Cowboys news: Mike McCarthy won over Cowboys ownership, now sets sights on assembling superb staff

Mike McCarthy Won The Cowboys' Job In 12-Hour Interview - John Auping, DallasCowboys.com
Twelve hours is a long interview process but that's what it took to win over Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys.

He also said a term that was used multiple times throughout the interview: “we-decisions.” They emphasized the importance of being on the same page with both immediate and big-picture decisions.

Jerry, Stephen and Jerry Jr. were all present at the interview, which seemed to become relatively informal as the hours passed by. Stephen claimed that throughout the day he kept finding himself in a sidebar with Jerry or Jerry Jr., and they always tended to agree on how well the interview was going.

“It was just becoming clear that Mike was our guy,” said Stephen.

Jerry assumed that there would be a general discussion about the interview after they parted ways with McCarthy, but at one point when he was out of hearing distance from the interviewee, Jerry Jr. approached him and said, “What are you waiting on? Stephen is ready to roll.”

Jerry realized that they were all on the same page, “and so we winked at Stephen and we got up.” What followed was a moment that McCarthy said he’ll remember for the rest of his life.

Jerry Jones wants Mike McCarthy to make history with the Cowboys - Todd Archer, ESPN
No coach in the Super Bowl era has won a championship with two franchises, but Mike McCarthy hopes to set that record in Dallas.

All Jones wants is for McCarthy to accomplish what no coach in the Super Bowl era has done: win a championship with a second franchise.

Don Shula, the NFL’s all-time winningest coach, won an NFL championship with the Baltimore Colts and two Super Bowls with the Miami Dolphins, and he is one of six head coaches who have gone to a Super Bowl with different teams.

Shula lost Super Bowl III with the Colts, but won Super Bowls VII and VII with the Dolphins. He also lost Super Bowl VI, the first of the Cowboys’ five Lombardi Trophies, as well as Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XIX with the Dolphins.

Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants but lost Super Bowl XXXI with the New England Patriots. Former coach Mike Holmgren beat Parcells with the Packers, but lost Super Bowl XL with the Seattle Seahawks.

Mike McCarthy Is Not Just Another Jason Garrett- Ty Schalter, FiveThirtyEight
Why Cowboys fans should not immediately dismiss the hire of Mike McCarthy as their next head coach.

Pro Football Focus founder and COO Neil Hornsby vouched for McCarthy’s efforts to familiarize himself, tweeting that McCarthy and his “team” spent a day in September at the PFF offices, getting familiar with the state-of-the-art in statistics.

Yes, his team. McCarthy told King that he and a group of fellow out-of-work NFL coaches set up shop in a “huge refurbished barn” where they crammed film and dissected the latest schematic trends. The experience helped McCarthy envision a “14-person Football Technology Department,” including an eight-person analytics team. There’s no word yet on whether Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is willing to underwrite this vision, but it’s an ambitious idea nonetheless.

However, many NFL observers are skeptical — including former Packers beat writer Greg Bedard, now with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “McCarthy said that? LOL,” Bedard tweeted in response to the report of McCarthy’s analytics-department concept. “Now ask if he’s actually going to listen to anyone. That answer would be no.”

So how can Cowboys fans trust that an old dog like McCarthy can learn new tricks? Turns out, he already has — in his old, oft-maligned position as the Packers’ head coach.

Mike McCarthy Cowboys hiring: How it impacts contract negotiations with veteran wideout Randall Cobb - Patrik Walker, CBSSports.com
Will the Cowboys have better odds in re-signing Randall Cobb now that his former coach takes over in Dallas?

After all, it was McCarthy who selected Cobb in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft and helped him become one of the best receivers in the league. From there, he was forced to battle through the absence of an injured Aaron Rodgers in 2017 -- forcing him to produce with Brett Hundley at quarterback -- and injury of his own in 2018 that curbed his production on the back end of his career in Wisconsin.

Having come on strong in the middle of the 2019 season and again on the back end, while the Cowboys would like to see more consistency from Cobb, what they did see was enough to offer him a chance at returning. McCarthy won’t blink twice at doing just that, as evidenced by the two exchanging smiles and hugs after McCarthy’s press conference on Wednesday.

”It’s great to see smiling Randall over there”, McCarthy said with while wearing an ear-to-ear grin of his own, during a description of why family and football are important. “He still looks like he’s 20 years old when he arrived in Green Bay.”

Mike McCarthy bringing in Stan Drayton for interview as Cowboys running backs coach - Dave Halprin, Blogging The Boys
Coach McCarthy could be looking to change up the running backs room.

