Mike Greenberg draws parallel between Deion Sanders, Jimmy Johnson amid Cowboys speculation

ESPN’s Mike Greenberg believes the potential hiring of Deion Sanders by the Dallas Cowboys is akin to when the franchise brought Jimmy Johnson in to run the show for Jerry Jones.

Speculation has been running wild, since it was revealed that the Cowboys owner and the Colorado leader discussed the franchise’s head coaching vacancy after it was made official that Mike McCarthy wouldn’t be returning to Dallas. While there’s been some pushback regarding the potential hire, Greenberg believes it could be a tremendous idea.

“It’s happened once before. We’ve seen this. The two ultimate alphas, in that organization. You know what it led to? It led to three Super Bowl championships in four years,” Greenberg proclaimed, comparing Sanders to Johnson’s time in Dallas, via Get Up on ESPN. “Deion shows up. It works for a little while. It’s combustible. There’s success. And then, it blows up because Jerry doesn’t like it anymore.

“I mean, Jimmy Johnson is that guy, and once upon a time, he led them to the only real, big high-level success they’ve had in the entire Jerry Jones era.”

There’s no guarantee that Sanders would come in and be successful in the NFL as a coach, but he’s likely earned the opportunity to give it a shot with the way he rebuilt the Buffaloes and Jackson State before that. Coach Prime confirmed the interest from Jones on Monday evening, but he also reaffirmed his love for Boulder and the Colorado program in the process.

“To hear from Jerry Jones is truly delightful, and it’s intriguing,” Sanders told ESPN on Monday, via Adam Schefter. “I love Jerry and believe in Jerry. After you hang up, and process it, and think about it, it’s intriguing. But I love Boulder and everything there is about our team, the coaches, our student body and the community.”

All told, Sanders has spent two seasons as the head coach of Colorado. However, he recently said that he would consider taking an NFL head coaching job if he was able to coach both of his sons, Shedeur and Shilo Sanders, at the next level, at the same time and on the same team.

Whether than pans out remains to be seen, but Coach Prime made sure to let the community in Boulder know where his thoughts stand after Monday’s news, as it’s not out of the realm of possibility if he took the Cowboys gig.

Regardless, Mike Greenberg delivered some high praise for Deion Sanders in comparing him to Jimmy Johnson, and it’s sure to shock some fans in Dallas and around the NFL. One thing we’ve learned over the past few years is not to bet against Coach Prime, and that should be the case still, even at the NFL level.

On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this article.