Troy Aikman’s off-hand anecdote about Kellen Moore returning to Dallas in 2021 has spawned a new Cowboys conspiracy theory.
Dallas drama is the best kind of drama, whether it’s the television show or the football franchise.
Despite an embarrassingly bad season, the Cowboys were still in a position to win the NFC East entering Week 17. But while the season wasn’t officially lost, the sour taste the entire year is bound to leave in the prideful mouth of Jerry Jones is likely to result in an offseason of conversation about what needs to change.
Namely, what’s the deal with head coach?
Mike McCarthy’s first year has been a flaming disaster, and questions about his job security have been circling since the first half of the season. Cowboys fans now have a new coaching conspiracy theory — and potentially hope that McCarthy will be gone — after a little nugget that Troy Aikman dropped during the Cowboys Week 17 broadcast.
Is Kellen Moore the head coach in waiting for the Dallas Cowboys?
While talking about the Cowboys offense, Aikman threw in an off-the-cuff anecdote about Kellen Moore and the recent rumors about him accepting the Boise State head coaching job.
“I’ve been hearing that he was offered the job and had accepted the job, so I think there was a lot in the story there as far as what has kept him in Dallas.”
We knew that Moore had been offered the Boise State job, but there was no official confirmation that he’d accepted. The implication that many have taken away from this is that Moore received an offer from Jerry Jones that was too good to pass up, but what could he offer an offensive coordinator that would cause him to pass up a head coaching gig?
You do the math.
Jones doesn’t fire coaches after one year, but he’s also not a forgiving man to those he has no loyalty to. Mike McCarthy falls into the category of guys Jones doesn’t have loyalty to which means this terrible season hits a lot harder than it would have if it had been someone else (See: Jason Garrett).
Moore being the head coach in waiting makes sense on multiple levels. He’s one of Jerry’s guys, which puts him in that loyalty column. He’s also a young offensive-minded coach in a league where those types of innovators are changing the game. The Cowboys offense is noticeably better when Moore is calling plays and Dak Prescott is noticeably better as well. If Jones is going to pay Dak what he’s owed, putting a guy in charge who can truly get his money’s worth out of him is a sound business decision.
We don’t know what Jerry offered Moore, but it’s not hard to connect the dots. After a season as bad as this one, it’s a conspiracy theory that at least gives Cowboys fans some semblance of hope.