Jerry Jones has made clear he won’t be firing Mike McCarthy during the season. In fact, now he’s leaving the door open to hitching his wagon to McCarthy beyond this year.
The Dallas Cowboys head coach is in the final season of his five-year deal. When the Cowboys’ season began circling the drain, Jones squashed any rumors of a midseason firing, saying it would be counterproductive. Things have since gotten worse for the Cowboys, who have been decimated by injuries and have been largely capped offensively since Dak Prescott went down.
But one bright spot came over the weekend with Sunday’s thrilling NFC East win over a talented Washington Commanders team. McCarthy outcoached his former defensive coordinator, Dan Quinn, and the Cowboys overcame their talent disadvantage to earn a gusty win.
There hasn’t been a whole lot of talk about McCarthy running the show in 2025, but it hasn’t been outright dismissed. So, Jones was asked Tuesday in his weekly appearance on Shan & RJ if it’s crazy to think that after the dust settles McCarthy could end up with an extension.
“Well, I don’t think that’s crazy at all. That’s not crazy,” Jones said. “Listen, Mike McCarthy is one outstanding coach. I was watching the game last night and (Troy) Aikman was talking about it and he’s reiterated that several times publicly. This is a Super Bowl winning coach. Mike McCarthy has been there, done that, he’s got great ideas.
“The bottom line is in no place in my body language or anything else have you seen indications about what we’re going to be doing relative to this staff at the end of this year – and we shouldn’t. We’ve got a lot of football left. … Six football games, that’s a lifetime.”
Obviously, things can go either way for McCarthy in those six games. But it seems clear that Jones is keeping an open mind, and so long as he’s doing that, it’s plausible McCarthy could be back next season.