can pay the bonus even if the player falls short of it - and that if the Cowboys want to re-sign Rush (he's a free agent, too) - they can as a gesture of good will give him that money.

And Jerry's problem with the theory?

"I didn't even know about it until I read about it," Jones said, denying any nasty plot here. "So nothing, nothing at all. Those incentives are in there for the team. We put them in there so if someone is, in his case, a backup quarterback who has to play, they've got the financial incentives, but they're usually put in there because of the people representing them. And they should be.

"He did really earn some pretty serious incentives this year."

And he can still get 'em, should the Cowboys choose ... conspiracy theories be damned.