It is unusual for NFL players to question the efforts of their peers, mostly because it is sort of understood that it takes a high level of “want-to” just to play pro football.

Having said that … Are the 3-7 Dallas Cowboys so lacking in the area of effort that they deserve to be called out by Jason and Travis Kelce?

On the brothers’ popular “New Heights” podcast, Chiefs star Travis and retired Eagles standout Jason … went there. The conversation started with noting that coach Mike McCarthy, who is in the lame-duck year of his contract, is not likely coming back next year. That’s no revelation, of course.

They also mentioned the injury factor, citing the fact that MVP quarterback Dak Prescott is out for the year.

‘It sucks when you’re losing,” Travis said. “It’s tough when you don’t have your best players playing. Dak’s not playing. It’s tough, man.”

And they touched on the buck-stops-here issue, pointing the blame at owner Jerry Jones.

“I think it’s more Jerry’s fault,” Jason said. “He’s the one who is making all these decisions.”

The educated Cowboys fan, of course, knows that many of “these decisions” are by design, with the organization planning for 2024 to be a “keep our powder dry” year in anticipation of a “Blow It Up/Remodel” effort starting in March of 2025, when Dallas can have $100 million in cap room.

The Kelces obviously don’t know about that. But “effort”? They know plenty about that. And …

Said Jason: “It doesn’t look like anything is headed in the right direction. It looks like a bad situation. … You wanna talk about (negative) quotes. There’s a lotta quotes, stuff on the sideline.”

Added Travis: “It doesn’t really look like that’s a motivated football team. I don’t know. It looks like everybody’s collecting checks over there. You can tell when a team is fighting, and it doesn’t look like too many guys are out there fighting.”

Jones and McCarthy swear that isn’t true, that the players’ lack of effort is not the issue. But as the Cowboys locker room comes to the realization that Dallas isn’t going anywhere? Combined with their slow-to-come awareness of “Blow It Up”? The Kelces’ comments don’t sound like nasty insults. They sound like educated observations.