Could former NFL tight end Jason Witten have a future with the Dallas Cowboys in a coaching capacity?

It sounds as though team owner Jerry Jones was contemplating such a plan for the future if Mike McCarthy returned as the head coach next season.

According to Jane Slater of NFL Network, "It's been my understanding that Jones has talked to Witten in recent weeks, and I do believe that he was part of a plan that Jones initially had when he was going to bring back McCarthy. I think the plan there was to make him an heir apparent of sorts. McCarthy sort of surprised him by deciding that he wanted to end these conversations... now we'll see if Witten will still be in play here. I just don't know if that would be in a head coach role, but I do believe [Jones] thinks very strongly about Witten and his future as a coach."

It would not be the first time that Jones groomed a Cowboys player to be a long-term coaching candidate.

The Cowboys hired former backup quarterback Jason Garrett to serve as the offensive coordinator in 2007 after he spent two years as the Miami Dolphins' quarterbacks coach. He was promoted to the dual role of offensive coordinator and assistant head coach in 2008, and midway through the 2010 season was named the team's head coach, replacing Wade Phillips. It was no secret that the Cowboys viewed Garrett as a potential successor—at one point, he was making more money than Phillips.

Then there was another former Cowboys quarterback, Kellen Moore, who the organization installed as the quarterbacks coach in 2019. He was just 28 at the time and was promoted to offensive coordinator one year later. He also survived the coaching change from Garrett to McCarthy in 2020, which often isn't the case for coordinators.

When McCarthy sought to take over play-calling duties ahead of the 2023 season, however, Moore and the Cowboys mutually parted ways. He served as the Los Angeles Chargers' offensive coordinator for one year before taking on the same role with the Philadelphia Eagles this season.

Moore will likely be a candidate for the Dallas vacancy, and would certainly bring more NFL coaching experience to the table than Witten, who has won two state titles at the high school level for Liberty Christian in Argyle, Texas, but has never coached at the college or pro level.

He did have an extremely successful playing career, however, earning 11 Pro Bowl bids and a pair of first-team All-Pro selections. The future Hall of Famer spent 16 of his 17 NFL seasons with the Cowboys and was always a fan favorite in Dallas, so Jones envisioning him as a future coach isn't much of a stretch.

Installing him immediately as the head coach would be a huge gamble, however, at least until he has more experience at the NFL level. If nothing else, Jones could try to get Witten a position on the next head coach's staff.