Jason Garrett was firmly on the hot seat all season long and after a 3-5 start it looked as though his days were numbered in Dallas. That was before he rallied his team to win 7 of the last 8 regular season games, make the playoffs and earn his second career playoff victory. Much to the dismay of many Dallas Cowboys fans, that was probably enough to ensure that Jason Garrett will definitely be back in 2019. While he has certainly earned the right to keep his job next season, whether it was enough for an extension is the hot topic of debate. If at the beginning of a season you were to ask fans of most NFL teams that if their team finished 10-6 and won a playoff game should the head coach get an extension, most would say yes. Ask any Cowboy fan right now if they feel that 10-6 with a playoff win is sufficient to justify a Jason Garrett contract extension and the answer is likely no. Is that fair?
To answer that question properly, a certain amount of context must be considered. For example, there are a handful of teams that would consider the season the Dallas Cowboys had a disappointment. Two of the teams playing in the conference championship games, the Patriots and Rams, are prime examples. The New England Patriots have a championship pedigree and their annual trip to the AFC championship game has now achieved the same level of certainty as both death and taxes. The Los Angeles Rams, the team that ended the Cowboys season in the divisional round, are a team with an innovative young coach and a roster loaded with talent which creates a high level of expectation. The Dallas Cowboys do not share the same standard of performance or expectation as either of those teams. There was once a time that the Dallas Cowboys had a championship pedigree like the Patriots but that is no longer true having now failed to reach the NFC championship game in 23 years. With regards to expectations, there were some fans and experts that were optimistic about the 2018 Cowboys but even those that were had nowhere near the excitement of the 2018 Rams. Not many people predicted that Dallas would win their division and many believed they would not make the playoffs so for the most part the Cowboys 2018 season actually exceeded expectations.
Another important factor for consideration is how long Jason Garrett has been the coach in Dallas. The general expectation is that if a head coach has stayed with same franchise for a number of years they must have attained a certain level of success. Jason Garrett is among the longest tenured coaches in the NFL but if you compare the amount of success he has experienced with the rest of the coaches in that group he simply does not measure up.
| Coach | Years Tenure | Win % | Division Titles | Playoff Appearances | Playoff Wins | Conference Championship Games | Conference Championships | Super Bowl Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bill Belichick (NE) | 19 | .680 | 16 | 16 | 28 | 13 | 8 | 5 |
| Sean Payton (NO) | 13 | .615 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Mike Tomlin (Pitt) | 12 | .654 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| John Harbaugh (BAL) | 11 | .591 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Jason Garrett (DAL) | 9 | .566 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pete Carroll (SEA) | 9 | .587 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Ron Rivera (CAR) | 8 | .559 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Andy Reid (KC) | 6 | .611 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Jason Garrett is at or near the bottom of every single category measured. More importantly he is the only head coach among that group to have never appeared in a conference championship game. In terms of playoff wins Garrett and Andy Reid are dead last with only 2 apiece. They are also the only coaches on that list that have not led their respective teams to the Super Bowl. However, Andy Reid is one playoff victory away from doing exactly that and in the process leap frogging Jason Garrett in playoff wins. Consider also that Andy Reid has only been with the Chiefs for 6 years compared to 9 years for Garrett. Furthermore, unlike Jason Garrett who has only ever coached the Dallas Cowboys, Andy Reid has had success with another franchise. Factoring in Andy Reid’s previous success with the Eagles, he has an additional 12 playoff wins, 5 NFC championship appearances and a trip to the Super Bowl making Jason Garrett the only coach on the entire list that has never led a team to a Super Bowl appearance or a conference championship game. When looking at Jason Garrett’s overall body of work, the success of this past season gives pause to the idea that he is deserving of a contract extension.
It is yet to be determined what Jason Garrett’s fate will be for 2019 and beyond. There have been whispers of a Jason Garrett contract extension in the works but Jerry Jones has not outright stated that it will happen as he had done with Dak Prescott. I have never been a fan of Jason Garrett. I question his time management at times, decision making, roster management, game planning, refusal to adapt to the strengths of his players and his unwavering loyalty to Scott Linehan; But, I must concede that he does have value as a head coach. He is an exceptional motivator, seems to be loved by his players and deserves a lot of credit for turning this season around. On three occasions now, Garrett has in my opinion overachieved by making the playoffs with seemingly average rosters. I do honestly feel that Garrett deserves another year to prove he can lead the team to the playoffs in back to back seasons but I hope that the Cowboys proceed with caution. If I wore Jerry Jones’ shoes I would let Garrett coach through the final year of his contract before offering an extension but I do not. I, along with the rest of the Dallas Cowboys fans around the globe, can only wait and wonder what Jerry Jones does next.
All Data collected and verified from https://www.pro-football-reference.com/
*Photo by Kieth Allison https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode