Big Mac now has some leverage. Can he use it?

[Cowboy4ever]

The only leverage MM has is that they signed Dak to an extension. Dak is an average QB in a system he knows backward and forwards. It would take him 2 years at least to learn a new system so he would be back to average at 34 years old and in the last couple years of his contract. I think Jerry brings MM back not because MM has any sorta of leverage, he doesn't but because Dak would be even more useless than he is now with a new coach trying to learn a new system.

 

[big dog cowboy]

..........who Jerry would actually hire?

No one knows the answer to that question.

Trying to predict what Jerry will do is like trying to predict the winning lottery numbers.

 

[dreghorn2]

Saints Bears New York G

Jaguars as well are a possibility.

 

[Mark]

That's the unfortunate reality of situation. We have the richest owner in the league who claims to be desperate for even an appearance in the conference championship game. There is no salary cap for a HC or the staff. Yet he won't take advantage of that fact and get the best staff possible. It's something I will never understand.

Jerry's narcissism demands that he always be the smartest guy in the room. And, unlike any other owner or GM in the League, he actually considers himself part of the coaching staff.

 

[fivetwos]

The main thing I would ask for if I were McCarthy (aside from a raise) is the assurance that they plan to actually commit to actually bringing in a couple free agents in the top 100 to help supplement the roster. Jerry's 4th round projects dont kill the team nearly as much as his failure to spend on players outside the organization.

Fully agree.

What immediately follows that demand is the PC introducing Zimmer as the new HC.

Jerry and his kid make all the decisions and they don’t give tens of millions to players they never heard of. It’s a proven winning formula. Just ask them.

 

[fivetwos]

This season has sucked in so many ways. Lame-ducking MM was a fail by JJ, along with many other blunders.

IMO— MM does deserve to get an extension and a raise based on his performance this year.

BUT

That has no bearing on one simple fact: Mike has NOT succeeded with the primary reason he was hired. To win in the playoffs.

JJ has put himself in an absurd situation: fire a guy the players love and respect after he has made lemonade from lemons? Or extend a guy you know can’t help this team beat the best teams in the league? Purgatory seems inevitable.

The only viable direction he can take now that JJ has (mis)played his hand is actually quite simple:

Extend Mike. Marry his contract length to mirror Dak’s contract. Give them a chance to “get it done” (which looks like a fools errand at this point)— and then start the full rebuild once their contracts expire.

Add quality pieces to the offense to maximize Dak’s opportunity to succeed, and hope for the best, and plan and prepare for life after Dak and Mike.

Firing Mike now, especially if this team competes against Philly and Washington would absolutely send the wrong message and would be a downer now— whereas firing him like he should have after the beatdown in Jan would have provided accountability and a fresh start.

We have the worst GM in the league. It is beyond maddening to watch him drive this franchise into the ground. Rant over lol.

Give Mike another four years to match Dak. Not so awful.

It’ll end up being ten for Garrett plus three on the front end as OC, thirteen for Dak and nine for Mike without as much as an NFCCG appearance unless this FO starts to get it right in March.

They continue to look for players and coaches to do things they aren’t capable of because they pay them, then double down repeatedly when that fails. Horrible misevaluation at the top and it all begins and ends there.

 

[atlantacowboy]

He's won some meaningless games here after digging a 3-7 hole. We got embarrassed by Saints, Lions, Eagles, and Texans on our home field by a combined score of 159 to 44 when the season still mattered. The ride to 3-7 and the performances in those games is one of the most embarrassing chapters in Cowboys history, ........ and this is after the most embarrassing playoff loss in franchise history last Jan.

It all falls square at the feet of MM and there is no justification other than organizational laziness to bring him back. All he's done the past month is ruin our draft prospects and pad his resume'.

 

[Brax]

Whatever anyone here thinks about Mike McCarthy as a HC, this guy has done a good job keeping his players focused and motivated despite a rash of injuries, a roster that was way less talented than last year, and an owner who hung him out over a cliff without a future.

Despite all that, this team played like last night was a playoff game. The undermanned defense (missing 4 starters) was hitting the bucs like freight trains and swarming to the ball like their hair was in fire. The offense (with 2 starters out and a star WR with an A/C joint needing surgery) made big plays when it had to.

Bottom line: This team looked motivated. Four hours after learning they are eliminated from the playoffs.

So….it appears to me that suddenly Mike McCarthy, who looked like a dead man walking when we were 3-7, now has the inside track to be extended. With Bill Belechick now recruiting teenagers to play at North Carolina, the scenario of a Belechick run as HC in Big D is dead. (I never for one second thought Bill B would ever agree to come here to the Jerry circus anyway)

Now the question becomes, will Jerry now once again see Big Mac as the future? If so, McCarthy needs to use his sudden surge of leverage wisely. If I were in his shoes, I would be negotiating for these changes:

• FIRST: Currently, McCarthy is the 16th highest paid NFL HC. He should seek to get paid in at least the top 10. He’s only making $4 million which is third in the NFC East. He makes less than Dan Quinn in Washington. Jerry is notoriously cheap with coaches. Make him pay you at least $10 mil a season.
• SECOND: He should have it in his contract that he hires his own assistants. Parcells and Jimmy both had that in their contracts. McCarthy has earned the right to have that as well. It’s what normal HCs in this league have - the right to decide who to go to battle with.
• THIRD: Negotiate a clause that gives him what other NFL coaches have: The right to be consulted before trades are made. When JJ famously traded for Trey Lance in 2023, Big Mac was blindsided. He probably would have told Jerry what is now obvious- Lance is not an NFL QB and his skill set does not fit McCarthy’s offense. Maybe he could have saved a wasted 4th round draft pick.

There are probably some more things Big Mac should ask for. We all know Jerry will never again allow a Cowboys HC to have the authority Jimmy did. But McCarthy has certainly earned the respect of his locker room and has seemingly made lemonade out of the lemons Jerry gave him this off-season. Shouldn’t that be worth something in return?

The only thing MM will ask for is a contract, he’s still the same incompetent HC with multiple problems that still happen game after game and season after season. Nothing has changed, the offense is outdated and looks no different regardless of QB. It’s a shame that Jerry will most likely take the easy route and extend MM and try and sell the pathetic coaching job as a good coaching. MM is a major problem with the team because he fits the Jones boys culture of no accountability and as long as you agree with Jerry all is good. Poor HC, average QB, to many high cap players who underperform, yeah can’t wait for Mcfat looking lost on the sidelines