If Cowboys Coach Garrett is Flirting with Giants, This Won’t End Well

The Rumor says Cowboys Coach Garrett is, in a way, Flirting with Giants. Allow me to offer a Jerry Jones history lesson that teaches us that This Won’t End Well

FOXBORO, MASS - The rumor that has coach Jason Garrett forging a path from the Dallas Cowboys to New York Giants is dotted with lots of speed-bump-height hurdles but one Empire State Building-sized leap.

Should New York fire Pat Shurmur while the Cowboys also opt to not retain Garrett, RedBall’s desired next job, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, would be with the Giants.

From @NFLGameDay: Could the #Giants be a landing spot for #Cowboys coach Jason Garrett if Dallas moves on from him? A look at one situation to keep watching... 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/GVdqWXmewd

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 24, 2019

“My understanding is the Giants have emerged as a real and legitimate potential landing spot for Garrett,” Rapoport reported. “It is his preferred destination if he can’t stick with the Cowboys.”

Garrett is of course in the final season of his five-year, $30-million contract extension. Despite the Jones family’s affection for him, there was a purpose in not extending him even after last year’s Cowboys won a playoff game.

In short, Garrett’s been on the hot seat all this season.

It is no secret that the Garrett family has regional and football ties with New York. Nor is it a secret that Giants ownership has always had a fondness for Garrett.

So could Shurmur and Garrett both leave their present posts, with RedBall taking over in New York? Sure.

So what’s the gigantic leap? The idea floated by one national media outlet that Garrett (via his representatives) whispered this story into the open as a “not-so-subtle warning” to Jerry Jones.

News flash: If media members are aware of a Garrett-Giants connection, don’t you think the Joneses are? (They are.) Further, if the Garrett camp is the source here, with the thought that it’ll “leverage” Jerry by flirting with another team, it (and the misguided media outlet) ought to think again.

The last Cowboys head coach who pulled a stunt like this? Jimmy Johnson, in late 1993, who as I reported at the time selfishly turned a Jacksonville request for a reference on Norv Turner into Jimmy’s own Jaguars job interview.

A Cowboys head coach thinking about other jobs while still being paid to be the Cowboys head coach didn’t end well after the 1993 season. And if that’s what the head coach now is trying to do? I will predict that won’t end well for Jason Garrett after the 2019 season.