As noted above, Drayton coached Ezekiel Elliott in college so that would likely be a big plus in his favor as long as he and Zeke had a good relationship back then. But, the Cowboys will have competition for Drayton.

If the Cowboys really want Drayton, you can expect Jerry Jones to open up the pocket book. He is known for paying coaches what it takes to get them on staff, or keep them on staff, when it is someone who the Cowboys really like.

Mike McCarthy’s Staff Figures To Bring NFL Experience - David Helman, DallasCowboys.com

Officially, Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys aren’t ready to talk about the coaching staff but it doesn't mean he’s not putting one together.

Indeed, it seems like McCarthy has been working on his coaching staff from the moment the news of his hire first leaked out.

The names have been coming in a steady stream since Monday morning, and that figures to continue in the coming days. Longtime defensive coach Mike Nolan is purported to be the Cowboys’ next defensive coordinator, and veteran coach Jim Tomsula is expected to coach the defensive line. In a departure from the last regime, special teams guru John Fassel is signing on as special teams coordinator.

McCarthy wasn’t ready to comment on any of these happenings, as not all of them have been made official. But he did allow what he’s looking for in an assistant coach, at all levels.

“First and foremost a couple things: the expertise of their position of responsibility, positive energy, the same personality every day,” he said.

Packers' QB Aaron Rodgers Speaks His Mind On New Cowboys Coach Mike McCarthy - Kevin Brady, Inside The Star
The fallout of the relationship between Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy was very public, was Rodgers' response more sour grapes?

Whether it’s in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, or during a random regular season comeback, Rodgers’ Packers have somewhat owned Jason Garrett’s teams in recent years. In fact, Rodgers is 8-2 against the Cowboys in his career.

“And when speaking with Pro Football Talk this week, Rodgers was rather clear that he’s aware of this domination.“We’ve had a lot of success down there, and I think that was probably one of the reasons…We won the Super Bowl down there, we won some big games down there over the years…So I’m not surprised that Jerry had an infatuation with Mike because we’ve had some really good performances.”

Rodgers was speaking to the Cowboys hiring of Mike McCarthy, taking a little shot at Jerry Jones’ team in the process. It’s no secret that Rodgers and McCarthy had their issues toward the end of their run, but when the two were on the same page and clicking the Packers were consistently among the NFC elite.

Cowboys add two more to Pro Bowl roster, giving Dallas six total representatives - Sportsday DFW
Cowboys increase their number of Pro Bowlers, adding two names to the list.

The NFL announced on Thursday that wide receiver Amari Cooper and linebacker Jaylon Smith will be joining teammates Ezekiel Elliott, Travis Frederick, Tyron Smith, and Zack Martin in the league’s All-Star game.

Cooper will replace Tampa Bay wide receiver Mike Evans, and Smith will replace Carolina linebacker Luke Kuechly, both due to injury. The Pro Bowl will take place on Jan. 26, the week before Super Bowl LIV.

Martin and Smith were named starters for the game while Cooper and Smith will join Elliott and Frederick as reserves. Last year, five players from the franchise received initial votes before three others followed as alternates.

Cowboys 2019 draft class one of their worst-performing in recent history - Tony Thompson, CowboysWire
Add getting little to no production from their rookie class to the list of problems with the 2019 Dallas Cowboys.

Here are the snap counts for each individual rookie from the class.

2nd Round – DT Trysten Hill – 125 snaps

3rd Round – OL Conner McGovern – 0 snaps

4th Round – RB Tony Pollard – 318 snaps

5th Round – CB Michael Jackson – 0 snaps

5th Round – DE Joe Jackson – 87 snaps

6th Round – Safety Donovan Wilson – 154 snaps

7th Round – Mike Weber – 0 snaps

The Cowboys rank No. 31 in the NFL in terms of draft capital spent per snap, beating only the New England Patriots. It was always a safe bet Dallas would have low production in terms of snaps due to the low capital they had, but the New Orleans Saints, who had less, out performed the Cowboys, as did teams who had just slightly more, including the Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins.

Draft Show Recap: Assessing The Cowboys’ Needs in 2020 - Kyle Youmans, DallasCowboys.com
The Draft Show is back and the focus in episode one was all about the Cowboys roster that could face major changes.

With almost half the roster due for the end of a contract and the inevitable turnover from year-to-year, the new staff has the unique opportunity to fit the roster into a new system or at least a new era. Positions in the secondary, defensive line, wide receiver and even tight end are all a potential need.

Thursday’s conversation turns to the past history of Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys’ front office to forecast the way that Dallas could utilize their draft stock.

BTB Podcast

The first week of the Mike McCarthy era is just about done. We have some thoughts.

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Here’s how Cowboys fans are feeling after the first week of the offseason. A new coach helps!