Jerry Jones almost always has a target on his back, and for good reason. However, the backlash turned up multiple notches this week as Jones kept Mike McCarthy in limbo.

The Dallas Cowboys are the last team in the NFL to make a decision on their head coach. The Jaguars, Patriots, Giants, Colts, Dolphins and Raiders all announced their direction no later than Wednesday.

It made absolutely no sense for Dallas to drag their feet on this, but attention and publicity have long been the main objective with the Joneses. Their upside down philosophy almost cost them McCarthy, as multiple teams requested to interview him for their head coach vacancy.

At long last, the Cowboys have made a decision and it’s not a surprising one: McCarthy will be back as the team’s head coach in 2025, per NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero. It is important to note, though, that the two sides remain in talks about a new contract.

Cowboys’ Jerry Jones wants to keep Mike McCarthy as head coach

It had been trending in this direction for a while, which makes it all the more maddening that the announcement wasn’t made right after the season.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported as recently as Sunday morning that he felt McCarthy would be retained. The begs the question of why the Joneses didn’t just extend him during the season? It would have saved them and McCarthy a lot of trouble.

Not only was it cruel to make McCarthy (and his family) sweat, but the irony is that the Cowboys allowed McCarthy to generate a market for himself. The Bears requested an interview with McCarthy and the Saints reportedly were about to enter the sweepstakes. By dragging this out, Dallas only drove up McCarthy’s price.

It is unbelievable that the Joneses continue to allow players and coaches to obtain all the leverage against them. They did so with CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott last summer and you can guarantee the same will happen with Micah Parsons this offseason.

The majority of Cowboys fans likely aren’t happy with the decision to keep McCarthy. We hear your viewpoint, but did you really trust Jerry and Stephen to hire an upgrade?

They champion experience and the only candidates who check that box are Doug Pederson, Mike Vrabel, who’s going to get the Patriots job, Brian Flores and Kliff Kingsbury.

Ben Johnson, Joe Brady and Todd Monken would have been our top choices but the Joneses are too stubborn to consider them.

Keeping McCarthy isn’t the sexy move, but he’s the best this front office would have done. The locker room very clearly still believes in him and he’s a combined 36-15 in seasons that Dak Prescott didn’t suffer a season-ending injury.

If you thought the Cowboys dragging their feet with McCarthy was bad, you should strap in because this offseason promises to be absolutely agonizing.