Jerry Jones

Deion Sanders said he thought about the possibility of coaching in the NFL after owner Jerry Jones reportedly reached out to him in January amid the Dallas Cowboys' search for a Mike McCarthy replacement.

The Colorado head coach did not formally interview for the job before Jones and the Cowboys promoted offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to the role.

"It's intriguing. Now, I did think about it, like, what are the possibilities?" Sanders said in a Friday appearance on ESPN's First Take. "But I think at this point in time, I'm called to the college game.

"I'm called to the young men, I'm called to those cities, those towns, those communities. That's who I'm called for to make impact in that at this stage and age of my life."

Fox Sports' Jordan Schultz reported in January that Sanders and Jones had spoken about the head coaching vacancy and that Sanders was "considered a top candidate" for the role.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that there was at least "some" mutual interest between the team and former player in the job.

The Cowboys ultimately targeted candidates with experience on NFL staffs, including Schottenheimer, Kellen Moore, Robert Saleh and Pete Carroll, in formal interviews for the position.

After the Schottenheimer hiring, Sanders said a recent talk with former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman on his Tubi talk show "We Got Time Today" (h/t Reuters) that he hadn't wanted to coach in the NFL in any case "because of the way they practice, the way they go about it."

Whether Sanders considers potential NFL head coaching jobs in the future could depend on where his sons end up after the 2025 NFL Draft. Sanders has previously said he would "only" consider a pro coaching job if it was to work with Shedeur or Shilo Sanders, and Shedeur could be on track to be taken off the board on Day 1 of the upcoming draft.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones isn't looking forward to the Cowboys facing off against Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels twice a year moving forward.

"I get sick when I think the Cowboys have got to play him twice a year for the rest of his career," Jones said in an interview at Thursday's NFL Honors. "I would say this, we played him pretty good in Washington and we played him pretty good for a half when we got him down to Dallas. But he's a great talent, unique."

Jerry Jones talkin Jayden Daniels 👀
“I get sick thinking about playing him twice a year …” pic.twitter.com/0lxlGPD6Ch

— Mitchell Tischler (@Mitch_Tischler) February 7, 2025

The Cowboys and Commanders split the two regular-season meetings between the NFC East foes in 2024.

Daniels completed 62 percent of his throws for 313 yards and two touchdowns compared to a pair of interceptions in two starts against Dallas. He also rushed for 101 yards and a score on 11 attempts.

With Daniels coming off an impressive rookie season, it's clear that Washington's future opponents aren't excited to face off against the dual-threat quarterback.

Mike McCarthy's tenure with the Dallas Cowboys came to an end in part because he couldn't agree to terms on a new contract, but it hadn't been clear until now exactly what the difference was between the two sides.

Per ESPN's Todd Archer, Jerry Jones didn't waver on his offer of three years, while McCarthy was seeking a five-year deal.

Financial terms of the Cowboys' offer to McCarthy are unknown.

The Cowboys officially announced McCarthy wouldn't return as head coach in a statement from Jones on Jan. 13.

NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported at the time the split was because the two sides couldn't agree to terms on a new contract.

McCarthy's original deal with the Cowboys, signed in January 2020, was for five years. His contract expired at the end of this season, but the team had an exclusive negotiating window that ran out on Jan. 14.

Jones' actions and some of his comments seem to suggest he's not interested in paying top-of-the-market money for a head coach.

Jerry Jones kept talking about wanting a coach that would agree to an incentives based contract. But I argued the market pays otherwise 🤷🏼‍♀️then he said he didn’t want anyone who didn’t want to be here but I argued if someone doesn’t make you feel like you are wanted why would you?…

— Jane Slater (@SlaterNFL) January 5, 2025

We don't know the financial terms of what McCarthy was being offered, nor could it be argued that McCarthy should be paid like one of the top head coaches in the NFL, but he was successful during his tenure with a 49-35 record and three playoff appearances in five seasons.

Jones didn't make things better by saying during Brian Schottenheimer's introductory press conference as the new Cowboys head coach that it was "as big a risk as you can take."

