The Dallas Cowboys are currently one of six NFL teams looking for a new head coach, and that comes down—at least partially—to the mismanagement of the Mike McCarthy situation after letting him coach the 2024 season as a pending free agent.
Albert Breer of SI.com offered more on McCarthy's side of the coin, between not receiving an extension offer before the season to the contract talks after it:
"For his part, McCarthy didn't complain about any of it. In talking with him over the summer, and again in the fall, he kept saying that this wasn't much different than having a pending free agent in a prominent role on your team—it just so happened that, in this case, the contract-year person in question was the head coach.