Jerry Jones, Mike McCarthy, and Mike Tomlin. Jerry Jones, Mike McCarthy, and Mike Tomlin. (Images from Kevin Jairaj/Imagn Images for the Cowboys’ photos, and Tommy Gilligan/Imagn Images for the Tomlin photo.)

If a member of a team or a front office discusses the idea of someone under contract elsewhere coming to a team, that’s frequently considered tampering by leagues. But media members aren’t as restricted. Chase Daniel did just that Saturday night.

There, Daniel (the former NFL QB who’s now an analyst for FS1, The Athletic, and his own The Chase Daniel Show) weighed in on why Dallas Cowboys’ owner and general manager Jerry Jones hasn’t signed a new deal with head coach Mike McCarthy. McCarthy’s contract expired after this season, where the team went 7-10 and missed the playoffs.

And while there have been reports that the Cowboys are trying to work out a deal to bring McCarthy back, they haven’t yet done so. But they also haven’t specifically moved on from him yet. And Daniel mused that could be because Pittsburgh Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin might be available:

At the moment, Tomlin is still under contract with Pittsburgh. And he’s had a legendary run there, coaching the team since 2007 (making him the league’s longest-tenured active head coach), never posting a losing season (his 18-year mark there is the third-highest in NFL history, behind only Tom Landry and Bill Belichick), and winning Super Bowl XLIII in February 2009. He’s 183-107-2 with them in the regular season, albeit with only an 8-11 postseason mark.

And the Rooney family that owns the Steelers has been famously committed to coaches. Tomlin is only the team’s third head coach since 1969: Chuck Noll led them from that year through 1991, then Bill Cowher coached them from 1992-2006. And the extension he signed ahead of this season takes him through the 2027 season. So there’s definitely a chance the status quo there is maintained.

But there have been a lot of rumblings that the sides might part ways in one way or another, with the Steelers not finding recent postseason success (they’ve lost their last six playoff games under Tomlin, and last recorded a postseason win in the Wild Card round in 2016), losing their last five straight games this year (four regular-season losses, then Saturday night’s 28-14 Wild Card loss to the Baltimore Ravens), and playing so poorly against the Ravens that booth and halftime analysts both roasted them. And there’s been talk of teams trying to trade for Tomlin, including the Cowboys; although he has a no-trade clause, it’s certainly possible he might waive that, especially if Pittsburgh opts for a full tear-it-down rebuild that he might not want to sit through.

Of course, Daniel didn’t present this as his reporting. He indicated it as a possible scenario. And there’s as yet no firm indication the Cowboys are doing anything beyond bringing McCarthy back, if the sides can agree to terms. But these musings from Daniel (who is quite connected across the NFL) are definitely interesting. And if Dallas does wind up figuring out how to land Tomlin, they could be prophetic.

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.