If the Dallas Cowboys want to sign Mike McCarthy to a contract extension before the coach has an opportunity to speak with other teams, it sounds like they had better get a move on.
McCarthy’s current contract with the Cowboys is set to expire on Jan. 14, according to Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Media. Dallas will play its last regular season game on Sunday, which means McCarthy will technically still be under contract with the team for nine days after that.
If other teams are interested in interviewing McCarthy, they can ask the Cowboys for permission once the regular season ends. Rival teams would not need permission after Jan. 14. That essentially means Dallas has an exclusive negotiating window with McCarthy until that date.
Rapoport and Pelissero also report that the Cowboys have had “no substantive talks” yet with McCarthy about an extension.
McCarthy is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Cowboys. The team had three straight 12-5 seasons but did not get the results they were looking for in the playoffs. They fell off completely this season and have gone 7-9, though Dak Prescott has missed much of the year with a hamstring injury.
With McCarthy entering the season as a lame duck, there was a belief that Dallas would need to make a deep playoff run in order for him to earn an extension. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has dropped some strong hints in recent weeks that he wants McCarthy back, so perhaps Jones feels the 61-year-old coach fared well this season amid difficult circumstances.
McCarthy is 174-11-2 in his career as an NFL head coach. He has an 11-11 record in the playoffs and won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers in 2010. If the Cowboys decide to let him walk, he may already have one other head coach job in mind.
