Report: ‘Feeling around NFL’ is Mike McCarthy will return to Dallas Cowboys in 2025
It is starting to seem more likely than not that Mike McCarthy could return to the Dallas Cowboys in 2025.
Jerry Jones has been dropping breadcrumbs left and right for a few weeks now. At just about every turn or radio appearance, Jerry has expressed confidence/optimism/support/call-it-what-you-want in favor of Mike McCarthy as the head coach of his football team. It should be noted that Jerry did not exactly do this back in January when it would have made sense (in a literal sense, not a contextual one) to extend the skipper. As we are all aware, he chose to let McCarthy (and a majority of his staff, including new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer) run at the season in contract years which has existed as a cloud hanging over them throughout the entire campaign.
As noted though, Jerry has offered that McCarthy is a fine coach, a Super Bowl-winning one at that, and said things like that it isn’t impossible for McCarthy to return to the team in 2025. Conventional wisdom suggests that this seems more likely than not given that the hottest would-be name on the market (Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson) likely won’t be a match for the Cowboys based on the fact that they are, um, the Cowboys.
In terms of names, the actual biggest on the market figured to be the legendary Bill Belichick, but this week he joined the University of North Carolina which takes him off of the board. For what it’s worth, reports are that Belichick and his group were not only unsure if Dallas would have an opening but if Jerry would cede control/power to him. Obviously that is the thing when it comes to the Cowboys.
Connecting dots it stands to reason that there may not be a worthwhile option for the Cowboys if they do indeed reach a point where they are looking for a new head coach in a month’s time. National reporting is starting to corroborate this. On Friday, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini note that “word around the league” is that Mike McCarthy is going to return to the Cowboys for 2025.
From our friends at Bleacher Report:
On track to have their first losing season since 2020, the Dallas Cowboys may not be looking to move on from Mike McCarthy as their head coach.
Per Dianna Russini of The Athletic on the Scoop City podcast (starts at 9:35 mark), there is a “feeling around the league” that McCarthy will be back with the Cowboys in 2025.
The feeling in question could just be the logical leap that anyone is able to make right now. If it’s dark and cloudy outside then it is more probable than not that it is going to rain. That type of thing.
But if you want to put on a tinfoil hat you could convince yourself that Jerry and the Cowboys assessed this overall situation over the last who-knows-how-long and that is why they began to advocate more for McCarthy. Maybe they were getting ahead of things so as to sell that this is what they wanted. Or heck, maybe this really is what they do actually want.
If we are measuring the wants and wishes of important people involved, quarterback Dak Prescott has also issued a public endorsement. Last week he offered a rare public comment (since his injury and surgery) and noted that he wants McCarthy back. He even went as far as saying Mike deserves a shot “on his terms.”
“Your coach seems like he’s playing on his last contract and [I’m] almost feeling helpless like I can’t help him in this situation, especially a guy you believe in so much and you believe in being your head coach,” Prescott told Yahoo Sports during a Tuesday afternoon Zoom call. “Control what I can control, help and support Mike to every extent that I can.”
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“I believe in him wholeheartedly,” Prescott said, speaking in partnership with DICK’S Sporting Goods. “I don’t want to necessarily get into the nuts and the screws of it all obviously, but I think he definitely deserves a chance — another contract and a chance to coach this team amongst more influence. ‘On his terms’ may be a good way to say it.
“But I wholeheartedly believe in him.”
There are still four games left in the regular season for the Cowboys so any serious conversation along these lines will be tabled until after the New Year begins; however, it is starting to seem like there is a lot of smoke building which would suggest a fire is somewhere around these parts.
Is it the flame of Mike McCarthy? Alive and not at all extinguished?
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