For all intents and purposes, the Dallas Cowboys’ 2024 season is over.
But if you thought that would stop ESPN from talking about America’s Team, you clearly aren’t familiar with the Worldwide Leader.
While Micah Parsons’ comments about head coach Mike McCarthy created enough content for ESPN to feed its daily doses of Dallas on Monday and Tuesday, the conversation has since fizzled out. Fear not, however, as McCarthy’s status as a “dead man walking” has only provided the four-letter network with an excuse to wishcast its ideal replacement: Colorado’s Deion Sanders.
That included on Wednesday’s episode of Get Up, in which the ESPN morning show welcomed one of Coach Prime’s most vocal critics to discuss the possibility of the former Cowboys cornerback coaching his old team. And in doing so, Paul Finebaum made a bold statement regarding the differences between coaching in Boulder and Dallas.
“It makes more sense with the Cowboys really than it did even at Colorado because in some ways, it’s an easier job,” Finebaum said. “I know that sounds ridiculous. But what he’s had to overcome at Colorado, to get them in a situation where we’re talking about them a conference champion or maybe even a CFP entrant is really spectacular and one of the craziest stories I’ve ever seen.”
Finebaum proceeded to explain why he thinks Sanders would be an especially strong fit as the Cowboys’ head coach.
“Not only does he help the locker room, he might be the only person in America that Jerry Jones will listen to,” the host of The Paul Finebaum Show said. “And that’s the most important thing. Yes, he relies on his son, but he would also look at Deion as his other son. And I think that could be the ticket.
“We all know the glitz and the glamour of the most valuable franchise in sports. You put Deion in there, not only as the centerpiece of that, put some great coaches around him, which obviously would have to happen and let Jerry pay attention to someone other than himself.”
While one could certainly debate whether Jones would actually listen to Sanders, Finebaum’s stance than the Cowboys job would be easier for the Hall of Famer cornerback than his current one is certainly curious. As Finebaum mentioned, the Buffaloes’ program possesses plenty of disadvantages — most of which Sanders has already proven he can overcome. Conversely, the NFL model promotes parity via mechanisms such as the salary cap, its scheduling and even the NFL Draft.
With the Cowboys’ laying claim to a 3-6 record, whoever is coaching them next season could very well be set up for immediate success, with Dallas set to potentially land a top-five draft pick and a third or fourth-place schedule for the 2025 season. And if Finebaum is right that it is an easier job than the one Sanders has coaching the Buffaloes, then one could only imagine what he’d be capable of as the Cowboys’ coach, considering that it’s taken him less than two seasons to transform Colorado from an 1-11 team to a legitimate playoff contender.
[Get Up]
