ARLINGTON, Texas — Ambiguity still remains about Mike McCarthy’s future as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, but he and team owner/general manager Jerry Jones cleared some of that up on Sunday.
After Dallas’ 23-19, last-second home defeat against the Washington Commanders (12-5) that ran their 2024 overall record to 7-10, both Jones and McCarthy, especially McCarthy, made it apparent that they’re both leaning toward keeping their union intact going forward.
“I thought we really played with a lot of the kind of energy that you play if you were going to be in the playoffs,” Jones said postgame. “So this game really… was a real tribute to our team and gives me a lot of encouragement going forward.”
McCarthy’s 49-34 record since becoming Dallas’ head coach in 2020 is the ninth-best in the NFL, and that .583 winning percentage could rise as high as tied for the eighth-best in the league during his tenure if the Minnesota Vikings lose on “Sunday Night Football” against the Detroit Lions.
“Mike is one of the best coaches that I think there is,” Jones said. “He was made the coach here because I thought that. He’s done absolutely nothing to diminish my opinion of him as a coach, and I’m really impressed with the way the players identify and are inside with him. That’s important because he’s had some times when each of those players individually as well as a team have not been fun times. He’s been there for them.”
“I have a lot of confidence in myself as a head coach,” McCarthy said postgame when asked about his five-year body of work. “I think like anything, body of work, you know the statistics, I think it’s more about the program, the details of what needs to get done. How can we get better? All those things go into these decisions of whether you originally get the job or continue to move forward. I’m definitely in position with Jerry to move the program forward. There’s no question about that in my mind.”
Jones is enamored with McCarthy in large part because of the team’s three consecutive 12-win seasons from 2021 to 2023 when quarterback Dak Prescott was healthy. He also doesn’t believe Dallas’ injury-plagued 7-10 campaign should not be at the center of his decision about whether or not to move forward with McCarthy.
“I don’t know that I am considering making a change is really what I’m trying to say,” Jones said. … “The complimentary talk about him is I think fact. I think I can say that about him no matter what I think [about the future]. … Do we really think that this year in any way, in any place should be the basis of going forward to next year? I don’t know that this year should be the basis of that, relative to a contract, how long, all of those kinds of things. I wouldn’t say that it is at all, relative to the contract. I think it was to do with the situation.”
When asked point blank if his first preference is to remain with the Cowboys, McCarthy gave a resounding answer: yes.
“Absolutely. I have a lot invested here, and the Cowboys have a lot invested in me,” McCarthy said. “And then there’s a personal side to all these decisions. They all point the right direction. … Those are all positive attributes that you take into account. Absolutely, I’m a builder. I believe in building programs. I believe in developing young players. So, at the end of day, it is about winning and you have to have those components in place to get this thing where it needs to be. I think we have a very good foundation here.”
So when will a decision be made by Jones? Well, let’s take a look at the last time he made a coaching decision: when he parted ways with Jason Garrett after the conclusion of the 2019 regular season. Dallas’s final game, a 47-16 win vs. Washington, took place on Dec. 29. He was let go a week later on Jan. 5. Jones will likely follow a similar timeline given McCarthy can’t talk with other teams until his current deal expires on Jan. 14. Prescott told CBS in a one on one interview that he will go to bat on McCarthy’s behalf to Jones, and other players have also expressed support for him. That’s something Jones will consider.
“I’ll follow this kind of the time frame that I’ve done in the past,” Jones said. … “The way that it’s evolved in the past there will be a time frame, and I can tell you the past is not necessarily consistent in terms of the time frame. … So that [the Jason Garrett process] gives you an idea, but the process involved a lot of work, a lot of time. … Looking at options, of hearing people’s perspectives. I’ll visit the coaches and players ad nauseum over the next days.”
Will Jones even let other teams talk to his current head coach? If McCarthy does eventually express a strong desire to leave Dallas, he would allow it because he doesn’t want someone coaching the Cowboys that doesn’t want to be with the organization. Ultimately, it could come down to what Jones called “tolerance for ambiguity.” So far, McCarthy’s tolerance appears rather high.
“The facts are that he’s under contract,” Jones said. … “Then, I would say go talk [if he doesn’t want to be be in Dallas]. I don’t want anybody here, that’s not healthy to have somebody around that wants to be someplace else. Really it’s not. … I’m saying that I wouldn’t wany anybody coaching that didn’t want to be here, and to be clear, I don’t think I don’t know that he doesn’t want to.”
Speaking of contract status, Jones would prefer to have McCarthy’s contract have a lower base salary with plenty of incentives, something he still believes leads to success despite the uncertainty of 2024 not yield on-field results.
“I’ve had all kinds of agreements with coaches and other employees,” Jones said. “My most successful agreements have been when there was less guaranteed, and they made more on the incentive plan. That’s been the most success I’ve had with the agreements.”
Jerry Jones’ accountability
Another factor in McCarthy’s is favor is Jones directly acknowledged he has some regrets in the way he built his 2024 roster. He spent an NFL-low $19.3 million in free agency since the last Super Bowl, per OverTheCap.com, leaning almost entirely on the draft to supplement their roster after losing eight players in free agency, tied for the third-most in a single offseason in team history.
“I think that’s fair,” Jones said. “I think that’s very fair, and I always provide the roster for the coaches. So if you don’t get there, then you’ve always got some second-guessing, and yes, I second-guess myself all the time. So the answer is yes. We make a lot of decisions. Some of them don’t work out as good others, but the good ones are mine and the bad ones are Stephen’s.”
Just because Jones has roster regrets does NOT mean he will be relinquishing the title of general manager. The title of Dallas Cowboys general manager won’t change until Jones, 82-years-old, is six feet under.
“No, no,” Jones said when asked if he would consider giving anyone else the title of Cowboys general manager. “I bought the team. I think the first thing that came out of my mouth, anybody here that was at that press conference? OK, somebody asked ‘did you buy this for your kids?’ I said, ‘Hell no. I bought it for me, and I didn’t buy an investment. I bought an occupation. I bought something I was going to do. I was 46. I bought something that I was going to do for the rest of my life, and that’s what I’m doing.’ So no, the facts are that since I have to decide where the money is spent, then you might as well cut all the bullshit out. That’s who’s making the call anyway.”
