It’s no secret that Dallas Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy is on the hot seat this season. The Cowboys, after three consecutive 12-win seasons, find themselves at 5-8 through 14 weeks, with plenty of injury added to insult.
Injuries might be the only thing that can save McCarthy’s job. The following players have all missed time this year, and some of them are out for the season:
- QB Dak Prescott (IR)
- LT Tyler Guyton
- LG Tyler Smith
- C Cooper Beebe
- RG Zack Martin (IR)
- DE Sam Williams (IR)
- DE DeMarcus Lawrence
- DE Marshawn Kneeland
- EDGE Micah Parsons
- LB Eric Kendricks
- LB DeMarvion Overshown (IR)
- CB Trevon Diggs
- CB DaRon Bland
- CB Caelen Carson (IR)
That’s more than a laundry list of names, and maybe Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones are feeling generous to bring back McCarthy on a one-year prove it deal. He might get a pass, especially with his starting quarterback lost for the season just as the defense was getting healthy.
Still, the Cowboys remain in swirling rumors about a new head coach in 2025 like Ben Johnson, Bobby Slowik, and Mike Vrabel. There is one coach on the list that can be crossed off because he just signed a lucrative deal to coach in the NCAA.
Legendary HC Bill Belichick, taking the year off to work in broadcasting, has agreed to a 3 year/$30 million deal to take over as head coach at the University of North Carolina. I can’t see Belichick going from coaching grown men to boys in their early 20s, but let’s see how it plays out.
What Does This Mean For the Cowboys?
If we are being honest, this doesn’t affect the Cowboys at all. I never believed that Belichick was a true option. He needs full control of the team, from the roster down to the towel boys, and Jerry wouldn’t relinquish that. Not even for a six-time Super Bowl winning coach.
I will say that I’m not opposed to a coach like Belichick coming into Dallas and taking the reins away from the archaic ways of the Jones’, but would he really be an improvement?
In his final seasons in New England, Belichick appeared to be losing his touch. After Tom Brady departed for Tampa Bay in free agency, the Patriots managed just one winning season. The Patriot Way seems to have taken a hit without Brady.
Now let’s wait for social media to decide who the next Cowboys head coaching favorite for 2025 will be. There are plenty of names being thrown around already. The names I mentioned above plus a few more coordinators from both the NFL and NCAA ranks.
What Does This Mean For Belichick?
It tells us that he is still not done with coaching. Many times, when a coach gets older, the vigor they have for coaching doesn’t outweigh the weight of draft season and offseason activities. The grind can be tough, and for a 72-year-old Belichick, he obviously isn’t done.
I do find it odd that he chose a college to coach at. Belichick is the type of coach who likes his guys, and I can’t imagine how he will feel when his first recruiting class gets drafted into the NFL, and he can’t re-sign them to play for the Tar Heels.
Belichick is not entering the same college world he has known before. The NIL is large and in charge, and student-athletes are taking more control of how their college careers pan out. The transfer portal is more active than ever, and I have a feeling UNC will have more players transferring to the school than they will have transferring out.
The legendary coach will have a target on his back, and other programs would like to face UNC and embarrass the greatest NFL coach to ever do it. Something tells me Belichick will have something up his sleeve for all of them.