After a tough 7-10 season in which the Dallas Cowboys battled a mixture of injuries and poor early-season play, the swirling question marks loom larger than ever.
However, among the laundry list of decisions and potential changes on the horizon, none has been more publicly discussed than the future of head coach Mike McCarthy.
Following a year in which owner Jerry Jones was more than happy to address the topic endlessly during the second half of the year, the Cowboys owner has pulled a complete 180 since the season ended. While Jones often chose to give answers on McCarthy’s future that didn’t provide much clarity, he’s been mostly radio silent as fans watch and wait for the official decision.
Fortunately for Cowboys fans, there’ll be some form of an answer by the end of the day on Tuesday, January 14. Dallas only holds exclusive negotiating rights with McCarthy through that day, meaning the coach would then be free to interview with any team he’d like.
So, what’s the delay that’s pushed the decision on McCarthy’s future to the final buzzer of his official time with the team? One longtime insider had an interesting suggestion on what may be running through Jones’s mind.
Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy’s future was up in the air throughout the 2024 NFL season, his final under contract with the team.
Tim Heitman-Imagn Images
While the Cowboys are the only No. 2 seed in the new playoff format to lose to a No. 7 seed (the Green Bay Packers last year), their hated rival, the Philadelphia Eagles, find themselves in the same position.
The Eagles host the same Packers team on Sunday, and ESPN’s Ed Werder tossed out the idea that Jones may want to see how his former offensive coordinator Kellen Moore does when facing the same scenario.
It would be a bold move by Jones to wait out the decision on McCarthy to see how Sunday’s Packers vs. Eagles game plays out, but it also wouldn’t be a surprise. Moore was with the Cowboys as the team’s quarterbacks coach in 2018 and was promoted to offensive coordinator, a role he held from 2019-22.
While Moore then spent one season as the offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers, 2024 marked his first year with the Eagles. Moore is expected to receive some interest on the open market for head coaching vacancies, but the likelihood of landing a promotion is unknown.
Moore spent two seasons under former head coach Jason Garrett before remaining as the team’s offensive coordinator for three years after McCarthy was hired.
Considering Jones’s generally positive remarks about McCarthy this year and the team declining the Chicago Bears’ request to interview him, it would become somewhat of a guessing game if the Cowboys opted to make a change. In that hypothetical scenario, Moore could undoubtedly be a name to watch, but as things stand, the signs still point to McCarthy likely returning to Dallas.
