Mike McCarthy may have lost only coaching opportunity if Cowboys fire him

If you take a quick glance through social media you're bound to stumble across a post that reads "the Dallas Cowboys are not a serious football team." We could have told you that after they decided to bring back Mike McCarthy after their historic playoff loss in January.

The Cowboys hinted all along that they were going to take a step back. Even though the front office preached confidence in the roster, it failed to offset their free agency losses and chose not to address gaping holes at nose tackle and running back.

Throw some devastating injuries into the mix and you get a 3-7 football team. Let's be honest, though: this was an average team at best before injuries entered the equation.

While Jerry Jones has stated numerous times that McCarthy's job is safe, everyone can see the writing on the wall. McCarthy's contract is up after the season, so Jones can say he didn't fire another coach.

It will be interesting to see if McCarthy gets another job. There seemed to be a perfect opportunity for McCarthy to land on his feet, but that dream came crashing down this week.

NFL insider Jeff Howe of The Athletic circled McCarthy as a candidate for the New York Jets job due to his history with quarterback Aaron Rodgers. McCarthy coached Rodgers on the Green Bay Packers for 13 years before he joined the Cowboys in 2020.

Unfortunately for McCarthy, it is now unlikely that Rodgers is back with the Jets next year after general manager Joe Douglas was fired.

Now that Douglas is gone, the Jets will have a completely new regime in 2025. It stands to reason that the new general manager and head coach will want to pick their quarterback - so long as power-hungry owner Woody Johnson complies.

While the Rodgers-McCarthy era in Green Bay had a messy ending, Rodgers spoke slowingly of McCarthy this week on the "Pat McAfee Show."

Strong words from the four-time MVP.

SNY reporter Connor Hughes reported in light of Douglas' firing that "the team prefers to move on from Rodgers, too."

We'll see if that comes to fruition, but Rodgers had a stranglehold on the organization with Douglas at the helm. Not only did he hand-pick Nathaniel Hackett to be New York's offensive coordinator, but he had the team sign multiple of his former teammates, including receivers Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb. He was also influential in the Davante Adams trade.

It's very possible Rodgers would have chosen McCarthy to take over in Florham Park. Now that the Rodgers experiment has gone up in flames, though, he will likely want out of New York just as much as the Jets want him out.

There could be as many as seven head coach openings after the season, so McCarthy theoretically could land a job. However, he will have to contend with several rising coordinators and established coaches like Bill Belichick and Mike Vrabel, who are hungry to get back in the league.

We'll see what the future holds for McCarthy, but the Jets hitting the reset button cost him his best chance of coaching in 2025.