The only head coach in NFL history with eight Super Bowl rings couldn’t get a job in the league this offseason and will instead be watching the 2024 campaign from his sofa.
But expect to hear Bill Belichick’s name a lot when the Cowboys come up in conversation over the next nine months.
As part of an ESPN story on Belichick’s failed job hunt, writers Don Van Natta Jr., Seth Wickersham, and Jeremy Fowler reveal that the coach, who turned 72 this week, now has a shortlist of teams in his sights for a prospective return to the sidelines in 2025.
And the Cowboys are on it.
“He is believed to be biding his time until next January for openings on teams he has told confidants he would be interested in coaching: the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. A source who spoke with a longtime friend of Belichick said the friend wonders if the coach will have another opportunity: “I don’t think Bill Belichick will ever be a head coach again in the National Football League,” the friend said. “Unless it’s [for] Jerry Jones.”
It’s worth pointing out, of course, that current Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy is entering the final year of his contract, with Jones having decided against giving him an extension beyond 2024, even despite McCarthy leading the team to three consecutive 12-win seasons. McCarthy’s deal will officially expire as soon as the Cowboys play their final game of the season or postseason.
There were whispers that the axe would fall on McCarthy back in January, after the Cowboys’ embarrassing playoff loss to Green Bay, which took place just three days after Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft announced they were parting ways after 24 seasons.
As the ESPN piece explains:
“On paper, the Cowboys seemed to make sense: Belichick and Jerry Jones are decades-long friends, and both are in win-now mode. Nobody is better than Belichick at converting a talented roster into a championship team. And Belichick told a friend that he liked the idea of sticking it to the Krafts by working for Jones. But Jones, for all his flash, bluster and vows this offseason to go “all-in,” is change-averse when it comes to head coaches. He decided quickly after Dallas’ blowout exit in the wild-card round to let Mike McCarthy coach the final year of his contract.”
But McCarthy is far from the only lame duck at the moment in Dallas. Quarterback Dak Prescott should be in line for a new deal in the neighborhood of $60 million annually but is, rather, staring down the barrel of his own contract year. Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb is entering his fifth-year option season and waiting for negotiations on a contract that would probably make him the highest-paid receiver in the game. Edge rusher Micah Parsons is eligible for a new deal, too.
The team hasn’t moved on any of those proceedings.
The confluence of all those situations have led many to speculate that Jones is already writing off 2024 and looking at a complete and total reset for 2025. Word that the most decorated head coach in history is waiting by the phone will only throw high-octane fuel on that fire.
Notes the ESPN story:
“[Belichick] has told confidants he thinks he’ll get at least one interview next year. Dallas could be an option, if Jerry Jones moves on from Mike McCarthy, a lame duck in the final year of his contract. Belichick has a strong relationship with both Jerry and Stephen Jones, dating back years. On the other hand, Jerry Jones has been close with a lot of excellent head coaches whom he has never hired.”
In the meantime, there are seats all around The Star in Frisco that are already getting warm. And there’s a living legend apparently eyeing the throne as he studies game film from his couch.
