Cowboys' Jones: McCarthy wouldn't be here if I didn't think he could win title

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is confident Mike McCarthy is the right man to end the franchise's championship drought.

"I want to be real clear," Jones said Tuesday, according to Cowboys Country's Mike Fisher. "He wouldn't be sitting here today if I didn't think he could lead this team to a Super Bowl. And I have choices."

Jones opened up his annual training camp press conference by unpromptedly shutting down speculation about his head coach's future.

One of Dallas' "choices" is widely believed to be Sean Payton, the former Cowboys assistant and Jones' longtime target who retired this offseason from his job with the New Orleans Saints.

Payton left the door open to an NFL return, fueling speculation that he could finally land in Dallas despite McCarthy only being two years into his tenure.

On Monday, McCarthy brushed off the noise about his job security, calling it "a media-driven narrative or at least a narrative driven outside my realm."

Jones continued to emphasize the safety of McCarthy's position when asked about possibly extending the coach's deal to end talk over his future.

"We"re in good shape. We have years left on the contract," he said, according to The Athletic's Jon Machota. "There are years past this one, that's all I'll say."

The Cowboys are looking to make a second straight playoff appearance after winning the NFC East with a 12-5 record in 2021-22.

While Dak Prescott's return to full health pushed Dallas back toward the top of the conference in the regular season, the club lost in the wild-card round to the San Francisco 49ers.

Dallas has only won two postseason games since 2014, and its last Super Bowl title came in 1995.