Rob Ninkovich believes Bill Belichick would be ‘licking his chops’ to coach Dallas Cowboys if open

The Dallas Cowboys are just a few days away from hosting the Green Bay Packers for round one of the playoffs with Mike McCarthy at the helm, but according to former Patriots linebacker Rob Ninkovich, there’s a certain legendary coach out there who would love to take over the team if things don’t go as planned this postseason.

Following Bill Belichick’s departure from New England on Thursday, Ninkovich joined the Pat McAfee Show to discuss the Super Bowl winner’s next move. According to him, Belichick would be “licking his chops” to coach a team with the star power of Dallas.

“You look at the Cowboys,” Ninkovich said. “I think — I don’t know who said it on Get Up, but I do believe that somebody was saying that (Mike) McCarthy, if he doesn’t win, that it might be as last year and I could see Bill Belichick, you know, say Green Bay goes down to Dallas and takes care of business.

“I could see Jerry Jones saying, ‘Hey, Bill. Hey, man, I only got so many times left, so to speak at the the old glory hole.’ You know, Bill would be licking his chops to go down there to Dallas with a team that’s loaded like that.”

Realistically, the Cowboys would have to truly implode for Jerry Jones to consider moving on from McCarthy after three straight 12-win seasons. He’s the only coach in franchise history to lead the team to 12 wins in each of his first three seasons, but of course, expectations in Dallas are for a Super Bowl victory.

Even if that did happen, the Cowboys would have fierce competition for the 71-year-old coach. The Falcons will reportedly take a swing at Belichick, as will likely every team that’s fired a coach in the last few weeks.

Jerry Jones: ‘Couldn’t be more pleased’ with Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy

Dallas team owner and general manager Jerry Jones, speaking on 105.3 The Fan Tuesday, said he “couldn’t be more pleased” with McCarthy, calling him “the big difference this year” to the Cowboys’ success.

Win or lose in Sunday’s NFC Wild Card matchup against the Green Bay Packers, it sure sounds like Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy is safe.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with what he’s done and how he’s coached. … I really mean it,” Jones said, via Jon Machota of The Athletic. “He has really made as big a difference from his head coaching vantage point as anybody could from any vantage point in the NFL. He’s the big difference this year.”

Jones had a different tone the day prior, however, when asked about McCarthy’s job status for 2024 and beyond.

“I just think his record speaks for itself,” Jones said. “I think of what he has done and that we’ve put ourselves in this position over these last three years. Think that does speak for itself. We’ve got a lot of football left and no small part thanks to Mike. … We’ll see how each game goes.”