Is Mike McCarthy being undervalued in recent NFL head coach rankings?

There’s a lot expected out of you when you are the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Jerry Jones hired Mike McCarthy because of his success in Green Bay despite the fact that critics felt the coach was only able to do what he did with the Packers because of Aaron Rodgers.

In reality, McCarthy has improved the Cowboys. It’s undeniable that he’s made some questionable decisions, but he took a team that went 6-10 in 2020 to a team that went 12-5 in 2021. However, his team’s frustrating playoff exit put a dark cloud over a much-improved season and put the coach’s job in question. And when you coach the Cowboys, one loss or poor play call puts you on the hot seat.

Even though the Cowboys should’ve gone farther in the playoffs, is McCarthy the one to blame? And even if he is, is it fair to consider him a coach at the bottom half of the league? That’s what CBS Sports writer Cody Benjamin thinks. Out of all 32 coaches in the NFL, McCarthy was ranked No. 18.

Is the 58-year-old a top five or 10 coach? Probably not. But the bottom half of the league certainly feels like a stretch. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni and Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski were both deemed better coaches than the Cowboys leader. He was also ranked seven spots behind Doug Pederson (the Jaguars’ new head coach and former Eagles HC) who hasn’t coached a team since 2020.

CBS Sports gives Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy a surprisingly low ranking amongst all NFL head coaches at 18th

It’s also worth pointing out that McCarthy’s career win percentage (60.8%) is higher than that of eight of the coaches ranked above him.

Here’s Benjamin’s explanation on the Cowboys HC:

"The pendulum has probably swung a little too far in terms of criticizing McCarthy; even if he did have Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, he’s now compiled nine different double-digit-win seasons, including 2021 with Dallas. He’s also wisely given plenty of control to play-caller Kellen Moore. And yet, with so much talent at his disposal, ill-timed, old-school decisions have too often doomed him. Maybe that’s why team owner Jerry Jones publicly ponders about canning him for his own defensive coordinator."

The problem for McCarthy is that the last thing fans have to remember him by was an absurd final 14 seconds that booted his team out of the postseason. After the loss to San Francisco, nobody was thinking about a 12-5 record or a sweep of the NFC East.

But as Jerry Jones has said (when he decides to defend the coach), he wouldn’t have hired McCarthy if he didn’t believe in his ability to get the Cowboys to the playoffs. The longtime coach is one of only eight head coaches in the league with a Super Bowl win to their name. The other seven were all ranked 11th or higher on this list.

Does the third-year Cowboys coach have a lot to prove? Absolutely. Sean Payton rumors are already swirling and he has an incredibly talented roster worthy of a postseason run. But is he worthy of being ranked No.18 in a league that’s full of tons of young coaches? No. He doesn’t.