Some former Cowboys stars know it’s time for change in Dallas.
Troy Aikman and Dez Bryant took different approaches to how they conveyed their message but both expressed the same sentiment Monday that Mike McCarthy’s time will be ending soon.
Let’s start with the “burn it all down” take from Bryant, who fired off on X during the 34-10 home loss to the Texans on “Monday Night Football” and provided his pick for Dallas’ next coach.
“I’m the @dallascowboys to the heart. If I’m the Cowboys, I’d fire everyone after this season,” Bryant tweeted. “There’s young, hungry talent in the upcoming draft. Also, I’d consider @DeionSanders as the next head coach.”
Aikman, who called the game, took the more delicate approach.
“Mike McCarthy’s a good football coach,” Aikman said, per Awful Announcing. “He’s proven that at Green Bay. He’s proven it here. You win 12 games three years in a row, you’re doing something right. But he didn’t get a contract extension after he had done that. It’s hard to imagine him getting one now.”
McCarthy, 61, is in the final year of his contract with the Cowboys and it seems all but certain he will not be receiving an extension.
The Cowboys are 3-7 this year, taking a humungous step backwards after claiming the No. 2 seed in the NFC last season.
Green Bay clobbered Dallas in the wild-card round to end the 2023 campaign, which raised questions about McCarthy’s future with the franchise.
Owner Jerry Jones opted to retain McCarthy without an extension and have him enter the year as a proverbial lame duck.
Jones has said he will not make any firings during this lost season, but has made no McCarthy guarantees beyond that.
With the Cowboys losing five straight games and Micah Parsons seemingly calling out McCarthy recently, it’s raised questions about whether he’s lost the team.
Jones dismissed that narrative Monday.
“That losing the team stuff, that’s so overblown,” Jones said after the loss, according to ESPN. “These guys are so, first of all, they’re natural competitors. Secondly, they’re so proud of the fact that they are professional and disappointed in maybe the way they executed the play, but that’s not anything that’s brother or first cousin to give up. … Everybody’s certainly disappointed, but that’s a big difference in not knowing that you got to put the foot in front of the other to go.”
The Cowboys will try to end their losing skid Sunday against the Commanders.
