It perhaps isn't a great sign if training camp opens with the owner/general manager having to issue a vote of confidence for the head coach.
But that's exactly what happened Tuesday for the Dallas Cowboys, with Jerry Jones responding to questions about Mike McCarthy ahead of his third season as the team's head coach.
"I want to be real clear: He wouldn't be siting here today if I didn't believe he was the man to lead this team to a Super Bowl. He wouldn't be," Jones said. "And I have choices."
Both because of the unceremonious fashion that McCarthy's tenure in Green Bay ended and Sean Payton's availability, questions about the coaching situation in Dallas figure to persist for much of the 2022 season.
Payton was the assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach for Bill Parcells in Dallas from 2003 to 2005, before being hired as the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. Now considered one of the greatest offensive minds in NFL history, the Cowboys nearly acquired Payton from the Saints before the 2019 season, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. The Saints still have the rights to Payton, but he's as available as he'll ever be now that he's stepped down as the team's head coach and is working in television for the 2022 season.
"A source close to Payton" told Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald that he believes the future Hall of Famer would have interest in coaching the Cowboys, Los Angeles Chargers or Miami Dolphins if those positions became available and were willing to give him control over personnel decisions.
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