The NFL is the ultimate reality show. And the Cowboys are the NFL’s ultimate reality show.
Episode One for 2025: What happens with Mike McCarthy? Episode Two: Prime Time!
Episode Three: The search begins.
Via Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the Cowboys are expected to interview former Jets coach Robert Saleh.
It’s the first official name to emerge in the search for the successor to McCarthy.
And there likely will be more than a few interviews by the Cowboys, if only to make the reality show last for as many episodes as possible.
The Saleh interview also counts as the first of two required in-person interviews with minority candidates. Twenty-two years ago, the Cowboys sparked a change in the then-new Rooney Rule by conducting a perfunctory phone interview with Dennis Green, before inevitably hiring Bill Parcells. The league later changed the rule to require the interviews to happen with both sides in the same room.
Saleh is on the radar screen of the Jaguars and Raiders. He’s also expected to be in the mix for multiple defensive coordinator positions.
Another Etienne is heading for the NFL.
Georgia tailback Trevor Etienne, the younger brother of Jaguars running back Travis Etienne, declared on Tuesday night his intention to enter the 2025 NFL draft, via Seth Emerson of TheAthletic.com.
Trevor transferred from Florida to Georgia for the 2024 season. He was the Bulldogs’ starting tailback, rushing for 609 yards in 10 games, with nine touchdowns. He added 194 receiving yards on 32 receptions.
The supply of draft-eligible running backs typically outweighs demand. The 2024 resurgence of the position could help boost guys like Etienne, who has 2,038 rushing yards in three college seasons, and an average of 5.6 yards per carry.
With Minnesota’s 2024 season now complete, defensive coordinator Brian Flores is free to interview for head coaching jobs.
Per Albert Breer of SI.com, Flores will interview with the Jaguars on Friday for their HC vacancy.
Flores, 43, has been with Minnesota for the last two seasons as defensive coordinator. Minnesota ranked No. 5 in points allowed and No. 16 in yards allowed in 2024.
Flores was previously the Dolphins head coach from 2019-2021, compiling a 24-25 record as head coach with 10-6 and 9-8 records in his last two seasons.
The Bears and Jets have also put in requests to interview Flores for their head coaching vacancies.
The Jaguars have completed another interview with a candidate for their head coaching position.
The team announced that their interview with former Jets head coach Robert Saleh concluded on Tuesday. It’s the fifth interview that the Jaguars have had since firing Doug Pederson at the end of the regular season.
Saleh was hired by the Jets in 2021 and went 20-36 before being fired five games into the 2024 season. He’s also set to interview for the Raiders as a head coach and he interviewed with the 49ers for their defensive coordinator job. Saleh held that job with the 49ers before being hired by the Jets.
Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, and Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo are the others who have interviewed with the Jaguars.
The report came quickly, a day after the Steelers’ season ended with another one-and-done postseason performance.
They’re “not planning” to make a coaching change.
It’s an interesting choice of words. Plans can change. Sometimes, they do. So what would change their plans as to the future of Mike Tomlin?
One thing that could change their plans is an offer they can’t refuse.
Given the widespread belief that Tomlin would immediately find another head-coaching job if he wanted one, why not trade him and get significant value?
The problem with that approach is that coaches can’t be traded like players. The procedure goes like this. A team interested in hiring another team’s coach calls that team and engages in negotiations on compensation, if the team employing the coach has interest in a deal. After an agreement on terms is reached, the new team has permission to negotiate with the coach in an effort to reach a deal. If no deal is reached, there is no trade.
The more practical approach is that the team interested in a coach with another team determines through back channels whether the coach would have interest. If the message from Tomlin’s camp is, “No thanks.” It’s the same result.
Why would Tomlin want to agree to a trade? He could simply refuse, forcing the team to perhaps change its plans in a different way. Then, if the Steelers would fire him, he’d be able to take another job right away unencumbered by his new team giving up a first-round pick or more. Or he could take a year off with full pay and have his pick of open jobs in 2026.
If the report were that the Steelers definitely will not make a coaching change, it would look and feel different. The words “not planning” could be a subtle invitation to the Jets, Bears, Saints, Jaguars, Raiders, and possibly the Cowboys, whose contract with Mike McCarthy expires in two days.
