Stephen Jones and the Dallas Cowboys management are betting all their chips on Mike McCarthy. While their Big 3, Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and Micah Parsons are on the cusp of losing their tenure with American’s team, the Dallas owner Jerry Jones couldn’t have more “foolhardy” priorities. Jerry Jones’ statement “We want Dak and that’s that” has become a laughingstock of the league.

Now that it’s clear that Prescott and Lamb are at an impasse with their teams, it’s only logical to look at the Cowboys’ next course of action. Stephen Jones was interviewed by Albert Breer of SI recently, where he revealed his future plans. Per those plans, Mike McCarthy will be a huge part of the Cowboys going forward and Eric Mangini couldn’t be more apprehensive.

Mike McCarthy and his dynamics with the Cowboys might result in his removal from the team 

“The quote where he says Jerry is Mike’s biggest fan, that’s like the kiss of death, okay,” said Mangini, a former NFL coach on First Things First. “It’s equivalent to the dreaded vote of confidence that you get during the season. So, the one time I got fired as an assistant, the guy told me right before he said ‘he wasn’t keeping me. You know no one’s a bigger fan of yours than I am.’ So that’s the absolute kiss of death when they tell you that. And here’s what the absolute truth in the NFL is: people believe who you pay, not what you say.”

This was Mangini’s take on the recent praises received by McCarthy. Per the ex-coach, the compliments do not scream good news. It all started as the news of Jerry Jones’ liking for McCarthy came forth. The whole Jones clan appeared sold on McCarthy’s success in Green Bay and his Super Bowl win with Aaron Rodgers. Jerry Jones is sold on that front, but the “dreaded vote of confidence” only implies that the Cowboys might need a new HC to do business with. The Cowboys owner bases his trust on McCarthy’s decade-old Green Bay success.

“Green Bay,” Jones said. “Mike has shown me that I want to have him and he’s qualified and he’s excellent and the players are excellent and he’s shown me that he could be our coach for years to come. He sits next to me in the draft. I really call on him a lot. If you can’t get along with Mike McCarthy, you can’t get along,” said Jerry Jones to a small group of reporters in Oxnard, CA.

Thus, while the hype and promise of McCarthy’s return as the team’s HC are in the air, Mangini is not one to believe talks. After all, no extension has been signed yet, hinting toward the hypocrisy of the owner of the team after his excessive words of praise. It’s McCarthy’s 5 year as the Cowboys head coach, the last year of his 2020 contract with the squad. He’s 1-3 in the playoffs since the 2020 season.

The goal for the Dallas Cowboys is not the playoffs but the Super Bowl! Thus, expectations from McCarthy and the team are quite high. But so far, all we’ve seen this year is America’s team ending up at the bottom in terms of offseason spending. That’s a far cry from Cowboys fans feeling cathartic, especially after Stephen Jones’ recent statement.

Everything is so confusing because the Dallas Cowboys CEO has repeated over and over again that he wants their Big 3 in the Cowboys’ arsenal. “At the same time, I totally understand that they want to be paid and it’s their time to be paid,” Stephen Jones said. “And we respect that as well. Certainly they deserve it. They do their job as well as anyone in the league, whether you’re talking about CeeDee, Dak, Micah, Diggs. All those guys play at a high level and they deserve to be paid.” It all sounds a bit hypocritical because the Cowboys went the opposite way and didn’t apply pressure where it mattered. When it was their “time to be paid”, the clock suddenly stopped.

Consider this, Parsons is a sack machine, CeeDee is a flashy touchdown phenom, and Dak…Dak is the most polarizing player in the league. Yet, the only thing that can win Dallas fans’ hearts this year is playoff success. Prescott is 2-5 in the playoffs and is in the 9 season of his career. However, it is important to note that Dak’s playoff record is better than Tony Romo’s whole NFL career. The Dallas Cowboys embraced Romo with open arms, so why not Dak?

Dak might indeed want a $55-$60 million a year deal, while Lamb will want something north of $35 million a year, and Micah Parsons is also in the race to become the highest-paid non-QB, but it is the job of the team to cater to all the expectations of their top-tier players. So, if Stephen and Jerry Jones seem apprehensive about the players based on the playoff situation, how does Mike McCarthy still bring out the support from them?

Stephen Jones shows unwavering faith in the Green Bay Super Bowl-winning coach

Stephen Jones is exuberant about the coming season. The Jones family will be “pushing their chips” this time. If they ARE “all in” on something, it’s Mike McCarthy. Stephen Jones reflected on his confidence in McCarthy in the latest conversation with SI’s Albert Breer. “He’s won Super Bowls,” Stephen Jones responded when asked about his confidence in McCarthy. “He’s been to conference championships. Mike knows what it takes to win. He’s a damn good football coach.”

There’s also something interesting that was featured in the quote on First Things First. “Jerry’s one of Mike’s biggest fans. It’s one of those things where Jerry, his gut is, ‘Let’s push in (our chips), and let’s go. We all feel it. Let’s go win this thing.” McCarthy spent 13 seasons in Green Bay from 2006-18. He compiled a 125-77-2 record, being second in franchise history in wins behind Curly Lambeau (209). He was also 10-8 with the Packers in terms of his playoff record, winning the Super Bowl XLV with Aaron Rodgers in 2011. Things changed towards the end of his tenure, and he got fired from Green Bay. That’s the record that Jerry Jones appears to be relying on nonetheless.

McCarthy was fired during week 13 in his last season with the Green Bay Packers. While his record with the Packers was inconsistent, Dak and CeeDee changed that when he came to the Cowboys. And hence, the Dallas Cowboys fans are still not sold on Jerry Jones being “all in.” That’s because of the disastrous off-season the team has put forth.

There was no addition of players that could replace Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb. They didn’t address the running back concerns and even the O-Line is a bit unreliable. The Cowboys have been the lowest-spending team in the off-season. To add to the woes, some of their players left the organization to join the other teams.

Tony Pollard, Tyron Smith, Dorance Armstrong, and Tyler Biadasz, were a couple of players who left the Cowboys this off-season. The writing is on the wall and the Cowboys clearly need some improvement in their roster. Most importantly, what other QB-WR duo will get Mike McCarthy more success than Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb? The answer to that question is unclear. Are you convinced that Mike McCarthy can save the Dallas Cowboys in the future? Let us know your thoughts below!