Mike McCarthy hot seat: Adam Schefter reveals expectations for Dallas Cowboys
The 3-5 Dallas Cowboys have lost three games in a row, the most recent being a 27-21 setback in Atlanta to the Falcons, and are now well behind the 6-2 Philadelphia Eagles and 7-2 Washington Commanders in a race for the NFC East crown.
The New Orleans Saints became the second team in the league to fire a head coach midseason this year when they let go Dennis Allen Monday morning, less than a month after the New York Jets parted ways with Robert Saleh after a 2-3 start to the year.
Could Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy be next?
ESPN's Adam Schefter joined "The Pat McAfee Show" Monday and gave the latest hot seat update on McCarthy, who is struggling in his fifth year at the helm.
"First of all, Mike McCarthy is in the last year of the contract. So I don't know what you're doing for all the people that want Mike McCarthy fired," Schefter said. "You can see his frustration. You can see how upset he is with everything. We saw Dak's lips yesterday commenting about how bad the team has been in recent weeks.
"I don't think they're doing anything in the heart of the season, and it doesn't make any sense to do it. Like what do you want him to do? You want him to fire Mike McCarthy now and anoint who? There's not an obvious candidate. His contract's up after the season."
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones has been under fire this year for not making more roster moves this offseason, and for dragging his feet on the extensions he ultimately gave to wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and quarterback Dak Prescott
Less talented than in years past, the Cowboys have struggled to keep pace in the NFC East this year, particularly because of a defense that has allowed the second-most points per game (28.1) in 2024.
"Now, what's going to be interesting to me here is, with so many good coaches on the sideline — Bill Belichick, Mike Vrabel, some experienced guys — are there going to be teams that speed up the clock around Thanksgiving to get a jump on talking to some of these guys," Schefter said.
"Well, you can't talk to Mike Vrabel, he's in Cleveland. But you can go talk to Bill today if you wanted. You could talk to Pete Carroll today if you wanted. You could go talk to college coaches who have been wanting to leave to get to the NFL, generally speaking. You wonder if some of that is at play in New Orleans, obviously, the fan base there was disgruntled, and I think with any team making any type of coaching decision, I think that plays into it this year."
Schefter added: "We've already seen two teams fire head coaches, and it's November 4. That's a little more aggressive than usual, but we may see some of that with some of the coaching talent that's on the sidelines right now."
