Cowboys Rumors: Stephen Jones 'Has Long Loved' Dan Quinn amid McCarthy, Seahawks Buzz

While fans spent much of Sunday night speculating about high-profile names taking over for Mike McCarthy, the Dallas Cowboys coach's replacement might already be in the building.

Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated reported Cowboys COO Stephen Jones has "long loved" defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who is expected to be a hot name for head-coaching vacancies despite the Cowboys giving up 48 points in Sunday's loss to the Packers.

Quinn rebuffed advances from teams each of the last two offseasons to remain in Dallas, but it would be a surprise to see him not take a job this coaching cycle. The Seahawks have been mentioned as an obvious fit given Quinn spent two stints in Seattle as an assistant coach, most notably as the defensive coordinator for their Super Bowl XLVIII title.

McCarthy is on the hot seat after his second upset home playoff loss in the last three seasons. The Cowboys came out Sunday listless against an upstart Packers team, trailing 27-0 before putting their first points on the board. Dallas is the first franchise in NFL history to have three straight 12-win seasons and not make its conference championship game at least once.

Owner Jerry Jones was noncommittal when asked about McCarthy's job status after the game.

"I haven't thought one second about it," Jones told reporters. "I know how hard, how much it meant to our fans to advance. What this loss to me means, again, not how [or] why, who didn't do what, all of that type of thing—the only thing on my mind almost this entire game was not an analysis of our strategy, not an analysis of our play, it was, 'Do we get to play here again next week?' And we can't. That could have happened by a point or it could have happened the way it happened out there. That's all I've thought about. It's real."

McCarthy has just one year remaining on his contract, so Jones will have to make a decision soon. It seems unlikely that the Cowboys would go into 2024 with McCarthy as a lame duck, though Jones did allow former coach Jason Garrett to play out the final year of his deal in 2020.

That said, the coaching market is red hot with high-profile names. Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll and Mike Vrabel were recently let go by their respective teams, and Michigan's Jim Harbaugh has been rumored to be considering an NFL return.

With Quinn also having his admirers already inside Cowboys facilities, it looks more likely than not that McCarthy will exit in favor of a new voice.