Could Deion Sanders Actually Become the Dallas Cowboys' Next Head Coach?

It sounds like one of those clickbait ideas that half-analysts put together when it's a boring time of year, and engagement is slow going.

Could Deion Sanders become the Dallas Cowboys' next head coach?

On its face, it's a goofy idea. Sanders has never coached in the NFL. He has four year of experience as a collegiate head coach —three with Jackson State from 2020 through 2022, and last year's high-profile stint with the Colorado Buffaloes in which Coach Prime's team came out of the gate hot, and then started to falter.

But Jerry Jones is not always one to tie his whims to common sense. Right now, Cowboys news feeds are filled with Jones' comments regarding his inaction with the contracts of his three best players — quarterback Dak Prescott, receiver CeeDee Lamb, and pass-rusher Micah Parsons. For multiple reasons , those situations probably won't resolve themselves anytime soon.

One of the rare individuals who has defended Jones throughout this mess? Deion Sanders, who of course played cornerback and receiver for the Cowboys from 1995 through 1999.

From a recent ESPN Radio appearance:

"I love him," Sanders said of Jones. "First of all, Jerry is my man. I Love Jerry Jones. I think he's one of the greatest owners to ever live. A lot of people talk foolishness about Jerry. Have you ever heard one of the players say something crazy about Jerry? Because of how wonderful a person, a man, an owner, a friend that he has been, and the things he has done outside of football for a multitude of us, speaks volumes.

"So, I'm praying that they win. They have the offense, the defense, the coordinators, the personnel — especially when they get CeeDee back in camp — but I'm just praying for them, man. Because I think they have everything to win that division."

Well, let's talk about the coordinators for a second, because there's one hidden relationship that could mean a lot down the road.

Sanders' ties to Mike Zimmer run deep.

After he was fired by the Minnesota Vikings on January 10, 2022, ending an eight-year run as the team's head coach, current Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer became a consultant for... none other than Deion Sanders. First at Jackson State in 2022, and then with Colorado in 2023.

“Deion and I have a very interesting and unique but great relationship," Zimmer said last December . “He’s gonna get the guys in there he wants, he's an outstanding recruiter. He's a terrific man who treats his players with the utmost respect. He can discipline them, and [he] wants them to be better people than just football players as they move forward."

After Zimmer's son Adam was found dead in his Minnesota home on October 31, 2022, Sanders attended the funeral, and later used the experience as a teaching moment for his players.

“It was tough seeing a parent lay his son to rest,” Sanders said. “Life ain’t supposed to be like that. We never know the obstacles and hurdles life will give us. So we’ve got to take advantage of our moment and our time.”

Sanders also hired Zimmer's nephew Andrew as a graduate assistant at Colorado in 2023.

That relationship goes back to Zimmer's first go-around with the Cowboys, when he was Dallas' defensive backs coach from 1995 through 1999, and then became the team's defensive coordinator in 2000.

Shedeur Sanders would certainly pop as a Dak Prescott replacement.

So, maybe the Sanders/Zimmer history gives the Cowboys two coaches who are tied at the hip. And maybe there's a package deal involved. Sanders' son Shedeur has some things to fix before he's an NFL-ready quarterback, but what he's put on tape both as a thrower and as a runner should make him more than enticing to NFL shot-callers in the 2025 draft, and if Jones and Prescott can't come to terms, leading to a Prescott exodus... well, doesn't this sound exactly like the kind of media-breaking move Jones would love to make?

"With the Dak contract mess happening, and struggling to pay their other stars, you better believe that Jerry has it in the back of his mind what the benefits of a young and cheap QB could be for that team if they crash and burn again in the playoffs," one NFC area scout told ESPN's Jordan Reid in early August . "Imagine a home-state kid whose dad not only played for your franchise but was a highly successful player, and Shedeur is the type of player that'd embrace the star on the side of his helmet."

I'm not usually into the whole anonymous scout thing, but Reid is a more than credible source, and this isn't the kind of character assassination anonymous scouts usually love to dish. It's merely putting two and two together in a speculative way, and it's not the most outlandish thing in the world.

Deion Sanders has been all over his son's eventual transition to the NFL, and that's going to be a factor when it's time for the next step.

As to the Cowboys' current head coach? Well, that's where it gets interesting.

Mike McCarthy is a lame duck with no clout.

Jones hired McCarthy, the former Green Bay Packers head coach, in 2020 to right the ship after the Jason Garrett era ended with a polite thud. McCarthy's 42-25 regular-season record speaks to some success, but the Cowboys' 1-3 postseason mark over the last four seasons — and McCarthy's penchant for curious game-management decisions — could have Jones looking elsewhere without too much blowback.

Moreover, per Ty Dunne's Go Long SubStack , McCarthy might be just as done with Jones as Jones is with McCarthy unless the 2024 season ends with a deep playoff run.

“At least give him a one-year extension,” a former Cowboys personnel man told Dunne about McCarthy's contract, which is in its final year. “You may not have to give him another five years, but at least extend them out one year and extend out all the coaches one year to give them a level of security. But what they don’t want is to extend out Dak and then have to move on from him, and then there’s going to be a bunch of dead money there that they’re paying that he is not playing for you anymore.”

One person familiar with Cowboys personnel told Dunne what we already know —that Jones can undermine the best head coach's efforts with his dominant presence.

“So that means you can get a talented team like they’ve had,” the personnel source said, “but they’re going to underachieve when the coaches can’t influence the players the way they need to.

“[McCarthy is] doing it the best he can. Some of the people I’ve talked to have said that he’s getting fed up with it a little bit."

The only two coaches given full institutional control under Jones — Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells — eventually found themselves ramrodded by the process. McCarthy does not have the clout to match those two coaches, which puts the Cowboys in their current limbo.

Deion as the Cowboys' next head coach? It's weird, but not impossible.

What we know is that the Cowboys haven't been a serious Super Bowl contender for 30 years. The last time they were, Jerry Jones' signing of Deion Sanders put them over the top.

We are of course tying theories together for a Jones/Sanders reunion that can't yet be tied together, but when you look at all sides of the thing —Jones' love of flash and dash, the team's quarterback situation, Jones' willingness to hire alpha head coaches when he's desperate, and McCarthy's one-foot-out-the-door hypotheticals —it's not as crazy as it may seem. Especially if Sanders is able to overcome some of Colorado's personnel faults from last season and push the team forward, and the Cowboys' head coaching situation is a comparatively barren landscape.

We are not saying outright that Deion Sanders will be the Dallas Cowboys' next head coach. But there are things in the NFL that could happen in the next calendar year that we would find far more surprising.

Related: Jerry Jones Explains Why He Chose to Keep Mike McCarthy

Related: Zimmer Play-Calling 'Blows Away' Cowboys

Related: Deion Sanders Breaks Silence on NFL Coaching Speculation