Whether it's Deion Sanders, Jason Witten, Kellen Moore, or someone else, the Dallas Cowboys will need a specific type of head coach to succeed while leading the biggest team in the NFL.

Michael Lombardi, who has worked closely with Bill Belichick over the years, including now at North Carolina, said the next Cowboys coach will specifically need to be able to communicate effectively with Jerry Jones, the notoriously hands-on team owner.

“I think [being Cowboys head coach] is very challenging because the players know they work for Jerry. I think that's the hardest part. So they have to find a way to bridge that a little bit,” Lombardi said on the ‘Pat McAfee Show.' “But what they need down there, they need someone to get a uniform, like they had with [Bill] Parcells — and look, Mike [McCarthy] did a really good job down there. Mike won a lot of games, but unfortunately couldn't win a playoff game. So they have to ask themselves, ‘How do we get over the hump?' But I was surprised that he didn't hire Mike back because I felt like, at 82 years old, he has a hard time wanting change. I think it'll be interesting what he tries to do moving forward, but I do think they need somebody that's gonna be able to talk to Jerry in a way to where it allows the coach to get the things he needs to get done within the framework of what Jerry wants to do.”

In five seasons, McCarthy went 49-35 with the Cowboys. His first and last seasons were subpar; Dallas went 6-10 and 7-10 in 2020 and 2024, respectively. In between those years were three consecutive 12-5 seasons that ended without an NFC Championship Game appearance, extending their conference title game drought to 29 years.

Dallas has reportedly shown interest in Sanders, the current Colorado football coach and a former Cowboys star, as well as Witten and Moore. Witten played 16 of his 17 seasons in the NFL with the Cowboys and has since served as the head coach of Liberty Christian School, where has won two state championships in four years.

Moore also played for the Cowboys; he spent three seasons in Dallas a backup quarterback before joining the Cowboys coaching staff. He worked as the team's quarterbacks coach for one season before being promoted to offensive coordinator, a position he held from 2019 through 2022. He is currently the offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles and is expected to interview with the Cowboys two days before Philadelphia hosts its playoff game vs. the Los Angeles Rams.

Despite being ‘America's Team,' the Cowboys have failed to field a championship team in nearly three decades despite numerous impressive regular seasons and nine NFC East titles since their last Super Bowl victory. With McCarthy's departure, the next head coach will be the ninth Jones has hired since buying the team in the late 1980s.