Getty Jason Garrett, Dez Bryant
If all else fails, in the unlikely event the Dallas Cowboys cannot nail down a successor to Jason Garrett, they simply need to throw up the X.
Former Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant is ready and willing to fill the soon-to-be vacancy at head coach, he tweeted Sunday amid Dallas’ season-ending win against the Redskins.
“I think I would do a great job if I was the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys no joke,” he wrote.
Monday’s dog-and-pony show notwithstanding, the Cowboys are expected to pink-slip Garrett, whose contract expires on Jan. 14, within the coming days. Candidates to replace the 53-year-old include former Ohio State HC Urban Meyer, Baylor HC Matt Rhule, and Oklahoma HC Lincoln Riley.
Meyer, by most accounts, has an advantage on the competition, given that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seemingly is enthralled by the Buckeyes legend. But if Meyer doesn’t get the gig, Jones should grab his phone and punch in a familiar number …
“If Urban Meyers not the head coach for the Dallas Cowboys in 2020 it should be me…. we will win!!!!!” Bryant tweeted.
Because it’s clear the modus operandi isn’t conducive to success. Put another way: Garrett needs to go — and take his assistants with him, urges Bryant.
“It’s frustrating to watch how the play calling is different… the eagles play tons of man coverage….cowboys should have clinched last week… Crazy you got to wait until sh*t on the line… I hate to say this but eagles understood this 5 weeks ago….stop wasting great talent,” he tweeted during the Cowboys-Redskins game.
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Bryant Previously Stumped for Urban-to-Dallas
If Dez’s opinion counts for anything, the Cowboys will do whatever it takes to land Meyer. Turning to Twitter earlier this month, the free-agent wideout emphatically urged the Joneses — Cowboys owner Jerry and VP Stephen — to hire the ex-Ohio State head man as the team’s next coach.
Urban Meyer to coach the cowboys next year?… no brainer… I’m going to get jealous ? ..Jerry ..Stephen hear him out.. let him get you a winning organization to go along with them billions!!! .. just imagine winning billy goat x 5563325673322344443*+^*error ??
Translation: Pair Meyer’s offensive prowess with Dallas’ Big Three (Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, and Amari Cooper), then profit. Literally and figuratively.
The Cowboys, per sources recently surveyed by Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman, check in as the second-likeliest organization to secure Meyer’s services, ahead of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Carolina Panthers, and Cleveland Browns.
But there’s a caveat …
“Owner Jerry Jones will be desperate after this season, and there’s “very real interest” in Meyer, according to NFL Network’s Jane Slater. What team officials tell me, however, is they think Meyer will want more personnel control than Jones will allow,” Freeman wrote.
Urban Interested in Cowboys
The feeling is mutual between Dallas and the “retired” Meyer. Amid swirling, months-long speculation, a source close to the Dan Patrick Show told its titular host earlier this month that Meyer is intrigued by the Cowboys’ head-coaching position, partly because he may be “too toxic” to return to the college ranks.
Dan Patrick just announced his sources as told him Urban Meyer interested in the Dallas job..
Of course, this wasn’t the first time that Meyer’s expressed intrigue in coaching America’s Team. In October, the 55-year-old — speaking for Riley, a reported target of Jerry Jones — gushed about the celebrated NFL franchise.
“Pure speculation, because I know [Riley], but I don’t know him like that, but that’s the one [job],” Meyer said, via Sports Illustrated. “That’s the New York Yankees, that’s the Dallas Cowboys, that’s the one. Great city, you got Dak Prescott, you got Zeke Elliott, you got a loaded team, and I can’t speak for [Riley] obviously—I hate to even speculate—because I don’t know him, that’s really not fair, but to me, that’s the one job in professional football that you kind of say, ‘I gotta go do that.’”
Meyer, asked point-blank if he’d be interested in the position, didn’t say no.
“Absolutely. Absolutely,” he said, per SI. “That one? Yes.”
Coincidentally, Patrick’s hearsay came on the same day that Jones denied a rumor claiming Stephen Jones had met with Meyer. But he didn’t say anything about speaking to him.
NFL Network’s Jane Slater reported on Dec. 6 that Dallas has a “very real interest” in Meyer, who’s also held head-coaching stints at Florida and Utah, and who’s an on-paper upgrade over his potential precedessor.
“Jerry Jones says Jason Garrett will remain the coach but I can confirm a very real interest in Urban Meyer,” Slater tweeted hours after the 6-7 Cowboys suffered their third straight defeat. “In fact, I’m told Stephen Jones spoke with him recently. Lincoln Riley remains a strong candidate & file this name as a possibility Clemson OC Tony Elliott per sources.”
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Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter: @KelbermanNFL