Cowboys 'Secret': Mike Zimmer To Be Hired as Head Coach When McCarthy's Fired?

Dallas Cowboys 'Secret': Mike Zimmer To Be Hired as Head Coach When McCarthy's Fired?

LAS VEGAS - As we write this, Mike Zimmer hasn't even moved one box of stuff into the defensive coordinator's office at The Star in Frisco. But even as that seat remains warm from Dan Quinn's time in it, there is already one projection that suggests Zimmer won't be sitting in that seat for very long.

"Mike Zimmer,'' the headline reads, "already has inside track to be Cowboys next head coach.''

Wait. What? He does?

It's Super Bowl Sunday here in Las Vegas and we already have speculation from outside The Star that the coach of the Cowboys in 2025 figures to be Belichick. ESPN's new weird justification for the grossly premature "report''?

"Bill Belichick is a history buff'' and the Cowboys are a historic franchise. Seriously. That's their reasoning.

And now along comes the idea that Zimmer isn't just here to serve as coach Mike McCarthy's top defensive aide, that there is a darker reason ...

Zimmer is here to take McCarthy's job.

mccarthy and zimmer

USAToday writes scoldingly that "the hyperbole is flow(ing)'' but then adds to said hyperbole by suggesting that "maybe head coach isn’t such a distant thought'' for Zimmer, adding, "Zimmer, 67, may see running the defense in 2024 as giving him the inside track on the head coaching position in 2025 if McCarthy leaves.''

There is, however, no evidence of this. Indeed, we just saw Washington-bound Dan Quinn spend four years as McCarthy's coordinator without a hint of ambition-fueled conflict.

That speaks to the character of Quinn. And as we've known Zimmer for almost 30 years, we believe we can assign the same quality of character to him. As we wrote in the immediate aftermath of the news of him coming to town ...

"How can contractual lame-duck McCarthy know that his new top aide won't spend the year angling to be his replacement? McCarthy found that trust with Quinn. He’s likely about to find it again with Zimmer, who harbors no illusions here. Out of the NFL since 2021, he’s not coming back for the glitz. He’s coming back for the grind.

"Zimmer is a made man. He’s a loyalty guy. He's here to help.''

That comes from our insight into what makes McCarthy, Quinn and now Zimmer tick.

USAToday counters by suggesting there is some "secret'' being kept here.

"For obvious reasons, Zimmer isn’t going to let on that he’s eyeballing McCarthy’s job,'' the piece reads, adding, "It would be difficult seeing (the Cowboys) hand the keys over to Zimmer in 2025, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t dangle the carrot in their sales pitch.''

We have no awareness of that "eyeballing'' or that "carrot,'' so we cannot in good faith write that. We think Zimmer is coming here to "shock the system'' in his role as the defensive coordinator. So we will write that.