When Bill Belichick left New England over the offseason the Cowboys were one of the first teams mentioned as a possible destination. Dallas was coming off a postseason implosion against the lower-seeded Packers, and head coach Mike McCarthy had just a season left on his deal. A coaching change in Dallas wasn’t just possible, it was kind of expected.
As luck would have it, McCarthy was able to hold on in Dallas another year. The Cowboys front office opted to roll it all back for one more year in 2024 and that meant letting McCarthy serve out the entirety of his contract with the dreaded lame duck status ominously looming over him.
Belichick, widely considered a surefire Hall of Famer, inexplicably signed with no one. The legendary coach set his sights on 2025 to resume his coaching career, with the Cowboys, once again, serving as a favorite landing spot to onlookers. Jeff Howe from The Athletic recently called the Cowboys “the obvious connection.”
From Belichick’s point of view, he needs to find a team built to win now. At age 73, he’s probably not interested in a complete rebuild. He’s just 15 wins away from passing Don Shula on the all-time wins list, which, provided Dak Prescott is retained, is a feat he could easily achieve in less than two seasons with the Cowboys.
From the Cowboys point of view, Belichick would add legitimacy back to the coaching ranks in Dallas. Jerry Jones has long been accused of hiring “yes men” at head coach. Presumably soured by the Jimmy Johnson experience, the impression is Jones wants to ensure he receives the bulk of the credit the next time ultimate success is achieved. Whether that’s fact or fiction is difficult to say but it’s a widely held perception he’s been fighting since the turn of the century.
He pushed back on this roughly 20-years ago when shocked the world by bringing in Bill Parcells. Belichick would put those same “puppet” accusations to bed if he were brought in to follow the ever-pleasing McCarthy in 2025.
As was the case with Parcells, it would require compromise on both sides to make such a marriage work. The Cowboys’ personnel department has been far more successful finding talent than Belichick has been since taking a leadership role in personnel in New England. They would need to retain that power. At the same time Belichick would have to be king of the kingdom in matters of final roster and playing time. The front office would have to back off.
In other words, the front…
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