NewsBot
New Member
- Messages
- 111,281
- Reaction score
- 2,947
Training camp is still weeks away, but the seat under Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett is already heating up. The front office spent the offseason locking up many of its stars, supplementing the roster with new talent, revamping several coordinators and position coaches, and kick-starting contract talks early with several marquee players.
But there’s a monumental question mark still lingering around the head coach position. Garrett was not given an extension after leading the Cowboys to the divisional round of the playoffs last season, and now heads into the 2019 campaign on the last year of his deal. Owner Jerry Jones has verbalized his “win-now” strategy, but what happens if the Cowboys… don’t?
Two names Cowboys fans heard a lot last year when the team was sitting 3-5 are still being linked to the Dallas job, even though the Dallas job is currently occupied. Perhaps the most intriguing to many is Oklahoma Sooners coach Lincoln Riley.
On ESPN’s Get Up, former Cowboys Marcus Spears and Bobby Carpenter talk through the possibility. The topic was raised after the Tulsa World reported that Riley would owe approximately $4.6 million to the university were he to leave Norman for another football job, whether in the NFL or college.
So Get Up host Mike Greenberg asked his panel, “Would a $4.6 million buyout scare away Jerry Jones?”
“Not a chance in hell,” Spears shot back. “Four-point-six million dollars, to Jerry Jones, is a part of doing business.” Spears points out that Riley would be a regionally-appealing option to Cowboys fans, not to mention an offensive mastermind who would seem to be a natural fit with “what Dallas is trying to do with all of this young offensive talent,” Spears says. “It just makes total sense.”
Carpenter agrees buying out Riley’s contract would not be a hindrance for the Cowboys, considering that many teams (pro and college) pay far more to either get the guy they want or get rid of the guy they don’t.
For Garrett to keep being the guy in Dallas, Carpenter says, “Jerry wants to see progression. They’re going to probably need to make the NFC championship game. They’re going to need to keep moving in that direction. And the games are going to have to be managed properly. Jason Garrett is going to [have to] look like he has a firm control on everything that is going on. And that offense is going to have to be highly productive.”
Over at SportsDay, Jon Machota thinks fans are more ready to move on from Garrett than Jones is. “If [Garrett] wins a Super Bowl,” Machota predicted on ESPN Dallas 103.3 KESN-FM, “I think he’ll be the head coach as long as Jerry Jones is alive… Winning it, for sure. If he just got to one and another two, three years later they never got back again, I don’t know that would necessarily be the case. Jerry wants this to work out. He’s said he wants this to be his Tom Landry.”
But if it doesn’t work out? Machota doesn’t think it means burning the whole place down and starting over. “If they were to go in another direction from Jason Garrett,” Machota theorized, “I think it’s for somebody who steps in right away and can build off that success. We saw the Bucs; that’s one I always go back to, the early 2000s. Tony Dungy was a great coach for them, but it took Jon Gruden to come in to kind of get them over the top. And I think this team is ready-made that you could put another head coach in there, and I think he could have success right away. There’s enough young talent on this team, there’s enough solid core. I don’t think it would be a rebuild if they were to go in another direction.”
The scenario would arguably be similar to the one Dallas faced in 1993 when Jimmy Johnson was fired as head coach after back-to-back championships. Barry Switzer had the Cowboys back in the NFC title game in his first year and was hoisting a Lombardi Trophy in his second. Could Riley be the next Oklahoma defector to assume the controls of an already-loaded Cowboys squad?
When pressed for the name of a potential candidate, Machota revived a different hypothetical, one who still represents a longstanding hope for many Cowboys fans.
Garrett will be walking a very high rope in 2019. There would seem to be no net. For the coach who’s always preached about ‘the next man up,’ there’s already a line of them forming right outside his door just waiting for him to misstep.
Gallery
11 most important and indispensable Cowboys for 2019
view 22 images
Gallery
Cowboys 2019 Offseason Player Power Rankings
view 63 images
Continue reading...
But there’s a monumental question mark still lingering around the head coach position. Garrett was not given an extension after leading the Cowboys to the divisional round of the playoffs last season, and now heads into the 2019 campaign on the last year of his deal. Owner Jerry Jones has verbalized his “win-now” strategy, but what happens if the Cowboys… don’t?
