Cowboys refused to assign the new contract to Mike McCathy.

Coach Mike McCarthy of the Dallas Cowboys will return in 2024, but he won’t receive much support after that.

As McCarthy approaches the last year of his contract, the Cowboys have no intention of making any changes to it, as Adam Schefter of ESPN reports. The rationale is that owner Jerry Jones thinks that having a final-year contract can challenge people in new ways and bring out the best in them.

If nothing else, the Cowboys may have added a year to McCarthy’s contract to avoid giving the impression that he was a lame duck. Jones has experience functioning in this manner because former coach Jason Garrett faced similar circumstances twice. In 2014, he finished 12-4 the first time, but 8-8 the second time around and was not re-signed.

In any case, it seemed doubtful that an additional contract year would alter the perception of McCarthy. McCarthy’s job was saved by his record during the Cowboys regular season, but if Jones wants to keep McCarthy around, it’s reasonable to believe he’ll want to see improvement in the postseason in 2024.

During their playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers in the wildcard round, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb were obviously having communication issues.

The problems started early in the first quarter and persisted all the way through the match. At first, the discrepancy seemed to be caused by timing, but by the end of regulation, it was evident that Prescott and Lamb had distinct perspectives.

During the game, Mike McCarthy, the head coach, and a few players approached Lamb who was on the bench to give him some motivation. However, Prescott rejected the idea that there was a problem between him and Lamb following the defeat.

“We weren’t perfect early, and two competitors wanted to be perfect,” Prescott said at the time to NFL Network’s Jane Slater. “Very far from being cut off.”

Leta Ramirez, Lamb’s mother, apparently noticed the discrepancy as well. She also publicly attacked Prescott and implied that Lamb should look for a new team in freshly discovered Facebook posts from the game day.

Dan Quinn, the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys, turned down several head coaching jobs in the past to stay in his current role. Even though it’s unlikely to happen this offseason, he still has a path back to Dallas in 2024.

Head coach Mike McCarthy was ambiguous on Thursday, but according to ESPN’s Ed Werder, if Quinn doesn’t get hired as a head coach elsewhere, he’s expected to return to Dallas. Quinn has five scheduled interviews and is a highly sought-after prospect for coaching.