As the Cowboys search for their next coach, keep an eye on Jason Witten

Surprisingly, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones didn’t prevent the Packers-Eagles playoff game by announcing that Mike McCarthy would not be returning as head coach. Not surprisingly, Jones advanced Monday night’s Vikings-Rams playoff game by orchestrating the news leak that Jones had spoken with Colorado coach Deion Sanders.

The disclosure benefits both Sanders and the Cowboys. That helps him potentially get more money from Colorado, legitimizes him as a potential NFL coach in the future (even though he insisted during the 2023 season that he’ll never coach in the NFL), and gives the Cowboys a job cache the ying yang.

Jerry will certainly be looking for more buzz, with more strategic leaks of big names. On Sunday, for example, during the Rams-Eagles playoff game on NBC and the Peacock, there could be a story that Jones spoke with North Carolina coach Bill Belichick.

There is one more name to watch out for. Former Cowboys’ Jason Witten. Some who know the dynamics of the organization believe he will be the head coach of the Cowboys at some point (not necessarily now). And if McCarthy had agreed to continue on a short-term deal, Witten might have joined the staff for some NFL coaching experience before ascending to the top job.

With McCarthy gone, maybe Jerry Jones will take a page from Jim Irsay’s book. After foolishly firing Frank Reich early in the 2022 season, Irsay even more foolishly hired former Colts center Jeff Sabot, who had limited coaching experience exclusively at the high school level.

Witten has been the head coach at Liberty Christian School in Argyle, Texas for the past four years. No other coaching experience. At the end of the day, it may not matter to Jones.

Another possibility would be for Jones to hire someone like Pete Carroll, who would take the job with the understanding that he would prepare Witten to take over, at the right time.

Regardless of how it plays out, and now may not be the right time for Witten to make the transition to the NFL level, make sure his name is at least mentioned, if for no other reason than to make Witten’s possible future arrival in Dallas less stunning than Saturday’s was in Indianapolis .