Report: Jason Garrett's Contract Will Be Extended To A Second Decade After Second Playoff Win

Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett’s contract was set to expire after the 2019 season, but Ian Rapoport reports that Jerry Jones will extend it after the playoffs—no matter what happens tonight against the Rams.

The Cowboys started 3-5 this year, and ESPN’s Dan Graziano had Garrett’s job still in jeopardy as late as last month following a shutout loss to the Colts. But two late wins clinched the NFC East, and The Clapper’s squad beat the Seahawks 24-22 in the wild-card round last week.

Is Garrett’s extension a reward for the turnaround this year, or a representation of Jerry Jones’s desire to have a coach on staff who’s willing to go along with whatever the owner desires? Two of the major factors in the Cowboys’ improvement this year were the Amari Cooper trade and the firing of offensive line coach Paul Alexander. The way Jones spoke about those moves made it obvious that he had some significant influence on them:

“[The Cowboys] are more urgent because we dug a hole here. We have to be pretty strong in our success here. We don’t have the time. We don’t have the room to wiggle here. That says a lot about the things we have done the past two weeks, bringing in Cooper and the changes we have made in the offensive line.”

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“We have a high standard,” Jones said. “When we look at the strength of our team, we look at it as the offensive line. You are on the spot when you are playing and coaching in that area. That is an area we want to be a symbol of what the team is about. After seven games, we weren’t getting the job done to the standard. We felt we needed new voices. That was the way to give up to the best chance to go in the direction we want to go.”

Garrett, in characteristic fashion, was much quieter about the Alexander firing, simply saying “We are always trying to get better.” If the Cowboys’ idea of improving means keeping Garrett around for even longer, then Jones must have a curious definition of “better.”