The Cowboys’ Thursday media availability allowed team officials to provide updates on the contract statuses of players like Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons. Head coach Mike McCarthy also faces an uncertain future beyond 2024, however. 
McCarthy was retained following Dallas’ wild-card loss to the Packers, but it soon became clear he would not receive an extension. 2024 is thus the final year of his contract, and to little surprise owner Jerry Jones was asked about the decision to set McCarthy up for a lame-duck campaign. When giving a reason why no new deal was offered, Jones simply replied “Green Bay” (h/t Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News).
The Cowboys’ latest postseason exit came about via an underwhelming home loss to McCarthy’s former team. It was not sufficient for the 60-year-old to be let go, but Jones’ remark confirms a rebound will be needed to ensure he remains in place for 2025 and beyond. Dallas has gone 12-5 in each of the past three seasons, all of which have come during McCarthy’s tenure. The former Super Bowl winner will be counted on to deliver a playoff breakthrough in 2024, but Jones praised him when addressing his situation.
“Mike has shown me that I want to have him and he’s qualified and he’s excellent and the players are excellent and he’s shown me that he could be our coach for years to come, Jones said (via Watkins). “He sits next to me in the draft. I really call on him a lot. If you can’t get along with Mike McCarthy, you can’t get along.”
McCarthy admitted earlier this week that his contract status is “a challenge,” and the Cowboys have plenty of work still to do on the contract front over the coming weeks. The team will nevertheless be expected (at least, internally) to replicate the regular season success of the past three years and in doing so set up a potential postseason run. Coming up short will no doubt lead to increased speculation regarding McCarthy’s job status and the potential of Jones allowing his contract to expire similar to Jason Garrett in 2019.
Bill Belichick has been connected to joining the Cowboys or Eagles next offseason if one or both NFC East teams move on from their coaches. Jones repeated his praise of the six-time Super Bowl winner during the press conference, but for the time being attention will be paid to McCarthy’s performance during what could be his final campaign in Dallas.
Jerry is both cheaper and more loyal than he gets credit for, so letting the big name coach work his whole contract before replacing him makes sense.
I actually think that McCarthy has a chance to earn an extension. It would take a deep playoff run, and nothing less, but the chance is present. Obviously, the default is that he is not re-hired (or even fired midseason, should the team nosedive-that could be possible). While it is the most likely outcome, McCarthy not returning is not completely set in stone as of yet in my mind. If the Cowboys make it to the NFC Championship, I think that Jerry has to make a decision. What if they go further, though? If they go the Super Bowl, does Jones fire McCarthy?
As far as replacements go, I’d like to add one caveat. People throw Belichick’s name around liberally, but I think that we’re forgetting another veteran coach (odd to think of him as such, but coaches don’t last long these days), and that’s Mike Vrabel. I don’t know the dynamics on who the Jones family prefers between the two, but the issue with Belichick is his age. Belichick almost seems a certainty to need a lengthy rebuild to his specifications, even in its shortest “win-now” iteration. You don’t hire Belichick and realistically expect anything less than a full philosophical change, and at age 72/73, a three year commitment is risky (unless you’re in politics). I expect that Belichick knows this and would speed it up, but it still takes time.
Vrabel has a few similar qualities, not all as he was not a Belichick coach, but some. His age, however, provides a better advantage. Is Vrabel an upgrade over McCarthy? Maybe, maybe not, but realistically it’s hard to upgrade over an 10-13 win type coach to begin with. You’re really just betting on someone who can bring an extra oomph that you think McCarthy is missing. Belichick obviously has an argument there, with his eight rings, but even a mild rebuild might take more time than he’s going to get-if it ends up being successful, and if he hasn’t aged out.
I could see Vrabel landing there. I could also see them being the team to woo Ben Johnson.
Good point. It would be a bold move to go from such an experienced and near guaranteed double digit win construct to a young and inexperienced candidate, but if they had to pick one of those guys, Johnson would be fit all the boxes. His near miss with Washington, and Quinn’s history in Dallas, would make that rivalry all the sweeter as a bonus.
The situation just has the feel that Jerry will swing big next offseason. Whether it’s Bill B, or Deon Sanders (the comments would be off the charts if he’s hired!), I wouldn’t be surprised. I don’t see him going w/ an ‘up & coming hot’ OC/DC for the next HC.
Deion Sanders would be crazy! We hear about him all year out here in Colorado despite his record.
I read somewhere him and his son being drafted as a (hypothectical) package deal for Jerry. That would be pure entertainment!
Mike Ditka in New Orleans caliber entertainment!
Jerry Jones would be committing Commercial Hara-Kiri if Dallas ever hires Belichick — who’s a career loser without Brady.
How many teams just passed Belichick over for HC? But in the media every potential job opening he’s somehow linked. Maybe it’s just me who looks at it from a with Brady and without Brady perspective. The decisions he made on personnel as a coach and GM were head scratching. He treated his players worse than media personnel. Without Tom Brady nobody wanted to play for Belichick other than maybe Rodney Harrison out of loyalty for giving him a real shot which is one thing I do give Belichick credit for. I’d call him a great defensive mind but this is also a guy who felt it necessary to tape the Rams Super Bowl practices to help his defensive genius. You ask me Belichick is like the traveling backup qb who picks up rings as he goes along. Yes he was there but imo without Brady the game passed him by many many years ago
The Brady made Belichick narrative is moronic. Every time Tom’s contract was up for an extension he took a team friendly deal because he was smart enough to know Belichick gave him a better chance of succeeding than any other HC.
I think there have been 15 attempts by SB winning coaches to capture a championship with a second team and every attempt has failed. I doubt even Payton or Belichick would be able to manage a break through with the Cowboys.
Parcells made it back to the SB with New England after winning 2 with the Giants. I think the Cowboys would take anything past the divisional round.
Mike Holmgren also got close with the Seahawks but successful coaches are understandably reluctant to abandon their old methods. This probably works against them in an era where adaptability is important.