Take all NFL insider reports with a grain of salt. There are two types of sources for those trading league secrets: ownership and agents. Both sides still have an agenda. When owners seek to negotiate through the media, the insider is the person they call to disseminate the information.
The real juice normally comes from the agent side, but it comes at a price for insiders. Those weird tweets that look like press releases? Nine times out of ten, it involves an agent asking the insider to support a client, as payment for doing damage in another scenario.
Do you feel rightly warned? Okay, good.
On ESPN Monday Night Countdown broadcast, much of the conversation was the new head coaching position for the Dallas Cowboys. During a segment before the final wild-card match of the weekend, insider Adam Schefter was asked to give the scoop on who was in the early running to replace Mike McCarthy.
Schefter first mentioned how McCarthy is aligned with the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints openers. He then explained how veteran coaches Bill Belichick and Mike Vrabel already have gigs and are off the table, then mentioned how the delay in McCarthy’s departure cost them the opportunity to speak to the Detroit Lions coordinators in playoffs, Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn. , as well as the chef coordinators.
“A lot of names are floating around. I think at some point they might be interested in Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, potentially maybe Jason Witten, an all-time franchise great…”
Wait, what?
Witten, of course, is a legend as a Cowboys player. He holds the franchise records for catches (1,215), receiving yards (12,977) and is second in receiving touchdowns. Witten played 17 years in the league, 16 of which were with the Cowboys, and is one of the most revered players of the Jerry Jones era.
He earned over $81 million during his playing career.
Witten has been head coach for four seasons. In high school. It is directed Liberty Christian School to back-to-back state championships in Argyle, Texas. But it’s the breadth of his coaching resume that makes it a crazy proposition that he would seriously consider taking over as head coach of the Cowboys.
Stranger things have happened, but this seems like a favor from Schefter to Witten’s agent, Tom Condon of CAA Sports, rather than a legitimate insider claim. Witten could look to enter the NFL coaching ranks and bring his salary closer to his playing days, but he would move straight to NFL head coaching. Dallas Cowboys?
Imagine this tumult.
This article was originally published on Cowboys Wire: ESPN suggests legendary $81 million Cowboys player could be shock candidate for head coach
