Jerry Jones doesn’t like to pay coaches to not coach. He also didn’t want to pay coach Mike McCarthy to coach the team beyond 2024.
As a result, McCarthy enters the new season as a lame duck.
With training camp opening, how does he feel about it?
“This is a challenge,” McCarthy said, via David Moore of the Dallas Morning News. He also recognizes the opportunity buried deep in the dysfunction.
“This goes both ways,” he said. “You pour energy into yourself and bet on yourself, the odds tilt in your favor.”
It’s not enough to bet on yourself. You have to bet on yourself and win. It becomes harder for McCarthy to win when the locker room knows he’s got one foot out the door, involuntarily. When the going gets tough, why listen to the guy who won’t be here next year?
And even if McCarthy thrives in 2024, what will it mean? When a player bets on himself and wins, other teams line up to pay him. If McCarthy pulls it off, the best-case scenario likely won’t be a land rush for his services but the new contract that Jones has refused to give him. Especially with Bill Belichick available.
Besides, what will it take to stick around? Is a playoff berth and another one-and-done postseason enough? Probably not. Anything short of the first NFC Championship game appearance since 1995 likely means that McCarthy will be moving out, and a new coach will be moving in.
