It appears Bill Belichick won’t be a head coach in the NFL next season. But if the Dallas Cowboys decide to move on from Mike McCarthy after next season, could Jerry Jones’ team be an option for the future Hall of Fame coach?
Talking to Yahoo Sports at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, the Cowboys owner and general manager said there’s “no doubt” he could work with the former New England Patriots coach, whom he calls a “friend.”
“I know him personally and I like him,” Jones told Yahoo. “There’s no doubt in my mind we could work together. None.”
Belichick, who mutually parted ways with the Patriots after 24 seasons and six Super Bowl titles, had only two interviews during this year’s cycle — both with the Atlanta Falcons, who decided to hire Raheem Morris for the job instead.
Four other head-coaching jobs have been filled with only two current vacancies — with the Washington Commanders and Seattle Seahawks — and neither team has been reported to be linked with Belichick, 71.
The Cowboys announced earlier this month that McCarthy would return after the team flopped in a 48-32 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round. McCarthy is 42-25 with NFC East titles in 2021 and 2023, earning 12 wins in three of his four seasons but is 1-3 in the postseason. He signed a five-year contract with the Cowboys in 2020, so he will be entering the final year of that deal next season.
Jones praised McCarthy on Tuesday when he met with reporters at the Senior Bowl and said the Cowboys would be “all-in” for the 2024 season.
“… I thought we made a pretty good move four years ago when we hired Mike McCarthy, and he’s had some great in-season success. Now he’s come up short three times and advanced us in the playoff. But I like that fact that’s he’s hanging around the rim, and I like what the team has done to hang around the rim,” he said. “So, I think, what the answer that I would have is, that I’m aware that we’re hanging around the rim. We’re not getting the ball in but when you hang around the rim — let’s don’t discount hanging around the rim — where we are right now with the players we’ve got, and I’m thinking about it from the whole look.”
Belichick left New England with 333 career victories (including playoffs), second all time behind Don Shula’s 347. Belichick has expressed his admiration for Jones and the Cowboys organization in the past.
Jones, 81, on Tuesday told Yahoo that Belichick is “maybe at the top of his profession” but called it “ridiculous” that “one person automatically assures you a Super Bowl.”
“That’s too high [an] expectation for him. But is he maybe the greatest pro football coach of all time? Could very well be,” he said. “He is a friend and I like him, and I want to make real clear: I wouldn’t have any problem working with him.”
The Cowboys have won three Super Bowl titles under Jones’ ownership but haven’t advanced to the NFC Championship Game since 1995, the second-longest drought in the conference behind only Washington (1991).