Jason Garrett, Atop Everyone's Coaching Lists a Year Ago, Now a Fading Star

Summer 2008 proved to be Jason Garrett’s most promising offseason of his coaching career.  Despite a loss to the Super Bowl-bound New York Giants in the second round of the playoffs, Garrett proved worthy of topping the list of future head coaching candidates across the NFL.

With Atlanta and Baltimore knocking on the door, desperate for a new head coach to lead their respective franchises back to glory, what was Garrett to do?               

It seemed at the time that Atlanta needed a total overhaul.  Backup QB Matt Schaub was traded to Houston in order to keep assurances to both Michael Vick and the Atlanta fans that Vick would remain the cornerstone of the Falcons offense.  This backfired with such force that Bobby Petrino, then head coach of the Falcons, couldn’t get his office packed quickly enough and skipped town to return to college football. 

Baltimore, although in a different situation from Atlanta, had higher expectations.  Brian Billick was relieved of his duties as head coach for falling short of the Ravens' playoff expectations.  Their defense was still standing strong, but it was the offensive side that needed some heavy retooling.

Both programs were in need of serious overhauling on their offense, and both teams felt Garrett was the answer. Jerry Jones, on the other hand, had different plans for Garrett.

Jones offered to make Jason Garrett the highest-paid coordinator in the NFL.  Wade Phillips, the defensive-minded head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, had little to no interest in anything but the defense, leaving Garrett fully in charge of the star-studded offense.

And who knows? Perhaps Phillips would fall short again the next season, giving Garrett the head coaching spot on America’s team.

Garrett chose to stay home in Dallas.

Six Months Later

The Cowboys didn’t lose their first playoff game this year, but as we all know, that wasn’t a good thing.

Injuries aside, the Cowboys' chaotic and disappointing end to the 2008 season seemed to not be the effect of their defense, but rather Garrett’s lackluster offense.  His common schemes proved predictable and unoriginal, allowing too many points left on the field instead of the scoreboard.

After the season meltdown, Jones decided to keep Phillips on as head coach for another year, arguably because he did not want Garrett at the head of the team.

In case that wasn’t enough of a sting, Atlanta and Baltimore both ran successful campaigns to the playoffs.  Atlanta did so well their new head coach was named Coach of the Year.  The Baltimore Ravens are currently in the AFC championship and fighting for a Super Bowl berth.  Either franchise would have gladly used Garrett instead.

As this year’s offseason creeps towards us, Detroit, Denver, Cleveland, St. Louis, and the New York Jets are all in a scramble for a new coach.  Sadly, Garrett isn’t at the top of any hiring list.

Garrett will have another year of trying to keep T.O. in check, another year of trying to keep Tony Romo’s on field mistakes to a minimum, and another year of both the Dallas Cowboys fans and Jerry Jones demanding nothing but perfection from an underperforming offense. 

The current rumor?  Mike Shanahan will become the new head coach for the Dallas Cowboys in 2010.

Jason Garrett turned down head coaching jobs to stay an assistant coach.  It’s possible that he won’t even be that next year.