Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy will not receive extension, will coach 2024 in contract year.
Mike McCarthy will officially enter 2024 in a contract year.
Even though it hasn’t even been a full week since the Green Bay Packers destroyed the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs, it already feels like a lot has changed. It goes without saying that this is not the case at all because there has been no actual change.
The Cowboys’ owner, president, and general manager, Jerry Jones, declared last week that the organization would be bringing Mike McCarthy back in 2024, despite suffering humiliation in the postseason once more. Interestingly, he signed a contract with the organization in 2020, and this is the last year of that deal.
While it was assumed that Dallas would not be extending McCarthy before the season, nothing is ever truly off of the table with this franchise. You can put those questions to bed though as Saturday afternoon ESPN reported that McCarthy will enter the season in a contract year.
According to league sources who spoke to ESPN, Mike McCarthy will coach the Dallas Cowboys in 2024 under a contract that expires and is not likely to obtain any kind of extension.
There have been speculations about whether McCarthy’s contract could be changed in any way, even if it was merely to add one more year, ever after Cowboys owner Jerry Jones revealed last week that McCarthy would return in 2024.
In short, the answer is no. Jones is counting on McCarthy’s contract expiring in 2024 because he thinks that a person in the final year of a contract is challenged in a new way and that this typically brings out the best in people.
This is hardly breaking news, but the acknowledgement of it is significant. The Cowboys have made two decisions in bringing McCarthy back and forcing him to go at the season with his job on the line.
Some could argue that this is a good thing as the intensity of the situation may “bring out the best” in Mike and therefore the team.
The argument against that is that this situation creates a constant distraction as evidenced by how Jerry Jones handled McCarthy’s predecessor in
Jason Garrett. Dallas forced Garrett into a contract year on two consecutive occasions. The Cowboys delivered in 2014 with a 12-4 record and Wild
Card win (before losing to Mike McCarthy’s Packers in the Dez Caught It™️ game) but failed miserably the second time in 2019 which led to him not returning and the McCarthy era beginning.
The latter line of thought is apparently something that ESPN’s sources believe could be a factor as well. From the report:
Given that McCarthy will be entering the final year of his contract, several league insiders speculate that he may find it more difficult to fill positions on his coaching staff. Others claim that McCarthy’s decision not to extend might cast a shadow over the club amid trying times.
If the 2024 season is not going well, some other sources wonder how the Cowboys players will respond when McCarthy’s contract status becomes known later in the season.
It should go without saying that this will definitely happen. Obviously, it remains to be seen how the Cowboys react to it. History indicates it won’t be successful.
Leave a Reply