Ex-Cowboys HC Jason Garrett gets surprising new job in USFL

The United States Football League (USFL) is the latest spring start-up football league that is set to play its inaugural season with eight teams this month. The league has no association or affiliation with the former USFL that existed from 1983-1986. The USFL will have a 10-week regular season and a two-week playoff. The games will take place on FOX and NBC affiliates, and the broadcast team surprisingly includes a familiar Dallas Cowboys face. Ex-Cowboys head coach and former New York Giants offensive coordinator Jason Garrett was selected as a color analyst for the NBC broadcast team.

According to an official announcement, Garrett will be joining Jac Collinsworth (play-by-play), Paul Burmeister (play-by-play), Michael Robinson (analyst), Cam Jordan (analyst), Corey Robinson (sideline reporter), Zora Stephenson (sideline reporter), and Sara Perlman (host).

It’s genuinely hard to imagine Garrett as a color analyst. Some former coaches seem to be destined for the broadcast booth. Guys like Sean Payton and Jimmy Johnson are great for television. Boring and dull Garrett? Not so much.

But it’s not the most exciting broadcasting gig for a former Cowboys employee or player anyway. Troy Aikman just signed a huge new deal to do ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Tony Romo is a staple of the CBS team. DeMarco Murray joined FOX Sports’s college football group. This is like the C- TV opportunity, which to be fair, matches with his personality.

Ex-Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett joins USFL broadcast team as an analyst

This just feels… random? It’s also not like he was an excellent coach. To refresh your memory, Garrett was the Cowboys head coach from 2011-2019. In eight years, he had two playoff wins. In 2020, Garrett was picked up by the New York Giants as an offensive coordinator where he led one of the worst offenses in the league in all statistical categories. After 26 games with the Giants, Garrett was fired. Maybe that’s why he couldn’t even get a coaching job in the USFL.

Now, he will try his hand at broadcasting next to someone like Saints defender Cam Jordan who has a fun personality and has clearly been trying to solidify his retirement plans, helping host sports events like the Pro Bowl Skills Competition on ESPN. Will Garrett do better at broadcasting than he did as a HC an OC?

The USFL kicks off this Saturday, but Garrett won’t be on the air because it is a FOX broadcast. The NBC team will cover two games on Sunday, though. Garrett told Sports Illustrated that he’s “excited to be in the game,” which is an odd quote considering he, well, won’t be in the game.