Schottenheimer was able to negotiate a four-year deal from Jones to get the job, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

This will be the first head-coaching gig for Schottenheimer, who spent the past two seasons as Cowboys offensive coordinator. He began his coaching career in 1997 as an assistant with the St. Louis Rams.

The Cowboys will be hoping for a quick turnaround under Schottenheimer after a disappointing 7-10 record in 2024.

As new Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer begins preparing for the 2025 season and filling out his staff, it seems as if franchise legend Jason Witten will not be coming aboard.

"Despite his name making the rounds during the Cowboys' coaching search, with a belief he'd potentially be added as a position coach in 2025, Jason Witten is not expected to join his former team in any capacity this coming season, per owner and general manager Jerry Jones—though Jones continues to praise the future Hall of Famer as a 'great coach' and mentor," the Cowboys' official website explained Monday.

Witten doesn't have NFL coaching experience, but he has found quick success in the profession at the high school level.

Last month, the former tight end led the Liberty Christian (Argyle, Texas) Warriors to a TAPPS (Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools) Division II state championship. His team won the championship game 52-10 and completed a perfect 14-0 season where it outscored opponents 716-96 in total.

A jump from high school to the NFL might have been quite the leap, but it's hard to ignore that success.

Witten also enjoyed plenty of success as a player for the Cowboys during his 16 seasons from 2003 to 2019. He finished his career with the 2020 Las Vegas Raiders, but he is best remembered for his time with the NFC East team that included 11 Pro Bowl selections and two First-Team All-Pro nods.

He posted four seasons with more than 1,000 receiving yards and also suited up for six different playoff teams during his tenure.

Nobody in Cowboys history has more career catches (1,215) or receiving yards (12,977) than Witten, and he is also second behind only Dez Bryant (73) with 72 total touchdown catches with the franchise.

Yet it seems like Dallas is not going to add him to the coaching staff for the upcoming campaign despite his legendary status with the organization.

When the Dallas Cowboys began their head coaching search, Deion Sanders was one of the first names in the mix and was seemingly a serious candidate.

But on Monday at new head coach Brian Schottenheimer's introductory press conference, owner Jerry Jones and executive vice president Stephen Jones had conflicting answers about Sanders' legitimacy as a candidate.

According to DLLS Cowboys' Joseph Hoyt, Stephen Jones said Sanders was a serious candidate and that both he and Jerry Jones "think the world of" Sanders. Per The Athletic's Jon Machota, Jerry Jones differed in his answer, saying that Sanders "was never a serious candidate."

When asked about his conversation with Sanders, Jerry Jones said Sanders "already has a job," via Machota.

Just hours after the Cowboys and former head coach Mike McCarthy parted ways on Jan. 13, Fox Sports' Jordan Schultz reported that Jerry Jones had spoken with Sanders about becoming Dallas' next head coach. Schultz noted that Sanders was considered a top candidate at the time, and there was mutual interest.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport later reported that Sanders and the Cowboys were still in talks, but did not plan to have a formal interview.

Sanders, now preparing for his third year at Colorado, spent five seasons with the Cowboys from 1995 to 1999, winning a Super Bowl in 1995.

It's hard to say why Jerry Jones never considered Sanders a serious candidate, but if his goal was to generate storylines, he certainly accomplished it.

Now Sanders will stick with the Buffaloes, who he made significant progress with during the 2024 season. Colorado, which went 1-11 the season before Sanders' arrival, improved from 4-8 in 2023 to 9-4 this season. The Buffs were an upset loss against Kansas away from reaching the Big 12 championship and potentially the College Football Playoff.

Had Sanders landed the job in Dallas, it would have meant leaving behind what he's built in Boulder. He'll instead get to continue leading Colorado and perhaps will be ready for his first NFL gig in a few years.

The Cowboys, meanwhile, are hoping Schottenheimer can take them to the promised land after years of disappointment. Jerry Jones clearly thinks highly of the longtime assistant if he was willing to give him his first head coaching job over candidates like Sanders.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones discussed the exit of former head coach Mike McCarthy after he was eventually replaced by offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.

