As they have been known to do, the Cowboys went through with an unusual separation with their head coach. The team moved on from Mike McCarthy a week after Black Monday, thus delaying its entrance onto the coaching carousel.
Dallas is getting started on its candidates, however. The first known name will be Robert Saleh, with NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reporting the former Jets coach received an interview request. Saleh is already on the Jaguars and Raiders’ interview lists, and he has been closely tied to a potential return to the 49ers as defensive coordinator.
[RELATED: 49ers Expected To Offer Saleh DC Job?]
Saleh has completed his Jaguars meeting; his Raiders summit is set for Thursday. No date for Saleh’s Cowboys meeting has emerged, but the unattached coach should be expected to take the interview. Saleh spent four seasons working for an owner (Woody Johnson) who received criticism for meddling. That would be sufficient prep for Jerry Jones, who operates as the Cowboys’ owner and GM.
The Jets fired Saleh five games into this season; they went 3-9 without him after a 2-3 start. New York’s skid under Jeff Ulbrich made Saleh’s tenure look a bit better. The Broncos keeping Zach Wilson as their No. 3 quarterback all season did as well. Saleh went 7-10 in back-to-back seasons with Wilson as the primary triggerman, and the Jets boasted a No. 4 ranking in total defense in both years after beginning Saleh’s tenure ranking last. The Cowboys have not gone defense for a coaching hire since Wade Phillips in 2007, but they will surely be tied to a few candidates on both sides of the ball during this cycle.
The Cowboys’ 2020 coaching search was quite thin, however. The team only met with McCarthy and Marvin Lewis, satisfying the Rooney Rule — which has since been beefed up. Dallas must meet with two external minorities. It would be rather unusual to see Jones pass on a true search once again, but this franchise has operated differently when it comes to head coaches for several years now.
Deion Sanders has already discussed the job with Jones, and while the Colorado HC reaffirmed his commitment to the Big 12 program, he called the job “intriguing” in doing so. A Sanders extension at Colorado may be in the offing, as the Cowboys present potential leverage, but it does not appear the former Cowboys superstar is truly out of the running yet. More traditional candidates are coming, however, with Saleh being the first.
Neon Deion,” Well , me and my boy will just go to Las Vegas then.” “Hello Tom, it’s Deion, uhh, Deion Sanders, yeah that Deion, yeah, what, your phone is breaking up, hello, hello.” To be continued……….
Nice! Add in some of the others below too. Possibly hire two, because Zimmer needs to go (ie: Johnson as HC and Saleh or Flores as DC).
Belichick
Carroll
Flores
Johnson
Monken
How about Gruden?
Get that money coach lol
Jerry is horrible but to be fair, it was McCarthy that walked away during contract discussions. He was not fired.
Willing to bet that McCarthy was probably offered a shot term, bottom 5 lowest paid, head coach contract with roster restrictions.
Saleh come back to sf quit fooling yourself
From a doofus owner to a delusional owner? Tough call but like someone above already said:
Get
That
Bag
Players do it and Saleh deserves something for his pain & suffering lol … plus he’s actually a good coach
Saleh might actually work in Dallas. Robert is kind of a stylish guy (McCarthy is a slob) and suits the franchise better.
Doomsday Defense II built by Saleh, with Dak + good OC has a lot of potential.
If I were a Cowboy fan, I’d have a lot more confidence in Coach Saleh than Coach Sanders.
Does Saleh want to deal with the caprices of old coot Jones though? If I were San Francisco, I’d meet and match the HC contract Jones offers Saleh with an extra million per year and an extra guaranteed year. Make it easy for Saleh to come home.
I think that Saleh gets another shot as a Head Coach because the J-E-T-S gig was a mulligan…the fact that he/ they won any games is a plus given how screwed up that franchise is from the top down.
He got the J-E-T-S defense better but nobody could win with the Quarterbacks he had (20-36) and him getting fired had Aaron Rodgers fingerprints all over the knife in his back including having to have Nathaniel Hackett as the OC. Here is the list of QBs he has had to work with;
Zach Wilson, 31 games
Mike White, 7
Aaron Rodgers, 6*…4 snaps and 5 games
Joe Flacco, 5
Trevor Siemian, 3
Tim Boyle, 2
He will get another crack as a Head Coach but like anybody else he will need these boxes to be checked…an actual Quarterback (Dak), an OC that can utilize the existing talent on the roster (Schottenheimer), Defensive players in place (Micah Parsons et al), a competent GM and an Owner that lets football people make football decisions…Dallas checks three of those five boxes and I’ll let y’all figure that out