With NFL head coaches increasingly at risk of losing their jobs, especially after the New Orleans Saints fired Dennis Allen, other franchises may find the courage to move in a new direction. One example of an at-risk candidate could be Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy. With America's Team near the bottom of the NFC East with a 3-5 record, speculation is rampant about a possible replacement should McCarthy be sent packing. Former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel is the betting favorite to take over as the next Cowboys head coach with +300 odds, per Jaime Eisner via SportsBetting.ag.
Other top betting options include Ben Johnson (+500), Bill Belichick (+600), Brian Flores (+800), Kliff Kingsbury (+900), Lane Kiffin (10/1), Joe Brady (12/1), Matt Nagy (14/1), Todd Monken (16/1), Kirby Smart (20/1), Deion Sanders (22/1) and Lincoln Riley (28/1).
McCarthy has been with the Cowboys since the 2020 season after spending 13 seasons as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers from 2006 to 2018. McCarthy has a 46-33 record in Dallas, including 1-3 in the postseason. Over his career, he has an 181-118-2 record and led Green Bay to a Super Bowl title in 2010.
Cowboys at risk of missing postseason for first time since 2020
After McCarthy's first year, he has guided the Cowboys to the postseason for three consecutive seasons. While Dallas is still far from at risk of missing the playoffs, they only have a 10% chance. In the NFC playoff picture, the Cowboys are the No. 13 “seed” with only three teams ranked below them: Carolina, New Orleans and the New York Giants.
However, the team's biggest problem is that Dak Prescott will miss “multiple weeks” because of a hamstring injury. Dallas did receive some good news as it appears CeeDee Lamb avoided serious injury with his sprained AC joint and should be available in Week 10 against the Philadelphia Eagles.
With the Cowboys coaching staff potentially in flux, ESPN's Dominique Foxworth believes the team should flip Dak Prescott for draft assets.
“They have a lot of holes that they will not be able to solve in one draft,” Foxworth said. “They have valuable assets, one very valuable asset in Dak Prescott.”
He then pivoted to discuss the possibility of trading Micah Parsons.
“Right, but I assume that he’s one that, I’m not 100% sure, some people think that he may not be there long term either, but I assume that he’s one that they would want to keep because he’s so young and so talented,” Foxworth continued.
The Cowboys certainly have desirable pieces to pivot in a new direction. It's more about having the courage and foresight to get ahead of the team's impending downfall.