Jerry Jones decided to keep Mike McCarthy as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys this offseason, but never really endorsed his coach at any point.
He made comments about potentially making changes and the resignation of Sean Payton in New Orleans started up the rumors of him landing in Dallas.
It turns out it was all part of a plan.
Jones revealed as much Friday when speaking with David Moore of Dallas Morning News.
Moore shared some tweets with quotes from Jones about how he approached the process of signing defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to an extension.
ALERT: Jerry Jones tells Dallas Morning News that Mike McCarthy’s job status was never in question. Said he & McCarthy were working behind the scenes to do all they could retain Dan Quinn.
Quinn has received a multi-year extension to remain as defensive coordinator.
— David Moore (@DavidMooreDMN) January 28, 2022
So it turns out McCarthy was always going to keep his job, according to Jones.
He went on to say this was all a strategic plan to fool us all.
More Jones to DMN: He again stressed not offering public support to McCarthy was a strategic decision because he was concerned doing so could, “influence the balance of some relative interest in Dan.”
Cited that Sean Payton, Jason Garrett & now Quinn have stayed despite HC oops.
— David Moore (@DavidMooreDMN) January 28, 2022
Jones decided to pretend like he didn’t support McCarthy, all to keep Quinn from getting other jobs?
Whatever the plan was, it worked out because the Cowboys now keep one of the best defensive coordinators in the game today.
Rumors Will Continue In Dallas
Quinn was a top head coaching candidate and was yet convinced to stay in Dallas as a coordinator.
Common sense tells us that he could be next in line for the head coaching job if the Cowboys get off to a rough start in 2022.
Or even if they fall short of expectations next postseason.
Quinn got a multi-year extension and Jones has a top head coaching candidate in the building.
It seems all too obvious that Jones has a backup plan in place.
More from Jerry Jones to DMN: “My goal was to keep the continuity of this group together. We met many times face to face w/ Dan, myself & Mike, to coordinate & talk to him.
“We were very much in a competitive environment because we felt Dan did have the opportunity to be a HC.”
— David Moore (@DavidMooreDMN) January 28, 2022
The question now is if Kellen Moore will return as offensive coordinator, or if he will land a head job elsewhere.
Getting him back keeps the entire staff in place with perhaps one more chance to find postseason success before McCarthy’s seat becomes too hot to handle.
