Jerry Jones reportedly ‘very intrigued’ by Lincoln Riley as potential head coach

Jerry Jones gave his latest public endorsement of Jason Garrett earlier this week when he said it would be a losing proposition to bet on the head coach being fired, but a lot can change over the course of a few months. If the Dallas Cowboys do decide to move on from Garrett following the season, they may already have their top replacement in mind.

It is no secret that NFL teams would have interest Lincoln Riley if the Oklahoma head coach decided he wanted to coach at the pro level, and Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports that Jones is “very intrigued” by the idea of hiring Riley if the Cowboys do not extend Garrett’s contract. There is a belief that Riley would be open to considering the right NFL opportunity next season, and it doesn’t get much better than the Dallas job between the high-profile nature of it and core players they already have in place.

Jones is unlikely to make a coaching change in the middle of the season, but there’s a reason the Cowboys chose to let Garrett enter a lame duck year rather than giving him a contract extension. The expectations in Dallas are as high as they have been in years, and Troy Aikman said recently that there’s a feeling the Cowboys need to at least reach the NFC Championship Game in order for Garrett to keep his job.

As for Riley, there may come a time when the interest from NFL teams is simply too strong to ignore. His Sooners are 6-0 following Saturday’s big win over Texas, and Jalen Hurts is in contention to be the school’s third consecutive Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback. A recent report shed some light on just how much of a hot commodity Riley has become in the NFL, so Jones may get the urge to be at the forefront of that movement.