Belichick has a “really great” relationship with the Jones family.
The Dallas Cowboys just suffered another embarrassing home loss on Sunday, this time at the hands of the Detroit Lions. The nature of the loss has put Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy squarely back on the hot seat, a position he’s gotten used to recently.
And while Cowboys owner Jerry Jones reassured the media after Sunday’s loss that he remains behind the embattled head coach, that hasn’t stopped reports from circulating that link former New England Patriots head coach and current sports media multi-hyphenate Bill Belichick to the job.
Fox Sports NFL insider Jordan Schultz took to social media Sunday evening to speculate that Belichick could be a frontrunner for the Cowboys position if they opt to make a change this offseason. The insider cited multiple sources that claim Belichick has a “really great” relationship with the Jones family.
Now, having a strong relationship with the owner doesn’t necessarily mean they’d want to hire you to coach their team. But it also doesn’t hurt.
For his part, Belichick would have to give up his newfound media obsession in order to get back into coaching. The six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach has committed himself to numerous TV gigs this season including with Inside The NFL, The Pat McAfee Show, and the ManningCast.
While Belichick hasn’t been shy about putting himself in front of the camera this season, he remains just 15 wins away from the NFL’s all-time wins record for a head coach, which has to be a pretty strong incentive for him to get back into coaching.
Schultz’s report suggested that Belichick may be a name to watch for next season, but some Cowboys faithful are clamoring for a change now. Skip Bayless took to social media Sunday to ask, “How in the name of Thomas Wade Landry does Mike McCarthy still have a job?”
It wouldn’t be the first time Jones would fire a coach mid-season. During the 2010 season, Jones fired head coach Wade Phillips after a 1-7 start and installed interim coach Jason Garrett, who would coach the team through 2019. A 1-7 start is a much different circumstance than 3-3, but the fact that a legendary coach like Belichick is seemingly waiting right there in the wings gives the conversation a different tenor.
By the sounds of things, Jones seems quite far away from breaking the emergency glass as it stands, though a few more performances like Sunday’s could certainly raise the temperature of this conversation.