Just four days after his son said Mike McCarthy would “absolutely” be back as head coach, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones turned the apple cart upside down and insisted that no one was safe. A seething Jones went on the offensive taking on the coaching staff, players and scouts during his first public comments since his brief media appearance moments after the Cowboys’ loss to the 49ers.
Jones was given every opportunity to shoot down rumors about a potential coaching change but declined. McCarthy’s end-of-the-year press conference seemed to quiet some of this speculation, but Jones’ radio appearance threw gas on what had become a dimly-lit fire.
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Jones emphasized that he is still weeks away from making his final evaluation. Later, the Cowboys owner admitted, “I’ve got a lot to think about regarding these coaches.”
“Well, I haven’t completed my overall evaluation, and I don’t have any idea when I will complete my overall evaluation, but there are a lot of moving parts here,” Jones told Dallas’ 105.3 the Fan during a January 21 interview. “As you know, we have 29 coaches. It’s not uncommon at all for coaching members of coaching staff to come and go. This is par for the course, that’s the NFL today.
“As a matter of fact, we have rules in place that, whether you’re ready to consider that at a position or not, somebody else under certain circumstances can call and interview your coach. Don’t necessarily agree with that, but that’s what I’ve signed on for, and so this is not uncommon.
“And so, I won’t be getting to any statements about evaluations or statements about actions relative to those evaluations. I won’t be getting to that for probably several weeks.”
Here is a look at Jones’ lengthy interview that has since gone viral.
Jones Left the Door Open for a Coaching Change
One day earlier, McCarthy emphasized that his job was safe and cited his championship credentials as to a big reason why the Cowboys have faith in him to get the job done moving forward. Jones appeared to leave the door open for coaching changes down the road, admitting he would consider “changing out men at any level” if it led to more wins.
“If I thought changing out men at any level would improve us, I would change it out,” Jones explained. “I’ve looked around, I see a lot of names, a lot of great names, a lot of great names from colleges, a lot of great names. I see ’em coming through. I’ve seen a lot of great names at the various duties in the NFL come and go over the last 30 years.
“Okay, I haven’t seen but a couple of them that I thought might have a straight shot into what’s up above. That’s [Bill] Belichick up there in New England. His record has been unbelievable, but aside from that, I’ll be very candid with you.
“I see human beings, human frailties, human work ethic, human excelling and coming up with the way to go. Bottom line is yes, I’m very, very frustrated and upset that we’ve, you can call it COVID, you can call it anything. But we have used up some very talented players over the last few years.”
Will the Cowboys Fire McCarthy?
The more than 22 minute interview left fans and analysts alike a bit bewildered about what Jones will do this offseason. At some points, Jones indicated everything was on the table in terms of changes to the coaching staff, but other times he expressed doubt that an overhaul would help.
The truth is likely somewhere in the middle in that Jones knows he is going to lose one, if not both the Cowboys coordinators to head coaching jobs. Jones also sounds like he will push for changes at other assistant positions.
McCarthy is likely to keep his job, but Jones’ tone indicates the Cowboys owner is open to landing a big fish like Sean Payton or another star head coach in the unlikely event they became available. What is clearer is that if McCarthy does keeps his gig for 2022, the seat will be hotter than it has been since he arrived in Dallas.
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Cowboys Put Mike McCarthy on Notice, Fuel Firing Rumors