Riley's contract pay him 6M per through 2023 then 6.6M in 2024.
Garrett's on the last year of a contract that pays him 6M per.
Recap:
Riley contract, signed 2019, 6M per.
Garrett contract, signed 2015, 6M per.
With both at 6M per, Garrett's contract was more per year relatively speaking because it was signed in 2015 vs 2019 for Riley.
Calculation for Inflation:
The NFL salary cap tracks NFL revenue growth and therefore is a good way to look at the NFL inflation rate.
Garrett's 6M per season was 4.19 percent of the 2015 salary cap.
A 2020 contract at 4.19 percent of the projected 2020 salary cap would be 8.375M.
Summary:
Switzer is talking out of his backside.
Switzer still does a lot of commercials and whatnot in Oklahoma.
Switzer likes to say what OU fans want to hear.
Disclaimer:
Having said the above, I don't know of any definite interest from the Cowboys with regards to Riley.
The Cowboys need a combination of Football Genius AND Over-Bearing Personality for their Head Coach.
It's not just Jerry as owner that makes an Over-Bearing personality necessary, but the Cowboys media/fan scrutiny is different than anything else in football.
Football Genius: Riley (OU), McVay (Rams), etc..
Over-Bearing Personality (&Genius): Belichick, Jimmy, Parcells, etc..
2020 Coaches with both Football Genius AND Over-Bearing Personality:
Belichick
?