Could Deion Sanders be in Dallas next season, trading in the reigns of the Colorado Buffaloes for the Dallas Cowboys?
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With HC Mike McCarthy in the final year of his contract, a playoff appearance might not be enough for him to keep his job. Is Sanders a viable replacement?
As Cowboys owner Jerry Jones took to the Stephen A. Smith show to clear the air, he couldn’t help but gush about his former player, who helped him win a Super Bowl in 1996.
When Smith asked the question—whether the 81-year-old would be “crazy enough” to hire Sanders if McCarthy fell short—Jones sidestepped the question with his humor, saying, “No, but he does know how to spell well enough and not answer a hypothetical question.”
However, throughout the interview, Jones highlighted his respect for Coach Prime–not just as a player but also as a person.
For Jones, the former NFL star is a part of his fondest memories, alongside other Cowboys veterans like Michael Irvin—both of whom led the team to win their third title in four years in Super Bowl XXX against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Jones took a trip down memory lane and recalled one of his favorite stories involving Sanders when the ex-cornerback first signed with the Cowboys.
Jerry looks back to 1995 and Sanders’ “big contract”
While speaking to Smith, the Dallas Cowboys GM recalled the time Sanders signed a massive seven-year, $35 million with a $12 million signing bonus with the team.
Back then, making such a huge financial decision was a big task for Jones since he had used all of his available cash to buy the Cowboys in 1989 for $140 million.
Interestingly, before he made the deal final with Sanders, Jones revisited his old neighborhood in Little Rock, Arkansas, and looked back at his childhood while walking down the streets, where a dollar once meant everything, which led him to wonder if he had lost his mind by paying someone $12 million.
“That was then; this is now. I’m going for it,” he thought.
And, he did go for it!
When Jones and Sanders finally met, after Talladega College became a part of the Cowboys, the former was taken aback by Coach Prime’s humble nature.
“He came in, great to see him. The whole time we were waiting to go on stage and announce that he was going to be a Cowboy, he spent time playing with his boy. All he could pay attention to… was that boy,” reminisced the 81-year-old.
That was the moment the team’s owner knew Sanders was worth the investment–he was an NFL star on the field but grounded and caring outside it. “I said, ‘That’s heart. I want to be around that right there,'” added Jerry.
For now, as Jones put it, the idea of Prime Time coaching in Dallas is just “talk”—at least, for now.
