@MarkKnudson41
I whole lot of us saw this day coming. The idea of Jerry Jones hiring University of Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders to become the next coach of the Dallas Cowboys began floating around last summer,
when the Cowboys decided they were going to keep then-head coach Mike McCarthy for at least one more season. Outsiders could see that the McCarthy – Jones marriage was never going to last. And it didn’t.
Deion to Dallas – immediately after this quarterback/son Shedeur had finished his days as a Colorado Buffalo – has always made perfect sense.
Now, after McCarthy has officially parted ways with the Jones and the Cowboys, those same ideas and rumors are heating up. National media is all over it, and the two men have talked. Deion described the first conversations as “intriguing.”
there is at the very least, some mutual interest.
So…IF Deion is interested in ever becoming a head coach in the National Football League, THIS is the time he must make that move.
He’s not going to get this kind of opportunity ever again.
To start with, coaching has become a young mans gig, and Deion isn’t young anymore. Now 57, the NFL Hall of Fame defensive back got a late start in coaching, having completed just his fifth season on the sidelines. The gray hair he’s showing makes it clear that he’s got to make the most of the present, because the future has a sell-by date.
Sometime soon, Jones is going to hire a head coach and give him at least a five-year contract. The Cowboys gig won’t be available again until 2029 at least…when Deion is in his mid-60’s.
There are very few other NFL executives – owners or general managers – who would want to hire Deion and work with him in the “Deion way.” Jones is the league’s only “Owner/GM,” and a guy who does things his own way. Like Deion, he craves attention (including TV roles) and the non-stop limelight. Unlike the more traditional coach-GM relationships that exist everywhere else in the NFL, Jones and Sanders are a perfect pairing. Jerry could and would continue to do things his way, and his novice coach would be in lockstep.
Deion has said he would only coach in the NFL if he could coach his sons Shedeur and Shilo. Shilo is a defensive back with limited professional potential, so getting him signed with Dallas won’t be difficult (see James, Bronny.) Shedeur is expected to be a very high draft pick, likely landing with a struggling franchise like Tennessee or Cleveland. However, Shedeur is also a “Name, Image and Likeness” millionaire already, and he possesses Eli Manning-type leverage to demand a trade before or after he’s drafted. He can simply tell the NFL, “I go to Dallas or I’m sitting out the season” – because he can afford to – and would likely facilitate the same kind of deal that Archie Manning was able to force on Eli’s behalf. After the then-San Diego Chargers drafted the QB against his wishes back in 2004, Team Manning brokered a deal that sent Eli to the New York Giants, where he wanted to be.
So the idea that Deion, Shedeur and Shilo could all end up in Big D is very doable.
After turning around the Colorado program and winning nine games with a Buffs team that featured not only Shedeur, but Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, Deion is in a good space, but one he isn’t likely occupy again next year at this time. Things broke just right for the Buffs this past season, as their conference slate included wins over five of the six worst teams in the conference. No Arizona State or Iowa State, and league front runner BYU buried CU in the Alamo Bowl. Next season, without Shedeur and Hunter, the Buffs prospects (and their schedule) aren’t nearly as favorable. In other words, Deion isn’t likely to be anything like the same semi-hot coaching commodity he is at this very moment.
Both men understand that Jones could hire – and pay big bucks to – two of the very best coordinators in all of football and allow Deion to function as a CEO-type head coach, which is what he’s been at Colorado. There is a buyout on Sanders’ Colorado contract, the type of deal which Jones has previously balked at paying. But with Deion being a walking ATM – no other coaches are involved in nearly as many endorsement deals – and Deion having his own TV show and all, some sort of marketing partnership involving somethings like Deion’s sunglasses or walnuts or whatever between Jones and Sanders could generate enough revenue to pay off the buyout before the end of training camp in August.
In short, there’s not an obstacle to this hiring that couldn’t be overcome.
It just comes down to whether or not Jones wants to hire a “boom or bust” NFL novice head coach, who would bring an enormous spotlight with him, and whether or not Deion wants to ever coach at the professional level.
This would be his last best chance to coach his sons again, something he’s never NOT done. Knowing that, and knowing that it’s super unlikely that he’ll ever get anything close to this chance ever again, means it’s make-or-break decision time for Deion.
