FRISCO, Texas — Much of the discussion around Mike McCarthy during the Dallas Cowboys‘ struggles this season has been about the coach’s in-season job security.
Speaking on 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones was asked whether it was crazy to think McCarthy could receive a contract extension after the season.
“I don’t think that’s crazy at all. That’s not crazy,” Jones said. “Listen, Mike McCarthy is an outstanding coach. … Mike McCarthy has been there, done that. He’s got great ideas. So the bottom line is in no place in my body language or anything else have you seen an indication 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.”
McCarthy was asked about Jones’ comments later Tuesday.
“I really haven’t talked about it all year and definitely not going to start on a short week and an important division game,” he said. “But I’m not going to throw away positive vibes, either. So keep them coming. It’s all good. But, yeah, that’s not something I’m really focused on.”
The Cowboys are 4-7 and snapped a five-game losing streak in Sunday’s win against the Washington Commanders. They play the 2-9 New York Giants on Thanksgiving, followed by games against the Cincinnati Bengals (4-7) and Carolina Panthers (3-8).
“This thing isn’t over,” Jones said to The Fan.
Jones noted the Cowboys will have players such as wide receiver Brandin Cooks, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and others coming off injured reserve and guards Zack Martin (ankle, shoulder) and Tyler Smith (knee, ankle) and tight end Jake Ferguson (concussion) returning from injuries.
But the Cowboys are on thin ice. Since 1990, seven teams have started 4-7 and made the playoffs; however, two of those teams (Washington in 2020 and Carolina in 2014) won their divisions with sub-.500 records. Since the expansion to the 17-game schedule in 2021, two teams have made the playoffs with 4-7 starts (Jacksonville in 2022 and Tampa Bay in 2023), but both were division winners.
The Cowboys are in third place in the NFC East behind the Philadelphia Eagles (9-2) and Commanders (7-5) and have just the Giants and Panthers below them in the conference standings.
In 2018, the Cowboys were 3-5 before rallying to a playoff spot, winning seven of their last eight.
Although some Cowboys fans might not want to see more victories, which would move the team down in the draft order, tanking is not something Jones considers.
“I just think the game is too important. The win is too important,” Jones said. “You look at a coach and, boy, a coach is sitting there, don’t think they don’t add up their wins and losses during their career and they don’t like to have a loss on there if they can just ask for it. And so my point is, for all of us, a win is a very satisfying thing under any circumstance and it helps you build. And so there’s a lot of ambiguity with those draft picks. As you know, I’ve had draft picks that were extraordinarily high that didn’t work. I’ve had them low that knocked it out of the park. And so you’ve got to weigh what happens when you get the picks and the odds of you knocking one out of the park there as well, as opposed to winning a game.”
