FRISCO – Maybe it will all end up being a moot point. Maybe Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy earns a contract extension from owner Jerry Jones and “America’s Team” marches securely into 2025.

But for the moment?

Just as Bill Belichick was certainly a consideration here at some level, so might be Mike Vrabel, a top Belichick disciple.

And if Dallas wants Vrabel? It might miss out, just as it did with Belichick … and in a very similar manner.

Ryan Day is still the head coach at Ohio State, but rumors suggest his job security might depend on how the Buckeyes fare in the college playoffs.

And if Ohio State fails? Mike Vrabel, a Buckeyes legend as a player with skins on the wall as an NFL player (for Belichick’s Patriots) and as an NFL head coach (with the Titans), will be a “top candidate” there per ESPN’s Dan Graziano.

Belichick jumped from being an NFL legend to moving to the University of North Carolina.

Why wouldn’t his protege Vrabel consider doing the same? Some of what ESPN is doing here might be “reporting.” At the same time, and as is too often the case, some of it seems like “gossip.” Example?

ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky said Vrabel is “spoken for” this coaching cycle. … but Orlovsky is saying no more.

If that is indeed true? Because the Cowboys have no clear decision yet, the “clear path” that Orlovsky mentions doesn’t figure to lead to Dallas.