If you thought the Dallas Cowboys got too much attention already, imagine if they hire Deion Sanders to be their next head coach.
Sanders and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones go way back, and there were multiple media reports, first from Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports and confirmed by ESPN and NFL Media on Monday night, that said Jones and Sanders have talked about the Cowboys’ vacant head coaching job. Jones is looking for a new head coach after he and Mike McCarthy parted ways as McCarthy’s contract expired.
Sanders has become one of the most talked about coaches in the college game after energizing a Colorado program that had been irrelevant for decades. His first season started fast but ended in a disappointing 4-8 season. His second season was better, with a 9-3 regular season and trip to the Alamo Bowl. Cornerback Travis Hunter won the Heisman Trophy for the Buffaloes. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Deion’s son, had a strong season and is a candidate to go with the first pick of the NFL Draft in April.
Sanders hasn’t coached in the NFL but has ties to the league. Sanders is considered one of the greatest cornerbacks in NFL history and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Sanders was a huge free-agent signing for the Cowboys in 1995 and played five seasons for the team, making it to four Pro Bowls. Sanders was a key figure in the Cowboys’ Super Bowl XXX championship. That’s the last time Dallas made it to the Super Bowl.
Due to Jones’ history with Sanders and the Cowboys owner’s desire to attract big headlines, the connection between the two has been speculated about for weeks, even before McCarthy was officially out as Cowboys head coach. Sanders’ charisma has drawn in key players to Colorado, and Jackson State before he took the CU job, and he has gone about his coaching career with his trademark style, plastering Colorado all over social media and being more boisterous than most football coaches would ever be. There have been questions about whether that style would translate to the pros, but Sanders has shown he can have some success at the college level already.
Whether there is a strong, serious interest from both sides in Sanders making the jump to the NFL or if it’s just two men with almost three decades of history having discussions will be seen. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported during halftime of the Rams-Vikings playoff game that there was “mutual interest” between the parties. But the potential of the highest profile coach in college football moving to the pros to coach the highest profile franchise in the NFL will overshadow the entire coaching cycle, until Sanders is either hired or the Cowboys move on with someone else.
That might not be Jones’ ultimate plan, but he has never shied away from his team getting more attention.
