{"id":9901,"date":"2024-12-12T03:00:26","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T03:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=9901"},"modified":"2024-12-12T03:00:26","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T03:00:26","slug":"breaking-cowboys-a-natural-fit-for-champion-coach-to-replace-mike-mccarthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=9901","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Cowboys a \u2018Natural Fit\u2019 for Champion Coach to Replace Mike McCarthy.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2189118156-e1733944597799.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2189118156-e1733944597799.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2189118156-e1733944597799.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2189118156-e1733944597799.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"213\" data-dom-ready-time=\"821\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Assuming, and maybe this is a big assumption, that theCowboys\u00a0do\u00a0move on from Mike McCarthy\u00a0after what has been a brutal 5-8 season to date in Dallas, the natural question is to whom will the Cowboys turn to take his place?<\/p>\n<p>Bill Belichick is off to become Big Man on Campus in Chapel Hill, and given the Dallas salary-cap situation, it is possible that the Cowboys job is not the much-sought-after role we might assume it ought to be. After all, before the wheels fell off this season, the Cowboys had been 36-15 in their previous three years.<\/p>\n<p>The only problem then was that McCarthy could not win in the playoffs. He\u2019s fixed that this year by seldom being able to win at all.<\/p>\n<p>But there is, certainly, a potential\u00a0 McCarthy replacement who makes some sense, one who brings two elements\u2013experience and a winning background\u2013that will surely catch the eye of team owner Jerry Jones. That would be former\u00a0Titans\u00a0coach Mike Vrabel.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Cowboys a \u2018Natural Fit\u2019 Because of Experience Level<\/h2>\n<p>At\u00a0ESPN on Wednesday,\u00a0insiders Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano took a deep dive into how things may shake out with various potential coaching openings around the NFL, particularly the Raiders, Jaguars and Giants. But the Cowboys earned a mention, too.<\/p>\n<p>As Fowler wrote, \u201cSome around the league have noted the Cowboys as a natural fit. They valued experience and pedigree with their last hire in Mike McCarthy and could lean that way again, if they decide to make a change at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And Graziano added, about the buzz around Vrabel as a candidate, \u201cThe buzz seems legitimate based on what I\u2019ve heard around the league. Vrabel is considered a prime candidate to get one of the seven to eight jobs that will inevitably open. \u2026 But there are questions attached to Vrabel\u2019s candidacy. What level of control does he want? Is he flexible on staffing? And how would he pair with a new general manager?\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Mike Vrabel Would Not Have to Deal With Hierarchy<\/h2>\n<p>It would help, certainly, that the Cowboys\u2019 general manager basically is Jerry Jones, who is also the team owner. There\u2019s not a lot of hierarchy in Dallas, which might benefit Vrabel if he felt he had Jones\u2019 ear.<\/p>\n<p>Vrabel played eight seasons for the Patriots\u00a0from 2001-08, and was a Pro Bowler who helped the team to three championship rings. He was also, briefly, a teammate of Mayo, adding a layer of intrigue to the notion that he could battle Mayo for the Patriots job.<\/p>\n<p>He had a 54-45 record\u00a0as coach of the Titans, and made three playoff appearances.<\/p>\n<p>Fowler had earlier reported that Vrabel will be ne of the two most sought-after coaching candidates this offseason, \u201cI\u2019ve talked to people who think he should get a head-coaching job and could be as high as No. 2 in the pecking order behind [Detroit Lions offensive coordinator] Ben Johnson.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy Assuming, and maybe this is a big assumption, that theCowboys\u00a0do\u00a0move on from Mike McCarthy\u00a0after what has been a brutal 5-8 season to&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - 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