Is Jerry Jones waiting to bring Bill Belichick to Cowboys?
from Zac Wassink, with YardBarker.com/www.yardbarker.com
Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones sure sounds willing to work with free-agent head coach Bill Belichick as soon as early next year.
“I know him personally and I like him,” Jones said about Belichick while speaking with Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports on Tuesday. “There’s no doubt in my mind we could work together. None. None.”
While individuals such as Mac Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram doubted that Jones would welcome “a Belichick type” to Dallas who isn’t “fun,” Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported earlier this month that somebody within the Cowboys “expressed interest in Belichick” before the 71-year-old “didn’t reciprocate.” On Tuesday, Jones told reporters that his decision to keep Mike McCarthy as his head coach was related to McCarthy’s positive working relationship with quarterback Dak Prescott.
However, McCarthy is set to enter the final year of his contract and has a 1-3 postseason record with the organization. As for Belichick, it appears no club will make him its next head coach this offseason.
“We all know that he’s certainly excellent, maybe at the top of his profession,” Jones added about Belichick. “To say that any one person automatically assures you a Super Bowl is ridiculous. That’s too high [an] expectation for him. But is he maybe the greatest pro football coach of all time? Could very well be. He is a friend and I like him and I want to make real clear: I wouldn’t have any problem working with him.”
Belichick seemingly was willing to relinquish at least some power regarding certain personnel decisions even before he presumably was humbled by a lack of interview requests from clubs other than the Atlanta Falcons this winter. Anything short of McCarthy guiding the Cowboys to their first NFC Championship Game appearance since January 1996 could open the door for Jones to hire Belichick before Super Bowl LIX.