Mike McCarthy can convince Saints to hire him thanks to Jerry Jones failures

When the 2024 NFL regular season came to an end, all signs pointed to the Dallas Cowboys sticking with Mike McCarthy as their head coach, especially after Jerry Jones rejected a Chicago Bears request to interview him for their vacancy. As it turns out, that wasn't the case, as shortly after that rejection, it was announced that the Cowboys did not reach a deal with McCarthy and were moving on. They wound up hiring Brian Schottenheimer in his place.

That Schottenheimer hire made it so that all but one of the head coaching vacancies this offseason were filled, with the New Orleans Saints opening serving as the lone exception. It isn't hard to see why the Saints appear to have the least desirable opening, given the team's subpar roster and abysmal cap situation, but regardless, it is still one of just 32 head coaching jobs at the NFL level.

One of the candidates for the New Orleans opening is McCarthy, and, on the surface, that seems rather underwhelming. McCarthy's Cowboys just had a wildly disappointing 2024 campaign, and McCarthy has just one playoff win since 2016. Recent history surrounding Jerry Jones, though, suggests McCarthy has more of an argument than Saints fans might think.

Mike McCarthy's argument for Saints HC opening revolves around recent Jerry Jones failures

When thinking of two of the NFL's most improved coaches in 2024, two names in particular come to mind - Kellen Moore and Dan Quinn. The one similarity between those two coaches outside of the fact that they're currently in the NFC East is that they were both recent Cowboys assistants alongside McCarthy. Moore spent three seasons as Dallas' offensive coordinator alongside McCarthy and four overall, while Quinn was also a defensive coordinator in Dallas for three years.

Both Moore and Quinn had slightly underwhelming 2023 seasons, with Moore's Los Angeles Chargers offense ranking as a below-average unit in terms of points per game and Quinn's Cowboys defense imploding in the playoffs.

Despite that, both have excelled in 2024. Moore moved on to the Philadelphia Eagles and led an offense that improved. Saquon Barkley's arrival helped, and their team is as talented as any, but still - the numbers are the numbers. Quinn, meanwhile, got a second crack at a head coaching job and has led the Washington Commanders to an unexpected NFC Championship Game berth against Moore's Eagles.

Both Moore and Quinn have had immense success this season away from Jones' Cowboys. Could the same take place with McCarthy? That remains to be seen, but what Moore and Quinn have been able to do can conceivably be enough evidence for the Saints to believe Jerry Jones was the problem. Based on what we know about Jones, it'd be hard to blame them for having that opinion anyway.