It didn’t take long for Jerry Jones to turn the search for the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys into a circus.
Maybe that’s just how he likes it. In the middle of the NFL playoffs, with the Cowboys long out of the picture, Jones emerges to push his team back to the top of the news agenda.
The Cowboys moved on from coach Mike McCarthy after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on a long-term contract extension that they tried to work out for a month. That leaves Jones looking for his seventh head coach since the Cowboys last won a Super Bowl 29 years ago.
Enter Deion Sanders. Hours after the Cowboys released McCarthy, ESPN reported that Jones had contacted Sanders, the Hall of Fame player who had become college football’s most exciting personality.
A realistic option? A dream? A side issue? Who knows. But the idea of Sanders leaving college football for a shot at the NFL is tempting.
“It’s really wonderful to hear from Jerry Jones, and it’s intriguing,” Sanders told ESPN on Monday. “I love Jerry and believe in Jerry. After you hang up, process it, and think about it, it’s intriguing. But I love Boulder and everything about our team, the coaches, our students and the community.
Sanders has no reason to leave Colorado. He has the Buffs rolling, finishing his second season 9-4, with a Heisman Trophy winner and one of the top recruiting classes in the country heading into next season. But if you read between the lines, the statement starts to go something like this: I want the job, but I don’t want to be left at the altar if the Cowboys go elsewhere.
Choosing Sanders makes sense. He is a Cowboys legend, having played five seasons with the franchise and won one Super Bowl. He is also a football genius and a master marketer, proving his coaching skills as a coach at the collegiate level. At Jackson State, he turned a dilapidated program into a contender, attracting the nation’s No. 1 recruit, Travis Hunter, to an HBCU. At Colorado, he turned one of the most moribund football programs in a power conference into a championship contender in two seasons.
It’s no wonder Jones is thinking of Sanders. He’s part of the Cowboys family, and if we know anything about Jones, it’s that he doesn’t consider the Cowboys as the US team, but as the Jones family business.
Still, it’s tough to target a coach with no NFL coaching experience for a team with playoff aspirations. The history of college coaches making the jump is shaky at best. It’s also not the way Jones worked. For all the Cowboys’ stardust, he has spent the latter stages of his tenure taking steady hands with little grit. Making a big splash for Sanders would break that pattern.
Whether Sanders is too really being interested in the job is intriguing.
“The only way I would consider [coaching in the NFL] is to coach my sons,” Sanders told Good Morning America this month.
Sanders has never coached a football season without his youngest son Shedeur at quarterback. Together, they posted a 33-14 record, with half of those losses coming in Colorado’s first year of rebuilding. Sanders will likely be a first-round pick in the upcoming draft – and could be the first quarterback off the board. Shilo Sanders, a security guard for Colorado and Deion’s eldest son, is a marginal draft pick.
Bringing back a former star player turned aspiring coach of his talented son is a romantic ideal. There’s a scenario where Sanders’ charisma and intellect provide a spark to an unremarkable roster, putting the Cowboys back in championship contention. But the unpleasant facts dim the romantic appeal. Dallas recently signed quarterback Dak Prescott to a four-year, $240 million contract extension. That extension isn’t even in effect yet, making it nearly impossible to leave Prescott this season in favor of a new coach and his son. The Cowboys could make a move up in the draft to try to select Shedeur Sanders, but the cost (in draft capital and cash) would be high. Cutting Prescott this offseason would cost the Cowboys $104 million dead moneyapproximately 38% of the expected salary cap. Prescott also has a no-trade clause, meaning he would have to sign any deal while the Cowboys would still be on the hook for the eye-watering salary cap.
Any argument that Jones will eat the money to execute a grand vision rings hollow, since he has cutting back on money for years. The Cowboys look rich and talk rich, but their actual spending has declined as the 82-year-old Jones has gotten older. If there’s one thing Jones hates more than losing, it’s paying people to go work somewhere else. The Cowboys routinely have the lowest dead cap total in the league, limiting their selection flexibility. Part of the reason McCarthy’s contract expired was because Jones didn’t want to sign him to an extension and then be saddled with a hefty payout if he ultimately decided to fire the coach.
Let’s say Dallas does that make a bold move for Shedeur Sanders. Is it worth it to take a job with the league’s most famous/infamous franchise and come up with a plan to coach your son again if it affects your ability to field a competitive team detonates?
Even if Coach Prime’s main priority is coaching his sons, there are easier paths. For example, the Raiders have a vacancy, the No. 6 pick in the draft, and need a quarterback.
Maybe Sanders would like to coach the Cowboys without Shedeur. Maybe the Cowboys think the Sanders family can find a solution Eli Manning-esque moveand the 31 other franchises don’t say that to select Shedeur. But those thought exercises brought us to gaga land. Betting on an unproven coach and his son as the starting quarterback — with all the locker room resentment that could arise in the pros — sounds like an idea for a Peacock spinoff series. This is not the way a team with real Super Bowl aspirations should operate.
And it wouldn’t solve Dallas’ biggest problem: Jones.
Even in his 80s, Jones still wants to be the face of the Cowboys franchise. After every game, he wanders into the hallway outside the locker room to hold impromptu press conferences. If you miss those sound bites, there he is on his weekly radio appearance undermining his coaching staff. Jones, both the general manager and owner of the franchise, doesn’t just want to run the place; he wants to be seen to run things. He wants to be heard – and the best you can do is listen, including his staff.
The insular nature of the Cowboys makes prospects look sideways at what a destination spot should be. The quarterback is in place. They can manipulate the salary cap to make moves in free agency – if Jones is willing to open his sizable checkbook. With Micah Parsons, CeeDee Lamb and Tyler Smith, there are stars on the roster, even if the depth is questionable. Compare that situation to what’s on offer from the Raiders, Bears, Jaguars or Saints and it’s not particularly close. But those franchises aren’t bound to the whims of Jerry Jones.
Maybe that’s where Sanders makes sense. He is one of the few people with football and cultural talent who opposes Jones’ way of doing things. He may not be able to pass judgment on Jones’ public predictions, but Sanders’ magnetism would give Jones’ views less oxygen. He’s still barking, but Sanders shakes it off with a smile. It would probably end in farce, but Sanders has proven adept enough at the media game to weather pointless, energy-sapping storms.
There are other candidates besides Sanders. Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore would be a shining contingency plan. Like Sanders, Moore was a member of the Cowboys Mafia, serving as the team’s quarterback coach and offensive coordinator from 2018 to 2022, the most successful years of Prescott’s career.
Outside of Moore, however, the list is small, and that doesn’t inspire confidence. The Cowboys interviewed Jason Wittenthe former Cowboys tight end, who has no coaching experience. They have also asked to interview former Jets head coach Robert Saleh. But by letting the McCarthy situation drag on for two weeks, the Cowboys removed themselves from the first round of interviews with the league’s top prospects. They missed the window to interview Detroit’s Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, the two hottest coordinators on the market. Mike Vrabel, the top available free agent on the market, had already accepted the Patriots job before Jones ultimately let McCarthy go.
Taking on Jones and the Cowboys won’t be for everyone. Coaches are control freaks. They want a say. They want their voice to be the loudest. But in Dallas it’s Jerry’s World.
That’s Sanders’ advantage: his vote will drown out Jones, and even sideline the owner. By chasing a glamor name, Jones would no longer be able to drown out a calm coach. That would mainly be a win for the Cowboys.
Sanders is not the cleanest fit. But the cleanest fit is not always available. Until Jones steps aside, Dallas won’t be a landing sport for an in-demand coach. Given Sanders’ football talent and personality, it might be crazy enough to pair him with Jones.