Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones usually makes himself available to reporters after the NFL’s annual winter meeting in Irving, Texas. However, Jones was nowhere to be found Wednesday following this year’s meeting.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones was in attendance. He answered questions for about 10 minutes with the most common topic being Mike McCarthy’s future as Cowboys head coach.
“I think he’s done outstanding,” Stephen Jones responded when asked about evaluating the job McCarthy has done. “Our guys are playing hard. He’s got them competing. That was a tough game the other night. Guys played hard. … Guys are competing. Hats off to Mike. You look around the league sometimes and see a lot of teams that start like that and they’re thinking about next year. But Mike has everybody focused on winning each and every game.”
It’s not a surprise that Jones didn’t have much to say when asked if they have made a decision on McCarthy’s future. The Cowboys front office and top players have recently shared their support for McCarthy, who is in the final year of his contract.
“We’re talking about the next game,” Jones responded.
Even if the Cowboys were completely prepared to move on, this isn’t the time when they would share that information. Dallas has four games remaining. But when there’s a disappointing season and a coach is in the final year of his contract, reporters are going to ask about the future.
With the news surfacing that Bill Belichick was taking the University of North Carolina head coaching position, Jones was also asked if there was ever a conversation about potentially looking at Belichick as a future Cowboys head coach.
“Like I said,” Jones responded, “we’re worried about the next game.”
There’s a difference when Stephen Jones and Jerry Jones answer questions. Stephen is much more likely to get straight to the point and not leave much room for speculation. Jerry often provides a response that allows reporters to take things in several different directions. That difference was on display Wednesday.
In regards to Belichick and the Cowboys, if they ever really wanted him to be their next head coach, they could’ve hired him last offseason. And if there was serious interest this year, they certainly would have ways to get that message to him. But judging by this result, it seems like there wasn’t much legitimate NFL interest in Belichick.
Speaking of Belichick
McCarthy seemed a little surprised when told of the Belichick news. And understandably so. The transfer portal and NIL have made college coaching less attractive than in previous years, especially when you’re talking about 72-year-old six-time Super Bowl-winning head coaches.
“Wow, that’s great,” McCarthy said. “That’s a beautiful place. No, I’m serious. I think it’s cool, I really do. Coaching is coaching. “I’ll say one thing, they’ll be someone to be reckoned with. I have a lot of respect for Bill and the job that he’s always done. He was always very difficult to compete against. … Congratulations to him. I’m happy for him.”
More of the same
If you were hoping for a more productive Cowboys offseason in terms of free agency moves and potential trades, you’re going to be disappointed. The upcoming offseason plan sounds a lot like this year’s. There will be some moves made, but probably similar to the one-year contracts that were done this year with veterans like LB Eric Kendricks and RB Ezekiel Elliott. This is unlikely to make fans very happy as this topic is discussed around the same time as Forbes releasing its latest list of most valuable sports franchises. The Cowboys remain No. 1 at $10.1 billion.
“I think we knew we were going to have a challenge this year and next year,” Stephen Jones said Wednesday. “It’s going to be really, really tight because we still have some money left over from some guys who aren’t here today. And you’re going to have some other guys that won’t be here in the future that you still have their cap count.”
Latest podcast
On our latest “One Star Cowboys Podcast,” we break down the top coaching candidates for the upcoming offseason with Belichick now off the board. Who would be the top five options for the Cowboys? We also looked ahead to Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers, ending the show with our final score predictions.
(Photo of Bill Belichick: Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)
