The Dallas Cowboys have a decision to make.
They could renew head coach Mike McCarthy’s contract for the 2025 season and, if extended, likely beyond. Or they could start interviewing coaching candidates and look for a new hire.
What the Cowboys can’t do when their season ends Sunday night: sit still.
Because with McCarthy coaching the final year of his contract, they don’t have a head coach under contract for next year.
“We have this game ahead of us,” Jerry Jones said Tuesday morning on Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan, “but I assure you I have been, for weeks, thinking about how we move forward after this season. “
So what do the team owner and general manager think?
Ah, there’s the problem.
Jones’ mic-happy personality prompts him to frequently accept interviews. But he knows that making decisions about the franchise does not conflict and arguably aligns well with his commitment to keeping his team relevant. Watch: The Cowboys extended receiver CeeDee Lamb in August at the end of training camp and then extended quarterback Dak Prescott hours before the season opener.
The last time the Cowboys didn’t renew a coach, the news came to light during the Philadelphia Eagles wild card game. With the 7-9 Cowboys already eliminated from the playoffs, a similar announcement timeline wouldn’t be surprising.
Does Jones want to act quickly?
“I’m not under any unusual period at all,” he said.
The Cowboys could extend McCarthy, who has won 59 percent (49-34) of regular-season games in five seasons. Dallas has been one of the most successful regular season teams during his tenure. But when the Cowboys hired McCarthy in January 2020, they held out hope that he could lead the team to deep postseason levels that have eluded the franchise since the 1995 season. Instead, the Cowboys’ championship drought the NFC (let alone the Super Bowl title) is approaching three decades.
After three straight 12-5 seasons that earned them a playoff berth, the Cowboys lost nearly every star player for an extended period of time this year. Prescott; right guard Zack Martin; pass rushers DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons; and cornerbacks Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland will miss overtime.
The Cowboys won four of five games in one stretch after Prescott’s season-ending hamstring injury changed the tone of the public conversation. Jones heard that movement.
“I think fan sentiment has shown that Mike certainly has the type of coaching experience and success that would make him a very qualified coach in the NFL,” Jones said. “So that’s all there. What I’m not going to do this morning is give any indication that I’m not interested in having Mike back. “I don’t want that to be the case at all.”
Jones will weigh in on the winning streak that preceded the Cowboys’ loss to the Eagles on Sunday. And he will weigh the embarrassing home losses to the New Orleans Saints, Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions that the Cowboys endured with much of their roster healthy.
Cowboys coach in 2025?
“What I’m not going to do this morning is give any indication that I’m not interested in having Mike back,” Jerry Jones just said. @1053thefan. “I assure you that I have been thinking for weeks about how to move forward.
“I feel good about Mike McCarthy.”
– Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) December 31, 2024
He argued that the experience the young offensive linemen gained this year should portend improvement for the Cowboys in 2025, with or without a coaching change. Considering the fate of defensive injuries, the often optimistic Jones will have his case made out.
Will that be enough for McCarthy to get an extension? Jones isn’t tipping his hand.
He continued to intentionally praise his head coach without expressing confidence that McCarthy has earned an extension.
“I feel good about Mike McCarthy and the main thing is that I like the job he’s done,” Jones said. “Unfortunately we’ve had the year we’ve had. But I feel good about Mike.”