Insider shares Jerry Jones theory for why Cowboys haven't announced Mike McCarthy decision

NFL Network personalities Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported on Friday that Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy will technically remain under contract until Jan. 14, even though the season ends this Sunday, when Dallas plays the Washington Commanders at home. 

Later in the day, NFL insider Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk explained how Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones could make things at least somewhat annoying for McCarthy if the 61-year-old wants to comb the open market sooner rather than later.

"The threshold question is whether the Cowboys will play hardball with McCarthy, forcing him to wait until Jan. 14 to interview with other teams," Florio said. "They might hold firm, simply because owner Jerry Jones might prefer to commandeer the news cycle for most of the week before leaking and announcing the news on McCarthy’s future during one of the playoff games. ...That’s what happened five years ago. During a Seahawks-Eagles playoff game, reports surfaced that the Cowboys would not be signing coach Jason Garrett to a new contract. Also, the Cowboys leaked the news of quarterback Dak Prescott’s new deal on the morning of the first Sunday of the regular season." 

McCarthy was recently linked to a Chicago Bears team looking for an offensive mind to serve as its next head coach and work with rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. On Friday morning, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated mentioned that McCarthy "is a name to consider" for the New Orleans Saints. 

However, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported on Thursday that "more industry sources than [he] expected believe McCarthy has a small chance to stay [with Dallas], in part because of what's considered a weak candidate pool." Sports Illustrated's Conor Orr also speculated that McCarthy and Jones "could find common ground on a kind of 'extension' that wouldn’t be a full-on, new, four- or five-year industry-standard contract."

On Friday, Jones seemingly poured cold water over Fowler's update: