Pro Football Rumors
Well, this veered into rather interesting territory late in the game. After another drawn-out negotiation with an All-Pro, the Cowboys were mostly just viewed as unnecessarily prolonging extension talks en route to a deal more expensive than it needed to be. Even as the ice was not thinning between ownership and Micah Parsons in this latest Cowboys offseason saga, the CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott endgames still had an 11th-hour resolution — or a situation where the star edge rusher remained a Cowboy by Week 1 — as the most likely 2025 outcome.
Instead, Jerry Jones completed a shocking twist ending. Parsons is a Packer, after the longtime Cowboys owner broke off negotiations amid a strange approach to dealing with one of the NFL’s highest-powered agents. This took place a week before Dallas’ new head coach is set to debut. The Cowboys dealt Brian Schottenheimer‘s best player shortly after the team’s preseason finale, reshaping how this Cowboys period is viewed. Will it end up being the right choice?
Months before the Parsons showdown came to a head, the Cowboys completed another unusual coaching separation. Viewed as likely to move on from McCarthy for weeks, the Cowboys let the lame-duck HC dangle a week after Black Monday. McCarthy had outperformed Jason Garrett as Cowboys HC, stringing together three straight 12-win seasons — which had not happened in Dallas since their now-Netflixed 1990s glory years — from 2021-23 but was not extended following the Packers’ upset wild-card win two seasons ago.
Prescott did not play particularly well before his season-ending hamstring injury, but McCarthy became the extraordinarily rare leader to coach out a contract. As McCarthy’s assistants — including Schottenheimer — awaited the boss’ fate, the Cowboys waited while the rest of the league had begun coaching searches. McCarthy, 62, was out after two seasons as a play-calling HC (and three prior years as a non-play-caller). The sides discussed a new contract, with term length an issue during the brief talks, but McCarthy moved on and ultimately decided to bow out of the Saints’ HC search. What happened next proved quite surprising.
Part of the reason the Schottenheimer hire did not stun: this coaching search reminded closely of the 2020 effort that brought McCarthy to Dallas. Jerry Jones left Garrett dangling for days after the 2019 season ended, announcing a separation after interviews were being scheduled elsewhere. Jones then hired McCarthy after an interview process that only included — due to the Rooney Rule that at the time required...