"Mike McCarthy left some good stuff here," Jones said Monday, per RJ Ochoa of Blogging the Boys. "One of them was Brian... it was time for a change. I've heard it criticized we spent five days getting to come to that decision. We did. Come to that decision. One of the reasons we came to that decision is because there was this decision available to us as well. One of the reasons."

The Cowboys chose to move on from McCarthy on Jan. 13 after his contract expired at the end of the 2024 season.

"Prior to reaching the point of contract negotiations, though, it became mutually clear that it would be better for each of us to head in a different direction," Jones said in a statement released after the team parted ways with McCarthy.

Thank you, Coach McCarthy#DallasCowboys | 📰 https://t.co/lZcM1wJESO pic.twitter.com/FKAHQ2MFWB

— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) January 13, 2025

Dallas eventually hired Schottenheimer on Friday.

McCarthy finished with a 49-35 record in five years with the Cowboys, although they owned a 1-3 playoff mark during his tenure. Dallas is also coming off a missed postseason appearance for the first time since 2020, ending its 2024 campaign at No. 3 in the NFC East standings with a 7-10 record.

The Cowboys sat at 3-2 through Week 5, but they proceeded to lose five straight games and quickly fell out of the NFC playoff race. They also dealt with injuries to key players on both sides of the ball, highlighted by quarterback Dak Prescott undergoing season-ending hamstring surgery after appearing in eight games.

McCarthy could still find himself patrolling the sidelines in 2025, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Sunday that he would "expect" the New Orleans Saints to be talking to him regarding the team's head coaching vacancy "at some point this week."

As for the Cowboys, they'll be looking to return to the playoffs in 2025 during their first year with Schottenheimer.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones acknowledged he ventured off the beaten path a bit when he tabbed Brian Schottenheimer as the team's next head coach.

"This is as big a risk you could take," Jones told reporters Monday during Schottenheimer's introductory press conference. "No head coaching experience. But he's had 25 years of experience."

The owner also believes being the son of a legendary NFL coach has aided Schottenheimer in his coaching career:

Owner Jerry Jones references Brian Schottenheimer’s “osmosis” about growing up with his father Marty, a multiple-time NFL head coach, and he speaks to experiencing Schotty in Cowboys coaches meetings as reasons for hiring him to be the #DallasCowboys head coach pic.twitter.com/ZgJKUZCM1Q

— Garrett Podell (@garrettpodell) January 27, 2025

Hiring Schottenheimer has been met with a lot of skepticism, to put it kindly.

The 51-year-old boasts a lot of experience, having started his coaching career in 1997. But, as Jones noted, he hasn't been a head coach before and his performance as an offensive coordinator doesn't blow you away.

Monday's press conference was an opportunity for Jones to lay out a clear vision for why he was won over by Schottenheimer's pitch despite the obvious question marks. Instead, the 82-year-old probably just confirmed the worst fears of fans who believe the Cowboys' Super Bowl drought will extend indefinitely.

RJ Ochoa of Blogging the Boys transcribed a portion of the press conference when Jones received a question about Schottenheimer and proceeded to talk up his own résumé.

Jerry Jones on hiring Brian Schottenheimer:

*long pause*

"In the almost 35 years that I've been involved with the Dallas Cowboys... I've only missed one Senior Bowl. 35 years. And I think I missed one Combine, in 35 years. At the NFL, over the last 4 or 5 years, the NFL we want…

— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) January 27, 2025

Taking a risk isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially after Dallas opted for a relatively safe hire when it chose Mike McCarthy in 2020. Firing Tom Landry and hiring Jimmy Johnson was an even bigger gamble and look how that worked out.

But Schottenheimer feels like an NFL coaching retread without him having worked in this job before. Surely another team would've made him a head coach by now if he gave the impression he was suited for the role.

The idea that having a famous coaching father helps isn't really backed up by history, either.

Don Shula is one of the winningest coaches in NFL history. He had two sons, Dave and Mike, who followed in his footsteps, and neither has enjoyed a distinguished career. Rex Ryan, Wade Phillips and Jim Mora Jr. all had fathers who were NFL coaches and none excelled for an extended period of time, either.

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is the exception rather than the norm.

