McCarthy puts Cowboys future talk on hold 'til 'challenging' season ends - ESPN

FRISCO, Texas — At the start of the season, Mike McCarthy said the only guarantee for the Dallas Cowboys is 17 games. For McCarthy and the rest of his coaching staff, they are guaranteed just one more game, Sunday against the Washington Commanders.

McCarthy and the staff are in the final years of their contracts and at 7-9, the Cowboys will not make the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

While most of the season the framing of McCarthy's future has been about owner and general manager Jerry Jones wanting to bring him back in 2025, does McCarthy want to be back or would he like to explore other options?

«I do appreciate the opportunity to speak on it. I've answered this question the same for however many months now, so I think the focus, I need to make sure I'm doing exactly what I'm asking everyone else to do. We need to finish the race,» McCarthy said. «It's been a challenging year, based on our contract situation for coaches. It's stating the obvious, but we'll have time to talk about that next week.»

A number of players, from Dak Prescott to Micah Parsons, have endorsed McCarthy's return, which he appreciates.

«I think it's just a reflection of what we have here. Everybody talks about culture and I'm not up here to give a bunch of buzzwords, but we do things the right way,» McCarthy said. «I can attest to that. I've done this long enough to have a strong opinion to how to run a program, what's best for the players. The players are coached. They're coached with detail. There's demand there. Accountability. So the basics are in place. But we're like any other program, we need to get better. There's a number of areas we need to improve on. but that's what the offseason is for. This is not the week to be getting into