3 reasons why Mike McCarthy will be the Cowboys coach in 2025

If you’ve unplugged from the media coverage of this Cowboys season, you may be under the assumption that a head coaching search this offseason is a near certainty. However, if you have been reading the tea leaves closely, it seems Mike McCarthy may be extended after all.

In recent weeks, the embattled Dallas head coach has had the tides turn, with less talk about his firing and more about a new contract.

It isn’t as if the Cowboys are suddenly surging; they did win two games in a row but just lost to the Bengals. That dropped their record to 5-8, delivering a major blow to any last-ditch playoff hopes.

Regardless, there seems to be a decent chance that McCarthy’s season will earn him a contract extension.

Why? That’s what we’re here to discuss. Let’s take a look at the three reasons why Mike McCarthy will be extended as the Dallas Cowboys leader for the 2025 season.

Player Support: The Guys Love Mike

Earlier this season, the Chicago Bears fired former Cowboys coach and their Head Coach, Matt Eberflus. They did it for many overdue reasons, but the biggest was clear: he had completely lost the locker room.

Bears players were openly going at it with him in the locker room and dropping negative quotes to the media. When that starts to happen, it’s game over.

Down in Dallas, that could not be further from the case. McCarthy seems to have kept his players’ admiration, respect, and trust despite the lack of success this year and in previous postseasons.

A story that most will overlook but it emphasizes the bond between Dak Prescott and #Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy.

QB1 didn’t go out on the town in Pittsburgh on Saturday. He was somewhere more meaningful: McCarthy’s parents’ house.

“It’s something I won’t forget.” pic.twitter.com/nz9jFsiq6q
— Patrik [No C] Walker (@VoiceOfTheStar) October 7, 2024

Specifically, Dak Prescott and Micah Parsons have expressed their hope that McCarthy will be retained, and they may be the two most influential voices on the roster.

Parsons told ESPN he wants a fair shot with “everyone back.” From players to the coaching staff, Micah feels they have the group to do it, and this has just been bad luck.

In an interview with Yahoo! Sports, Prescott said something similar: “I think he definitely deserves a chance, another contract and a chance to coach this team.”

While the players don’t ultimately call the shots, their “extend McCarthy” message to the front office is clear; this public show of support will help his chances, no doubt about it.

No Golden Boy: Lack Of Exciting Candidates

If you’re going to fire your incumbent head coach, you had better be sure you have a group of candidates you want to be the next man up. When you review the list of potential options for Dallas in 2025, nobody stands out that much.

Bill Belichick, the former Patriots-dynasty leader, would have been a good candidate for the Cowboys job, but he is off to Chapel Hill to coach the Tar Heels.

Other top candidates don’t exactly match Jerry Jones’s previous criteria: Ben Johnson, Joe Brady, and Liam Coen only have coordinator experience, while Brian Flores and Aaron Glenn are defensive guys.

Hiring one of those guys goes against Dallas’ standard operating procedure, and if there’s one thing we know about them, they don’t do that.

The Cowboys, for better or for worse, have a way of doing things, and they don’t move off of it.

With the possible exception of Mike Vrabel, Kellen Moore, and Jason Witten, nobody else really makes sense for Dallas with Belichick off the board.

The names that SHOULD be on the Cowboys HC shortlist this offseason?

Ben Johnson
Drew Petzing
Joe Brady

The names that likely WILL be on their shortlist?

Mike Vrabel
Jason Witten
Bill Belichick
— Joey Ickes 💯 (@JoeyIckes) November 17, 2024

We know they still love McCarthy, they think he can do the job, and it’s unlikely they see somebody available who can do it better than him. That all points in a clear direction, and it isn’t the one most Cowboys fans want.

Continuity: Cowboys Don’t Like Change

That last point leads us to the final reason: the Dallas Cowboys don’t like change, and ditching Mike McCarthy is a huge change.

At this point, he’s been the head coach for nearly half a decade, Jason Garrett was the man for a decade before that, and Bill Parcells and Wade Phillips ran the show during the early 2000s. They weren’t exactly agents of change themselves.

Shaking things up is no longer Jones’ wheelhouse; the big signing or trade doesn’t happen, the flashy coach isn’t hired or fired, and in turn, there is consistency.

The problem Dallas has is their kind of consistency isn’t good; it is a loop of mediocrity because they fail to step outside their comfort zone at a time when everybody is doing that. That has to change.

Firing McCarthy or keeping him may not make the biggest difference in the end, and that’s exactly why Jones may be inclined to keep him.

Dallas’ motto should be “Don’t rock the boat” because that’s all they’ve been doing for years.