The wild-card weekend is about to start, and while some teams prepare for the games to come, Dallas Cowboys are planning their off-season moves. But what are Dallas Cowboys have to do with playoff teams, New England Patriots to be more precise?
Namely, there is a chance that Pats’ coach Bill Belichick joins Dallas Cowboys in the offseason. ESPN’s Seth Wickersham examined this possibility, and he pointed out that the relationship between Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft as well as Tom Brady is not perfect. Here is the line that caught our attention: “Those interviewed describe a palpable sense in the building that this might be the last year together for this group.”
Even if this is true, it doesn’t mean that one of the greatest coaches in the NFL would come to the team from Texas. But let’s just pause for a moment and ask ourselves how much would Jerry Jones have to pay the man?
First of all, Belichick would have high demands. He would probably like to fill the position of the head coach and general manager since these are his titles in New England. In other words, Jones would have to step down as general manager and let’s just say that he is willing to put his ego aside. What this means is that Belichick would have absolute control over football operations but also a higher salary.
According to OregonLive.com, Belichick was the third-highest paid head coach in the NFL with $7.5 million/year and two coaches with higher salary are Saints’ Sean Payton and Seahawks’ Pete Carroll. However, Carroll will no longer stay the highest-paid coach because the Oakland Raiders are willing to offer Jon Gruden the contract worth $10 m/year and he should remain with the team for over ten years.
Since Belichick is will be 66 in April, his contract will probably not cover so many years. But the numbers are likely to be similar. Offering $10 million a year to Belichick would be a starting point, but this can only become true if some other pieces of the puzzle fall into place. And this is a big if.
