When Sean Payton stepped down as the Saints head coach earlier this year, there was a lot of speculation about whether the Cowboys would make a run at hiring him to replace Mike McCarthy.
As it turned out, the Dolphins were the team that were lurking to pounce on Payton before circumstances pushed them in the direction of Mike McDaniel as their new head coach. That’s left Payton to work on the broadcast side of things and it’s also left his name as one that has continued to come up as a possible replacement for McCarthy in Dallas.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said this week that such links are not based in reality.
“Sean Payton shouldn’t be out there,” Jones said, via Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “For him, the Cowboys, that’s just sheer out of the air. It’s well known we’re good friends and we think a lot of him as a head coach. But in this case, asking the way you’re asking, he shouldn’t be a conversation piece.”
Should the Cowboys fail to improve on last season, there will be plenty of discussion about McCarthy’s future and his dismissal would likely do little to stop another round of chatter about a potential move to Dallas for Payton.