If this all works, then Jones will look like a genius. The last 30 years of the Cowboys' history points to a much different outcome with the Schottenheimer experiment.

The hiring of offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to the position of head coach has been the cause of great angst in Dallas, as fans lamented another familiar hire from Jerry Jones at a time when the organization seems to be in need of significant change.

So long as the Cowboys have Dak Prescott at quarterback, however, the head coach should look at least somewhat good.

"With all the [Troy] Aikmans and the [Tony] Romos and the Daks, someone is falling into a Tier 2 quarterback or higher every time," an NFL executive told The Athletic's Mike Sando. "You are going to be in the mix whether you hire Jason Garrett, Mike McCarthy or really anyone."

Since 1995, the Cowboys haven't won a Super Bowl or even reached the NFC Championship Game. And since Barry Switzer's tenure ended in 1997, the Cowboys have cycled through Chan Gailey, Dave Campo, Bill Parcells, Wade Phillips, Garrett, McCarthy and now Schottenheimer at head coach.

In the post-Switzer era, the Cowboys have reached the playoffs 12 times, though they've won just four postseason contests. They've been in the mix, in other words, but have never been able to get over the hump. At some point, that pattern would suggest that the issue has been rooted in organizational and coaching failures.

And that's why Schottenheimer's business-as-usual hiring has been so wildly unpopular in Dallas. There remains the feeling that until Jones recognizes the need for change, the Cowboys will continue being the sort of team that has the talent to reach the postseason but flames out once it gets there.

The Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders will face each other on Sunday in the NFC Championship Game, with a spot in the Super Bowl on the line.

But that doesn't mean that fans of both teams couldn't come together, however briefly, to troll the Dallas Cowboys:

We may hate each other but we can all agree that DALLAS SUCKS pic.twitter.com/VqtQpLeI03

— Tailgate Ted (@TailgateTed) January 26, 2025

It's been a rough few weeks for the Cowboys.

The team went 7-10 this past season and watched as both the Eagles and Commanders marched through the playoffs. And in the process, the Cowboys became the NFC team with the longest NFC Championship Game drought, now stretching all the way back to 1995.

The previous holders of that dubious distinction were the Detroit Lions and these Commanders, dating back to 1991. But the Lions ended their drought last season and the Commanders did so this year.

And while all of that was transpiring, the Cowboys made a highly controversial hire at head coach, promoting offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to the position. With far more vaunted potential candidates heading elsewhere, that hiring was met with a sense of existential dread from a fan base that has grown weary of Jerry Jones' leadership and the team's lack of Super Bowl appearances in the past 30 years.

Sunday is an exciting day in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia. But in Dallas, "dreary" would probably be the adjective of choice.

The Dallas Cowboys are currently one of six NFL teams looking for a new head coach, and that comes down—at least partially—to the mismanagement of the Mike McCarthy situation after letting him coach the 2024 season as a pending free agent.

Albert Breer of SI.com offered more on McCarthy's side of the coin, between not receiving an extension offer before the season to the contract talks after it:

For his part, McCarthy didn't complain about any of it. In talking with him over the summer, and again in the fall, he kept saying that this wasn't much different than having a pending free agent in a prominent role on your team—it just so happened that, in this case, the contract-year person in question was the head coach. But, as I've heard it for a few months, the way it was handled didn't sit well with McCarthy, or the members of his staff looking ahead at their own uncertain futures. Then, in the days leading up to the Jan. 14 expiration of McCarthy's contract, my understanding is that while there was discussion, there was no real negotiation.

Whether the Cowboys should have brought McCarthy back isn't necessarily the main issue at play. During his time in Dallas, he led the team to a 49-35 record and three playoff berths in five seasons but won just one playoff game and showed little indication that he could get the Cowboys over the hump. There was a basis for moving on.

But the lack of decisiveness after the season cost the Cowboys eight days to interview other coaching candidates around the league, namely the assistants on the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs, and also prevented McCarthy from interviewing elsewhere. It was a situation that was undeniably mishandled by team owner Jerry Jones.

A change of scenery probably was in the best interest for both parties. But some breakups are handled better than others.