FRISCO, TX — There is no shortage of potential candidates to land the Dallas Cowboys head coaching job in 2025, with Mike McCarthy and the team opting to part ways after a five-year stint that began during the pandemic. But as the front office turns its attention to candidates like Deion Sanders and others, Micah Parsons is still stunned by the divorce.
Speaking on his weekly podcast “The Edge with Micah Parsons” presented by Bleacher Report, the global smuggler had a lot of good things to say about the McCarthy regime.
“He was always good to us,” the four-time Pro Bowler said. “Losing a great coach like Mike hurts.”
Parsons had consistently praised his relationship with McCarthy in the past, leading up to his departure, although he also admitted a few weeks ago that the decision was “above pay grade” and that he had no control over the outcome.
The end result puts the Cowboys in a pretty tough spot: McCarthy’s staff, each of those contracts also having expired Tuesday, is free to sign with any of the NFL’s 32 teams, assuming they want to stay in the league and not take their talents to the NCAA.
All told, there could soon be a mass exodus and/or housecleaning on the coaching staff ahead of free agency that includes 22 unrestricted players who will also need to sort out their futures.
And there is also the task of Parsons himself to begin contract negotiations.
None of this is lost on Parsons, especially since being drafted in 2021 is the first time he has undergone a regime change in the NFL, so he will reflect on the past in the moment, but he doesn’t have much time to do it. .
“It’s going to be a very interesting offseason,” he said. “It will be a complete reset. I hope we make the right decisions. … As one of the leaders of this team, I look forward to accepting all challenges and accepting whatever comes, to help lead my team to a championship.
“We have to move forward. We can’t think about the past.”
Coming off a 7-10 season, the worst of Parsons’ career, he points to the players as the driving force in righting the ship in 2025, regardless of what new faces might come into the building to coach them.
“Some of the biggest players learn to adapt,” Parsons said. “…At the end of the day, coaches can only do so much. We as players have to build a winning culture. I said we were going to win the (Lombardi) trophy because I believe in our guys.”
