Kristopher Knox@@kris_knoxCorrespondent IJanuary 13, 2025

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3. Mike McCarthySam Hodde/Getty Images
4. Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy will become a free agent when his contract expires on Tuesday. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, McCarthy won’t sign a new deal with Dallas.
5. “The sides couldn’t agree on length of contract and McCarthy will pursue other opportunities,” Pelissero posted on X on Monday.
6. The 61-year-old coach can soon interview for one or more of the NFL’s five vacancies. According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints “have interest.”
7. It’ll be interesting to see where McCarthy lands, but his future is only part of the equation here. By moving on from McCarthy, the Cowboys must now replace a coach who went 49-35 with three playoff appearances in five seasons.
8. While McCarthy never delivered postseason success to the Cowboys, letting him walk will be viewed as a massive mistake if Dallas doesn’t hit on its next hire.
9. With this in mind, let’s examine the best and worst candidates the Cowboys could consider based on factors like past performances, team needs and coaching style.
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12. Lions defensive coordinator Aaron GlennMichael Reaves/Getty Images
13. Coaches can be terrific coordinators and still not cut out to be NFL head coaches. We don’t yet know if Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson or defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn will fall into this category.
14. We do know, however, that both are popular coaching candidates in the 2025 cycle. They each received interest in 2024 as well, though they decided to return for another run with the Lions.
15. Johnson has helped field one of the league’s most explosive offenses this season, while Glenn has held together a defense decimated by injuries. Their efforts have played a large role in Detroit’s emergence as a title contender.
16. Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady is also set to be a popular candidate, given his work with an offense that parted with top receiver Stefon Diggs last offseason. Buffalo ranked 10th in total offense and second in scoring during the regular season. Like Johnson and Glenn, though, Brady has never been a head coach before.
17. If the Cowboys decide to go with a candidate with no NFL head coaching experience, Johnson, Glenn and Brady should be near the top of the list. All three are relatively young coaches who may relate to Dallas’ players better than McCarthy did—Brady and Johnson are both under 40, while the 52-year-old Glenn was a Pro Bowl cornerback before he became a coach.
18. All three could help fill Dallas’ needs as well. The Cowboys offense could use a breath of fresh air after heavily featuring CeeDee Lamb, Rico Dowdle and little else in 2024. While injuries did play a role, Dallas’ 31st-ranked scoring defense was a significant liability.
19. Given the makeup of their roster—it’s an expensive one that will get more costly when and if Micah Parsons receives his due extension—the Cowboys may prefer an experienced coach who can help the team win right away. If they’re willing to go with an untested head coach, however, Dallas’ search should start with these three.
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22. Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen MooreBrooke Sutton/Getty Images
23. It should surprise no one if the list of coordinators on Dallas’ radar starts with Kellen Moore. Franchise owner Jerry Jones is also the team’s general manager, and he’ll likely prefer a coach who will take direction directly from him.
24. Moore, who currently serves as the Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator, has served under Jones before. The 36-year-old spent three years as a Cowboys quarterback before becoming the team’s quarterbacks coach in 2018. He then spent four seasons as its offensive coordinator.
25. There are multiple issues with Moore as a candidate, however. Aside from the fact that he has no head coaching experience, he also hasn’t had much success as a coordinator outside of Dallas.
26. Yes, the Eagles are one of the league’s best teams and finished the regular season ranked eighth in total offense. However, Philly’s 29th-ranked passing attack has been woefully inconsistent under Moore. Receiver A.J. Brown even criticized the passing offense after a narrow Week 14 win over the Carolina Panthers.
27. Moore oversaw the league’s 21st-ranked scoring offense with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2023, and he and the Cowboys mutually agreed to part ways the previous year.
28. Bringing back Moore as the head coach at this point would be a tough move for Jones to sell to the fanbase. It would be tough for Jones to convince anyone that he wants to win a Super Bowl—rather than stay relevant enough to sell tickets and merchandise—after hiring a coach who wasn’t good enough to be the team’s coordinator two years ago.
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31. Pete CarrollJane Gershovich/Getty Images
32. With Dallas’ playoff window potentially closing within the next few seasons, the Cowboys may prefer an experienced coach who knows how to lead a team into the postseason. Dallas already missed out on Mike Vrabel—who agreed to be the New England Patriots’ next coach on Sunday—but Pete Carroll is available and drawing interest once again.
33. Carroll has interviewed with Chicago and is interviewing with the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday, according to Rapoport.
34. No readily available candidate boasts the high-level experience that Carroll possesses. He won a national championship at USC and a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks. He accomplished both feats in his fourth season as the team’s head coach.
35. Carroll knows how to assemble a successful staff—Dan Quinn and Dave Canales are two current head coaches who previously worked under him—and how to relate to his locker room—even at 73 years old.
36. “Coach Carroll can help out any team and anybody,” Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith said, per Jon Alfano of SI.com. “I’m a big advocate of his, and I know he is of mine. I love that guy.”
