Jerry Jones releases statement on decision to retain Mike McCarthy for 2024 season

The Dallas Cowboys are officially running it back with Mike McCarthy in 2024. After ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the plan was to retain him next season, Jerry Jones released a statement on the decision.

Questions rose about McCarthy’s future following Sunday’s loss to the Green Bay Packers — a game in which the Cowboys trailed 48-16 at one point. Dallas entered the game as the NFC’s No. 2 seed and became the first franchise to lose to a No. 7 seed since the playoffs expanded in 2020.

However, despite the disappointing ending, Jones said McCarthy is safe. He listed out his reasons in a lengthy statement Wednesday night.

“I believe this team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy as our head coach,” Jones said. “There is great benefit to continuing the team’s progress under Mike’s leadership as our head coach. Specifically, there are many layers of success that have occurred this season as a result of Mike’s approach to leading the team, both with individual players and with our team collectively. Mike has the highest regular season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history and we will dedicate ourselves, in partnership with him, to translating that into reaching our post season goals. Certainly, Mike’s career has demonstrated post season success at a high level, and we have great confidence that can continue.

“Further, our loss on Sunday is shared by everyone here, not just Coach McCarthy. Our players. Our coaches. Our front office. Myself. There is accountability for our results. I am accountable for our results. The lens we use to view and evaluate Coach McCarthy is holistic. While we’re all disappointed with the result on Sunday and with our playoff record, I am 100 percent supportive of him as our head coach and ability to reach our goals. We will start our process of review and decision making regarding everything that impacts our team and roster and, while we’re not going to address specific players and extensions or free agents at this point, it deserves our deepest review and consideration, and it will get it.”

McCarthy, just wrapped up his fourth season with the Cowboys, guiding the team to their third consecutive 12-5 finish. Dallas capped it off with an NFC East title, outlasting the reigning NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles. Playoff success, however, has been hard to come by. The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cowboys in both 2021 and ’22 before the Packers throttled them inside AT&T Stadium.

The 2024 campaign is the final year of McCarthy’s contract. McCarthy’s predecessor, Jason Garrett, was also allowed to coach into the final year of his contract before parting ways with the organization after the 2019 season. Speculation he wouldn’t make it to the 2024 season began immediately after the loss — a loss which Jones admitted came as one of the biggest surprises he’s ever seen in sports.

Nick Geddes contributed to this report.