Strike 3: He’s charting the course. Clearing the runway. Plowing the road.
However you want to describe it, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is setting everything up to make Deion Sanders his head coach at the conclusion of the upcoming football season. Along with it comes the likelihood that Shedeur Sanders will be taking the snaps for Big D in 2025 (since Daddy Ball can travel) and if he can make it part of the deal, defensive back Shilo Sanders could join the crew, since he sort of needs the cash at the moment.
The idea has already been floated on local sports talk radio around here, and with each move – and non-move – that Jones and the Cowboys make (or fail to) this offseason, the case looks stronger. And while it might sound outlandish for the owner of the wealthiest and most storied sports franchise in America to hand the keys over to a relative novice, if you take all the available evidence and add everything up, you can absolutely see it.
Let’s start off the field. Jones and Sanders are of the same mindset: Show me the money. They both crave the spotlight and the attention that comes with it. If Deion proved one thing last season, it’s that he knows how to bring attention, regardless of what happens on the field. And attention brings money. No doubt that Jones saw what happened in Boulder – off the field – last fall and said to himself, “I want that.”
On the field, Dallas has been almost completely inactive this offseason. After last season’s epic playoff failure, all the speculation was that head coach Mike McCarthy was a goner. Didn’t happen. Instead, the former Super Bowl champion coach is more or less a lame duck going into the 2024 season. Same with star quarterback Dak Prescott, the 2023 NFL MVP runner up who has not gotten a contract extension and will be entering the final year of his deal. As one report put it, “The Cowboys have watched much of the 2023 talent walk out the door while being unable to make many moves to mitigate their losses.”
Unable or unwilling?
Is it unthinkable that Jerry Jones may be tanking?
Closer to home, the roots the Sanders family were supposedly putting down outside of Boulder are starting to dry up already. First out the door is Deion’s daughter Shelomi Sanders, who is now a former CU women’s basketball player, having transferred to Alabama A&M. Her brothers won’t be far behind. Deion talks openly about Sheduer and next April’s NFL Draft, even though he and his massive NIL deals could return for another year. If the Buffs do happen to qualify for a bowl game, it won’t be Shedeur under center for the Black and Gold that night.
Deion remains upwardly mobile himself. There’s nothing keeping him here after this season. He will chase the money without a doubt, and his ties to Dallas are well known. He’s already got the cowboy hat, right?
Deion and Shedeur already know the way. Shortly after last season’s 4-8 finish, Father and son/QB took a trip to Big D to hang out with Jones, get the grand tour of Jones’ palatial facilities, and were able to squeeze into a luxury box to catch a Cowboys game.
A roster overhaul won’t be hard for Deion of course, complete with social media camera crew in tow. And now that Jerry’s already got it started, it’s just a matter of getting this season over with.
