The NFL hiring cycle is always unpredictable. Not too long ago, Mike McCarthy was being flown by private jet to meet with the Chicago Bears while the Dallas Cowboys were rumored to be interested in Deion Sanders, Kliff Kingsbury, and Steve Sarkisian.
Now as January comes to a close, McCarthy is still looking for a job and the Cowboys are facing life with Brian Schottenheimer as their head coach.
That’s brought up an interesting topic, which Ed Werder asked about on X (formerly known as Twitter). With just the New Orleans Saints and Cowboys looking for a coach, could McCarthy return to Dallas?
On the surface, it seems to be a farfetched idea. The two sides parted ways for a reason, which makes it seem as though they needed to move on.
However, that’s not the whole story this time. Instead, the Cowboys were interested in keeping McCarthy but the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement.
His contract ran out and that led to McCarthy exploring his options. Those options have faded with the Saints serving as his last chance at a head coaching gig outside of Big D.
Dallas also hasn’t truly moved on. The two names they’ve shown the most interest in happen to be Schottenheimer and Kellen Moore. While Schottenheimer is the favorite, Moore seemed to be destined for the job at one point. That’s important since Moore and Schottenheimer share something in common — they were the only two offensive coordinators under McCarthy during his time with the Cowboys.
Moore held the position from 2020 through 2022 with Schottenheimer taking over for the final two years of his stint.
With an enormous amount of money invested in Dak Prescott, Jerry and Stephen Jones want to ensure the offense remains friendly for him. Schottenheimer and Moore offer that, but neither meant as much to their star quarterback as McCarthy.
That’s why a reunion might not be as unlikely as it initially seems.
