Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy isn’t unemployed yet, but he might as well be. With a once-promising season all but lost before the team’s annual Thanksgiving game, there’s little McCarthy can do to salvage his job.
The NFL coaching carousel stops for nobody, so plenty of fans and analysts are already thinking hard about who might fill the vacancy left by his near-inevitable firing.
As always seems to be the case, former NFL coach Rex Ryan has a take.
He’s noticed a recent trend of teams hiring their former players to coach the team, like Dan Campbell in Detroit, DeMeco Ryans in Houston, and even more he didn’t mention, like Jerod Mayo in New England.
Ryan wondered out loud why Dallas might not do the same, especially with one of their biggest stars gaining plenty of steam in the coaching world.
Of course, Ryan was discussing none other than Deion Sanders, now known as “Coach Prime,” who has executed an impressive turnaround of the Colorado Buffaloes.
Sanders and his team look to be on pace to contend for the College Football Playoff just two years after going 1-11 in the last season before the “Prime” era. Let’s check out Ryan’s more complete comments on the situation.
As many others believe, Ryan stated that “there’s no doubt about it” in terms of the end of McCarthy’s Dallas employment.
Where there is much more doubt, however, is the question of whether or not Sanders is going to be on the move this offseason.
He’s clearly building something special in Boulder, and even if he does want to leave, he might stay at the college level, where he’s had so much success recruiting and using the transfer portal.
Sanders could potentially coach his Alma Mater, Florida State, who could be without a coach before too long as Mike Norvell endures a truly nightmarish season.
It’s also worth wondering whether Sanders would make the pro leap at the same time as his son Shedeur, Colorado’s current quarterback and a top prospect for the 2025 NFL Draft, but not to the same team.
Plenty of Shedeur’s potential landing spots could be looking for a new coach, while Dallas will all but certainly be sticking with Dak Prescott at the quarterback position for the long haul.