Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy’s contract expires on January 14

McCarthy, 61, has connections to two of the three teams with current head coaching vacancies. He worked with Saints general manager Mickey Loomis from 2000-04 in New Orleans, where McCarthy was the offensive coordinator, and he interviewed for the Jets job in January 2019.

There have been no significant talks yet about an extension for McCarthy in Dallas, sources say.

The Cowboys have not issued any final position on their future for next season. But Jones has been increasingly effusive in his praise of McCarthy amid a rash of injuries this season.

After the Cowboys beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Dec. 22, Jones said, “I can’t tell you how proud I am of the way the coaching staff, led by Mike McCarthy, the way the management of this team, and really. proud of these young players. They’re just growing mentally and physically by leaps and bounds, and that makes me think we have an outstanding future ahead of us.”

Several of the Cowboys’ key players, including injured quarterback Dak Prescott and linebacker Micah Parsons, have also spoken out in support of McCarthy’s return.

The Cowboys lost, 41-7, at Philadelphia last week to fall to 7-9, securing their second losing record in five seasons under McCarthy, who is 49-34 with one playoff win since joining Dallas in 2020.

The situation is unusual, but not without precedent in Dallas.

After the 2014 season, Jason Garrett’s contract expired before the Cowboys signed him to a new five-year deal, as well as retaining his coordinators. Five years later, Garrett’s contract expired again, and after several days in limbo, the team announced it would not retain him.

Essentially McCarthy’s entire coaching staff — including coordinators Brian Schottenheimer, Mike Zimmer and John Fassel — also has expiring contracts, sources said.

Under the NFL’s hiring guidelines, teams have a period of exclusivity to negotiate with assistant coaches on expiring contracts until 6 p.m. 12:01 on the second Tuesday after the team’s last game of the season, which is January 14 this year for non-playoff clubs. (teams may choose to waive exclusivity). But the head coach’s rules are strictly dictated by the expiration date on the head coach’s contract.

Asked last week if he would like to return to Dallas or explore other options, McCarthy said: “I appreciate the opportunity to talk about it. I’ve been answering this question the same for how many months now, so I think the focus is next week.”