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A8 SPORTS
Thursday 16 January 2025
Former Cowboys Deion Sanders and Jason Witten are among
names floated as club’s next coach
By SCHUYLER DIXON Jones made a splashy free
AP Pro Football Writer agent signing with Sanders
Deion Sanders and Ja- in 1995 a few months after
son Witten are two of Dal- the Cowboys lost to Sand-
las Cowboys owner Jerry ers and the San Francisco
Jones’ former and favor- 49ers in the NFC champion-
ite players, and both have ship game. The 49ers went
been floated as potential on to win the Super Bowl.
replacements for coach The Cowboys won their third
Mike McCarthy. Super Bowl in a four-year
Jones and McCarthy span in that first season with
agreed Monday to part Sanders, whose five seasons
ways after five seasons to- in Dallas matched his lon-
gether. McCarthy was on gest tenure with any team.
an expiring contract and fin- Atlanta, which drafted
ished 7-10, ending a three- Sanders fifth overall in 1989,
year run of playoff trips with also had the Pro Football
12-5 records. Dallas was 1-3 Hall of Fame cornerback
in those three postseasons. for five years.
There was no update from Sanders just finished his
the club on the coaching second season as coach
search Tuesday, a day after at Colorado, and he and
Jones said one would be- Colorado head coach Deion Sanders watches the replay in the first half during an NCAA college Jones talked about the Dal-
gin following the decision football game against Arizona, Oct. 19, 2024, in Tucson, Ariz. Associated Press las opening Monday.
to move on from McCarthy. Witten was the best tight
end in franchise history and
is the club leader in games,
starts, consecutive starts,
catches and yards receiv-
ing.
The 11-time Pro Bowler was
interested in joining the
coaching staff when Mc-
Carthy replaced Jason Gar-
rett in 2020, but instead be-
came the head coach at a
private school in the Dallas
area. Witten’s team just won
a state championship.
Witten could fit the mold of
Detroit coach Dan Camp-
bell, another former Dallas
tight end who led the Lions
to the top seed in the NFC
playoffs a season after they
lost to the Niners in the NFC
title game. The Lions host
Washington on Saturday
night in a divisional game.
A Witten move would be
highly unusual since his
only coaching experience
has been in high school.
Campbell had plenty of NFL
coaching experience when
the Lions hired him in 2021.
Philadelphia offensive co-
ordinator Kellen Moore has
strong ties to Dallas quarter-
back Dak Prescott, who is
going into the first year of
a $240 million, four-year ex-
tension.
It’s the first contract with a
$60 million average annual
value in NFL history.
Moore was Prescott’s back-
up in his final season as a
player in 2017, and imme-
diately became his quarter-
backs coach in 2018. q
