Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Tuesday that it’s “not crazy” to think head coach Mike McCarthy could get a contract extension after the season.
“I don’t think that’s strange at all,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday. “That’s not surprising. This is a Super Bowl-winning coach. Mike McCarthy has been there and done that. He has great ideas. So at no point does it appear that my body language or anything else has given any indication as to what we are going to do with this staff at the end of this year. And we shouldn’t do that either.”
Under McCarthy, the Cowboys have won two division titles and made three straight playoff appearances since he was hired in 2020. However, this season was one to quickly forget. Dak Prescott is out injured until 2025, the running game has been terrible (31st in total rushing yards and 32nd in rushing touchdowns) and they are 0-5 at home with the New York Giants coming to town on Thanksgiving Day.
With McCarthy in the final year of his contract, there was speculation that he would not return next season and one name being floated as a possible replacement is Colorado head coach and former Cowboy Deion Sanders.
But Jones may look at the circumstances where the Cowboys have won just four of their first 11 games and may not be so keen to pull the plug on McCarthy. He said earlier this month that he regrets letting coaches go — Chan Gailey and Wade Phillips, for example — and not giving them more time to succeed.
That could explain his comments about McCarthy’s future and the fact that he’s optimistic about the Cowboys’ final six games with Cooper Rush at quarterback. After the Giants this week, the Cincinnati Bengals, Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Philadelphia Eagles and Commanders remain on their schedule.
“We still have a lot of football left,” Jones said.
The Cowboys snapped a five-game losing streak on Sunday by defeating the Washington Commanders 34-26. They are three games behind the Commanders for the seventh and final playoff spot in the NFC, but six teams are ahead in the race.