Two names Cowboys fans heard a lot last year when the team was sitting 3-5 are still being linked to the Dallas job, even though the Dallas job is currently occupied. Perhaps the most intriguing to many is Oklahoma Sooners coach Lincoln Riley.
On ESPN’s Get Up, former Cowboys Marcus Spears and Bobby Carpenter talk through the possibility. The topic was raised after the Tulsa World reported that Riley would owe approximately $4.6 million to the university were he to leave Norman for another football job, whether in the NFL or college.
So Get Up host Mike Greenberg asked his panel, “Would a $4.6 million buyout scare away Jerry Jones?”
“Not a chance in hell,” Spears shot back. “Four-point-six million dollars, to Jerry Jones, is a part of doing business.” Spears points out that Riley would be a regionally-appealing option to Cowboys fans, not to mention an offensive mastermind who would seem to be a natural fit with “what Dallas is trying to do with all of this young offensive talent,” Spears says. “It just makes total sense.”
Carpenter agrees buying out Riley’s contract would not be a hindrance for the Cowboys, considering that many teams (pro and college) pay far more to either get the guy they want or get rid of the guy they don’t.
For Garrett to keep being the guy in Dallas, Carpenter says, “Jerry wants to see progression. They’re going to probably need to make the NFC championship game. They’re going to need to keep moving in that direction. And the games are going to have to be managed properly. Jason Garrett is going to [have to] look like he has a firm control on everything that is going on. And that offense is going to have to be highly productive.”
Over at SportsDay, Jon Machota thinks fans are more ready to move on from Garrett than Jones is. “If [Garrett] wins a Super Bowl,” Machota predicted on ESPN Dallas 103.3 KESN-FM, “I think he’ll be the head coach as long as Jerry Jones is alive… Winning it, for sure. If he just got to one and another two, three years later they never got back again, I don’t know that would necessarily be the case. Jerry wants this to work out. He’s said he wants this to be his Tom Landry.”
But if it doesn’t work out? Machota doesn’t think it means burning the whole place down and starting over. “If they were to go in another direction from Jason Garrett,” Machota theorized, “I think it’s for somebody who steps in right away and can build off that success. We saw the Bucs; that’s one I always go back to, the early 2000s. Tony Dungy was a great coach for them, but it took Jon Gruden to come in to kind of get them over the top. And I think this team is ready-made that you could put another head coach in there, and I think he could have success right away. There’s enough young talent on this team, there’s enough solid core. I don’t think it would be a rebuild if they were to go in another direction.”
The scenario would arguably be similar to the one Dallas faced in 1993 when Jimmy Johnson was fired as head coach after back-to-back championships. Barry Switzer had the Cowboys back in the NFC title game in his first year and was hoisting a Lombardi Trophy in his second. Could Riley be the next Oklahoma defector to assume the controls of an already-loaded Cowboys squad?
When pressed for the name of a potential candidate, Machota revived a different hypothetical, one who still represents a longstanding hope for many Cowboys fans.
“I’ll never rule out [Saints head coach] Sean Payton. I won’t. If they parted ways with Garrett, I will not believe that Sean Payton will [not] be their head coach until somebody else is in place. And really, it won’t be until that actual press conference… Sean Payton fits in perfectly with the style of Stephen Jones, Jerry Jones, the way this organization is, out late at night, just having a good time.
“It just seems like such a perfect fit and to be honest with you, I’ve always felt like Sean wanted to come back here anyway [after being on staff from 2003-2005]. He knows how important this job is. Winning a Super Bowl for an organization like New Orleans is big, because they hadn’t won one… But winning a Super Bowl and bringing the Dallas Cowboys back to glory, with a team that hasn’t done it since the mid-’90s, I’ll believe he passes on that opportunity when it happens.”
Garrett will be walking a very high rope in 2019. There would seem to be no net. For the coach who’s always preached about ‘the next man up,’ there’s already a line of them forming right outside his door just waiting for him to misstep.
Gallery
11 most important and indispensable Cowboys for 2019
view 22 imagesGallery
Cowboys 2019 Offseason Player Power Rankings
view 63 imagesContinue reading...
