On Thursday news broke that the Dallas Cowboys signed La'el Collins, a former LSU lineman who was not taken in last week's NFL draft due to a murder investigation of his pregnant former girlfriend. It's a horrifying story to read, and one that understandably made NFL teams nervous.

Collins was never a suspect, but police did want to speak with him about the incident, and so Collins went undrafted.

Collins was never accused or charged with a crime, though, and was excused from further questioning this week when a paternity test showed the child was not his. While it's a nightmarish story, Collins wasn't found to be responsible. And as a consensus first-round talent, he absolutely deserved to be signed by an NFL team.

Still, the fact that it was the Cowboys who signed him caused more than a few eyebrows to raise. By signing Collins, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones proved that he just can't resist a headline.

Jones has consistently shown that he wants to prove the rest of the league wrong, and he loves attention. This is a guy who reportedly had to be physically stopped from picking Johnny Manziel in the draft.

This can be a good thing and a bad thing. When it comes to someone like Collins, Jones' willingness to embrace the headlines and take a chance on a player is a great thing. Jones doesn't believe in "distractions." Or, rather, Jones loves distractions. The Cowboys are the greatest show on earth, and when it comes to headlines, the more the better.

Again, with someone like Collins, this is great. He was shown to have done nothing wrong, and the Cowboys weren't squeamish about taking him.

But this isn't always the case in Dallas.

Jones' love of attention and headlines, and his desire to prove that he's smarter than every other GM in the league, led to the signing of Greg Hardy, who was given a 10-game suspension after he was found to have "used physical force" on his girlfriend.

Jones' explanation as to why the team signed Hardy?

"We certainly understand the critique and…we don't in any way want to have domestic violence and some of the tragedy that goes along with that. On the other hand, sports offers an opportunity for redemption. It really does. Especially in the NFL."

There's also Randy Gregory, one of the Cowboys' draft picks this year, who failed a drug test at the NFL scouting combine and was late (or outright missed) several meetings with NFL teams before the draft. And Josh Brent, who was convicted of intoxicated manslaughter after losing control of his vehicle in an accident in which teammate Jerry Brown died, and then welcomed back to the team.

It's hard to tell where Jones' heart lies. Is he a man who believes in the redemptive power of the Dallas Cowboys? Or is he a showman who can't resist bringing in a big name, no matter the circumstances? Or is it somewhere in between?