37. While Carroll might not be a candidate to coach Dallas for the next decade-plus because of his age, he’d bring a much-needed spark to the Cowboys and has proved that he knows how to deliver rapid success.
38. Carroll’s Seahawks won a playoff game in his first season on the job.
39. If the Cowboys want to bring a former head coach back into the NFL ranks, Carroll should be their guy.
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42. Rex RyanRich Barnes/Getty Images
43. If the Cowboys are eyeing former head coaches who aren’t currently coaching in the NFL, Rex Ryan is probably a name to avoid. The former New York Jets and Buffalo Bills coach hasn’t coached since 2016 and doesn’t have a stellar overall resume.
44. Ryan did help lead the Jets to the AFC title game in his first two seasons with the franchise, but he compiled a 41-54 record in his next six seasons with New York and Buffalo. Though Ryan was an excellent defensive coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens—a relevant factor, given Dallas’ defensive struggles this season—he largely flopped as a head coach.
45. It’s also fair to wonder what Ryan, who currently works as an ESPN analyst, could even offer in the modern NFL landscape after so much time away from the sideline.
46. The Cowboys probably wouldn’t even consider the 62-year-old if not for the fact that Ryan has reentered the coaching picture. He recently interviewed for the Jets’ opening. Of course, it already feels unlikely that Ryan will land the job.
47. According to SNY’s Connor Hughes (h/t Rami Lavi of Audacy), Ryan is “completely out” as a candidate for the Jets job. Really, he only ever made sense because New York could struggle to attract top candidates because of the franchise’s overall dysfunction.
48. Ryan was the last coach to deliver a playoff win to the Jets, who have had four full-time head coaches since he was fired in 2014. While the Cowboys haven’t found success in the postseason, they’ve been a much more stable franchise than the Jets and should have zero interest in Ryan.
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51. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian FloresBrace Hemmelgarn/Getty Images
52. If Dallas is interested in a current coordinator who has head coaching experience, it should eye Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
53. Though the 43-year-old Flores only lasted three seasons as the Miami Dolphins head coach, he fared well, winning 19 games in his last two seasons in Miami. He’s also helped to build a playoff-caliber defense in Minnesota and has grown as a coach since his departure from the Dolphins.
54. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa publicly criticized Flores for the way he coached the young signal-caller in Miami.
55. “I’ve done a lot of reflecting on the situation, reflecting on the situation and communication. I think there’s things that I could do better for sure, and I’ve grown in that way, and I’ve tried to apply the things that I could do better and the things that I’ve learned over the last two, three years,” Flores said in response, per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert.
56. Flores has been more of a player’s coach in Minnesota, even hosting gatherings to help players celebrate and build camaraderie.
57. “Since I’ve known him since [2023], and realized he’s not the military type of coach the picture may paint him to be, I’m not surprised,” Vikings safety Camryn Bynum said, per Ben Goessling of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
58. Flores’ defensive background could, theoretically, help Dallas address one of its biggest weaknesses. He might be able to bring along members of Kevin O’Connell’s offensive staff to help on the other side of the ball, and if he can bring a sense of fun and team chemistry back to the Cowboys, all the better.
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61. Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike ZimmerSam Hodde/Getty Images
62. Back in 2010, Jones fired head coach Wade Phillips, made offensive coordinator Jason Garrett the interim coach and then hired Garrett on a full-time basis the following offseason. With McCarthy on the way out, could Jones consider offering defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer the head coaching job? It wouldn’t be altogether surprising.
63. However, replacing McCarthy with Zimmer would be a lackluster move by the Cowboys. While Zimmer does have previous head coaching experience, like Flores, he struggled to have Dallas’ defense in sync for most of the season. The 68-year-old also didn’t seem to thoroughly enjoy his latest stint with the Cowboys.
64. “It’s been hard. I’m not gonna lie about that. It’s been hard,” Zimmer said, per Jon Machota of The Athletic.
65. While Zimmer had a winning record as the Vikings head coach, he had losing seasons in each of his last two years and reportedly didn’t have the best relationship with his offensive players.
66. “I just never felt confident as an offense,” former Vikings guard Jeremiah Sirles said on The OLine Committee podcast (h/t Joe Nelson of SI.com). “It just felt like we were walking on eggshells all the freaking time. And it just compounded year after year.”
67. The Cowboys have too much invested in their offense to have Prescott and Co. take a back seat to whatever the team is doing on defense.
68. Zimmer isn’t the only current coordinator with head coaching experience that Dallas should avoid. Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury may draw some interest because of the work he’s done with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels this year.
69. However, Kingsbury is one of those aforementioned good coordinators who isn’t cut out to be a head coach. While he has brought some innovative ideas to his offenses, he posted losing records with both Texas Tech and the Arizona Cardinals—he went a dreadful 28-37-1 with Arizona.
70. Just as importantly, Kingsbury’s best work in college and in the NFL has come while coaching dual-threat quarterbacks like Daniels, Patrick Mahomes and Kyler Murray. While Prescott is mobile enough to be a rushing threat, he doesn’t fit that mold.