5 Cowboys Leaving Dallas in the New Year

2. Mike McCarthy

Head coach Mike McCarthy's future with the Cowboys is in an interesting spot. Heading into this season, McCarthy was in the final year of his deal, making him a lame-duck coach.

McCarthy's future with the Cowboys being in doubt before the season isn't that big of a surprise. Although he had helped the Cowboys make three consecutive playoff appearances, they failed to make it to championship Sunday each time, with two of the three appearances being one-and-done in the wild-card round.

On top of that, Jones has a reputation for being indecisive on head coaches heading into the final year of their deals. Jones has continued to go back and forth with his stance on McCarthy during this season.

Jones has both criticized and praised McCarthy this season. During his weekly appearance on 105.3 The Fan, Jones said, 'We're designing bad plays, we're designing bad concepts,' ahead of their Week 8 game against the 49ers.

Then, in December, on the same radio show, Jones teased that Mike Zimmer could return as the defensive coordinator and McCarthy could return as the head coach. Jones had this to say about McCarthy, "Mike [McCarthy] has shown that his team can handle adversity."

Although those statements are months apart, Jones flipping his sentiment towards McCarthy doesn't make sense. When Jones made the second comment, the Cowboys were 5-8 on the season, so admitting he handles adversity well when the team is three games under .500 seems like hollow words.

Even if Jones meant his second comment, it's hard to see the Cowboys retaining McCarthy given that he hasn't reached a conference championship with the Cowboys. Ultimately, Jones wants to win another Super Bowl, but McCarthy doesn't seem like the coach who will achieve that in Dallas.