ARLINGTON, Texas — After Sunday’s loss dropped the Dallas Cowboys to 3-6, pass rusher Micah Parsons was asked what he would say to people wondering if Mike McCarthy would be the head coach in 2025.
“That’s above my pay grade if Mike comes back to coach next year,” Parsons said. “All the training aside, Mike can leave and go wherever he wants. The guys I feel bad for are guys like Zack Martin and guys who might be in their senior year, about to get out, because that’s what I wanted him to hold the position for.
“You want to win games and do great things with those kinds of legends who put in more time and work than Mike McCarthy. So those are the kind of guys I have so much sympathy and pain for.”
Martin, 33, is the longest-tenured Cowboy, a 2014 first-round draft pick and nine-time Pro Bowler. He is tied for the most first-team All-Pro selections in franchise history (7) with Hall of Famers Bob Lilly and Randy White.
Martin is in the final year of his contract and has battled ankle and shoulder injuries for most of the season.
McCarthy is in his 18th year as an NFL head coach and has 170 regular season wins and one Super Bowl victory with the Green Bay Packers. He helped the Cowboys to three straight 12-5 seasons, from 2021 to 2023, but failed to advance beyond the divisional round of the playoffs.
Like Martin, McCarthy is in the final year of his contract.
McCarthy said Monday that he was six plays into his preparation for next Monday’s home game against the Houston Texans when he stopped to talk to Parsons about his comments.
“We need to stick to football,” McCarthy said. “If not, our opponent will be one or two hours ahead of us.”
As McCarthy added: “With post-game commentary, when questions come up for others in the locker room, it’s something I’ve always done: a conversation has to happen. So, Micah and I had a conversation this morning about it. We handled these things. like the ones that men should handle.”
McCarthy explained that Parsons’ intention was not to question the coach.
Parsons said Monday on his podcast, “The Edge with Micah Parsons,” that he “never once threw, or even intended to throw, Mike McCarthy under the bus.”
“As I said, he is one of the most successful. [coaches]. He’s a Super Bowl champion. I never mentioned his past,” Parsons said. “And the question that was asked was about here and the Dallas Cowboys: Did I see Mike McCarthy in our future? And I said, ‘That’s above my pay grade.’ So, I never once intended or wanted to reflect on Mike McCarthy’s career because I always knew it was good. I’ve always had a great relationship with Mike McCarthy. And I didn’t even question it.”
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones reiterated a point he had made before after Sunday’s 34-6 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles: “I don’t think we’ll make a coaching change during the season.”
The Cowboys are not out of the playoff race, but they will likely be without quarterback Dak Prescott for the rest of the season. He was traveling to New York on Monday to see a specialist for a partial avulsion of his right hamstring. The surgery is expected to take place on Wednesday.
Jones said he would take into consideration all factors of what went wrong this season, including the number of injuries. Parsons returned to the lineup against the Eagles after missing four games with a sprained left ankle.
“My criteria has always been, ‘How are we playing? Do we have an advantage? Are we fundamentally competitive? Are we competitive when we’re down?’ That kind of thing,” Jones said. “Not so much, obviously, the score. What does Bill say?” [Parcells] say? Are you what the score tells you you are? But still you look at all those things and there is no justice.
“Let me be very clear. Nobody is trying to be fair here. We are trying to win a game. And those are the things that I am considering to help be part of the decisions that could help us win a game. There is no joy here without win games and I feel very sorry for our fans.
Not only is McCarthy in the final year of his contract, but so is the entire coaching staff.
“There are a lot of options,” Jones said when asked about other trade possibilities. “Whether or not they change the equation toward the positive, that’s the problem. So there are a lot of things that can be done differently, but that wouldn’t necessarily bring a positive outcome.”
