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Twenty years after he polished off his career as arguably the best cornerback of all time, Deion Sanders could be on the verge of returning to the NFL as a head coach. In the aftermath of Mike McCarthy's departure from the Dallas Cowboys, the Colorado head coach has emerged as the betting favorite to replace him.
Sanders is the slight favorite to land the job and is lined at +150, per Betonline. Those odds roughly translate to an implied probability of 40 percent.
Legendary Cowboys tight end Jason Witten shockingly has the second-best odds at +175. Witten has led Liberty Christian School to two straight Texas state high school championships since taking over as head coach in 2021. Former offensive coordinator and current Philadelphia Eagles assistant Kellen Moore is in third at +220.
Behind Moore, former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick puzzlingly has the next-best odds, though priced at a distant +1600. Belichick has been connected to the Cowboys since he confirmed his interest in returning to coaching but has already signed to coach North Carolina in 2025.
In just two seasons at Colorado, Sanders has already transformed the Buffaloes into a premier Big 12 program. They were 1-11 the year before he arrived and finished 9-4 in 2024. His fame, along with the on-field success of Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, quickly made his team one of the biggest draws in all of college football.
Colorado HC Deion Sanders' history with the Cowboys amid coach rumors
Shortly after Jerry Jones announced that the team would not bring McCarthy back in 2025, multiple sources reported that the team contacted Sanders regarding the opening. Sanders' name has been mentioned throughout multiple teams' head coach hiring processes, but he has remained non-committal about a potential NFL pursuit.
Jones has been known to prioritize hiring people he has connections to, which rationalizes Sanders and Witten emerging as favorites. Sanders played for the Cowboys for five years in the middle of his career and was a crucial part of the 1996 Super Bowl-winning team.
Many believe that Sanders would only leave Colorado for a coveted position in the NFL and not walk into a tough situation. As a historically successful organization that Sanders is notoriously fond of, the Cowboys fit that mold. ‘Coach Prime' wanted to commit to Boulder long-term when he signed with Colorado in 2022 but the Buffaloes should certainly start panicking.
