Mike McCarthy contract: Adam Schefter updates talks with Cowboys after Bears interview denied

With six days to go in the exclusive negotiating window, all eyes are on what the Dallas Cowboys decide on Mike McCarthy’s future. He coached this season in the final year of his contract, and the spotlight grew even bigger after the franchise denied the Chicago Bears’ request to interview him for their head coach position.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter provided an update on where things stand, and the sense seems to be the two sides aren’t close on a new agreement yet. However, he pointed to a couple examples to show why the Cowboys could be waiting to get McCarthy’s deal in place.

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Dallas took its time getting deals together for Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb ahead of the 2024 season. Schefter indicated that could happen again with McCarthy’s deal before teams can interview him without permission from the Cowboys.

“It doesn’t sound like he’s any closer to a deal with the Dallas Cowboys currently, but we’ve seen the Dallas Cowboys always wait until the last minute on these types of deals,” Schefter said on NFL Live. “Go back to the start of the regular season, Dak Prescott signs on the day the regular season kicks off. CeeDee Lamb [signed] late in the summer.

“Usually, these situations seem to linger until there is some sort of artificial deadline. With Mike McCarthy being able to interview next week after Jan. 14, I would think at some time here, in the next couple of days, the Dallas Cowboys would step forward to see whether or not there is a solution for both sides to figure out whether Mike McCarthy can stay in [Dallas].”

McCarthy has a 49-35 record with the Cowboys since taking over in 2019, including three straight 12-win seasons from 2020-22. This year was a rough go, however, as Dallas finished 7-10.

The interesting part about McCarthy’s contract talks, though, is the fact the Cowboys denied the Bears’ request to speak with him. If the two sides were heading toward divorce, Schefter pointed out it’d make sense for Dallas to grant Chicago permission. Still, the next few days are going to be interesting to see what lies ahead for both sides.

“It is interesting that you would turn down the Chicago Bears,” Schefter said. “If you had no interest in bringing back Mike McCarthy, why would you turn that request down? If you essentially were moving on from him and knew you were moving on, that would not be very considerate to deny him the chance to talk to a team now, that he could talk to next week.

“But the Dallas Cowboys, again, have not gotten a deal done with Mike McCarthy yet. And we’ll see if there’s a way the two sides can figure that out in the days to come before he’s allowed to talk to other teams next week.”