Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer
ARLINGTON, Texas — After Sunday’s loss that dropped the Dallas Cowboys to 3-6, pass rusher Micah Parsons had a message for those wondering whether Mike McCarthy will be their head coach in 2025. I was asked if I would say that.
“If I coach Mike again next year, it will be above my pay grade,” Parsons said. “Coaching aside, Mike can leave the team and go wherever he wants. I feel a little bit bad for guys like Zach Martin and guys who might be retiring in their final year. Because that’s the kind of guy I wanted to keep.”
“You want to win games and you want to accomplish great things with these legends who have put in more time and effort than Mike McCarthy ever did. These are the kind of players you feel sorry for and feel hurt about.”
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Martin, 33, is the longest-tenured Cowboy, a first-round pick in 2014 and a nine-time Pro Bowler. He joins Hall of Famers Bob Lilley and Randy White for the most first-team All-Pro selections (seven) in franchise history.
He was in the final year of his contract and battled ankle and shoulder injuries for most of the season.
McCarthy is in his 18th year as an NFL head coach, with 170 regular season wins and a Super Bowl championship to his credit. In the 2021-23 season, he helped the Cowboys improve to 12 wins and 5 losses for the third straight year, but they were unable to advance past the divisional round.
Like Martin, McCarthy is in the final year of his contract.
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones previously reiterated the point after a 34-6 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles: “I don’t think we’ll make any coaching changes during the season.”
The Cowboys are not out of the playoff picture, but will likely be without Dak Prescott for the rest of the season. He is scheduled to travel to New York on Monday to see a specialist for a partial tear in his right hamstring. The surgery is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.
Jones said he will consider all the factors that went wrong this season, including the number of injuries. Parsons returned to action against the Eagles after missing four games with an ankle sprain.
“My criteria has always been, ‘How are we playing? Do we have an advantage? Are we fundamentally competitive? Are we competitive when we’re behind?’ ‘That’s what it was,’ Jones said. “Obviously, the score doesn’t really matter. What does Bill (Parcells) say? Are you who the score says you are? But still, when you look at all of that, there’s no fairness.
“Let me be clear: nobody here is trying to be fair. We are trying to win games. These are the things we have. There is no joy here if we don’t win the game and it’s very disappointing for the fans.”
Not only is McCarthy in the final year of his contract, but so is the entire coaching staff.
Asked about other options for change, Jones said, “There are a lot of options.” “The question is, do we change the positive equation? So there are a lot of things we could do differently, but that doesn’t necessarily have a positive outcome.”
