Recently, as we rapidly approach the end to another NFL regular season, this time of the year has routinely marked speculation about the Senior Director of Player Personnel for the Dallas Cowboys – Will McClay – and his future status with the team regardless of their record.
McClay has long said that his focus is on helping win the Jones family another Super Bowl with the Cowboys, but at 6-6 this sixth Lombardi trophy for America’s Team seems distant enough to allow Will to wander elsewhere in the offseason for a General Manager position.
The Fritz Pollard Alliance met with @NFL this week & submitted their names of suggested GM candidates. Per @TomPelissero and me, the list: Joey Clinkscales (#Raiders), Alonzo Highsmith (#Packers). Ray Farmer (#Rams consultant), Will McClay (#Cowboys), Doug Williams (#Redskins)
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 6, 2017
According to their website, the Fritz Pollard Alliance’s mission is as follows:
“We promote diversity and equality of job opportunity in the coaching, front office and scouting staffs of National Football League (“NFL”) teams.”
Last February, McClay won the Minority Business Award from the Dallas Business Journal. Since his start with the Dallas Cowboys, McClay has been given increasing control over personnel decisions as his title (and responsibilities) have constantly adapted.
McClay’s position in the Cowboys’ brass is truly unique. As recently as two weeks ago, criticism was as abundant as ever for the likes of Stephen Jones, Jerry Jones, and Jason Garrett while the Cowboys lost three straight games in embarrassing fashion.
Hall of Fame inductee Jerry Jones is still firmly atop the Dallas Cowboys organization, but the team’s fan base is well aware of the power that Stephen has on the roster. Stephen Jones, Will McClay, and the Cowboys’ coaching staff have been able to coexist with varying results when it comes to acquiring talent through the NFL Draft and free agency.
This past draft may have been an eye-opener for Will McClay though. Typically content to use his back seat position to focus on finding football players for Dallas, McClay was uncharacteristically available to the media throughout the week after the team controversially selected Michigan DE Taco Charlton in the first round.
All reports out of the Cowboys’ war room were that Charlton was effectively a “Jason Garrett pick”. Will McClay may very well feel that there are too many voices to entertain with the Cowboys currently, as he’s looked to merge the scouting connection between personnel staff, coaches, and scouts.
McClay has also been nearly universally loved by fans in Cowboys Nation that understand the eye for talent he’s brought to a Cowboys team that still takes plenty of risks in their roster build – doing so with increased odds at hitting on any given signing or draft pick thanks to this Senior Player Personnel Director.
An opportunity to step away from a power struggle and run his own team as their GM could always entice Will McClay though, who will only become an increasingly popular candidate should the Cowboys continue to play well through December and make a push towards the playoffs.
The Cowboys’ roster remains in somewhat of a transitional state as they patiently develop and add young talent. The man mostly responsible for seeing the Cowboys reach this stability point may be pulled away from Dallas very soon.
Lol is this a joke he’s not the problem everyone sees that,its our coaches we need plays so that the other teams don’t know every game we play and Jason needs to make adjustment when we’re in a bone or gets some real coaches JERRY AND LEAVE THE TEAM TO HIM .
I almost went off on this article till i seen your post. Sean should be ashamed of his self for this article. Sean’s inexperience and youth as a fan/writer shows in a lot of his articles. When has Will Mcclay sign checks, called plays, or made in game adjustments??? Insidethestar needs to start thinking about removing sean from this website he’s terrible, Im sorry
Hello, Travis. Thank you for expressing your concerns. I would like to clarify that at no point have I ever falsely said that Will McClay does any of the things you suggest here. Not in this article, any previous article, or social media platform. For those reasons I don’t believe that posting relevant news reported by one of the most credible in the business (Rap) is grounds for me to stop writing here. I am sorry you feel that way.
Sean don’t worry about that man. If the dude doesn’t like what you put up or write then he doesn’t need to read or make a comment. Just being a dick making a comment that he really didn’t need to even make. I think your article was just fine
Thank you Michael
When is ANYONE who writes articles about the Cowboys going to just say it out loud. They need a REAL HC. Not a guy who pretends to be one…. The numbers don’t lie…..the man is clueless. He cannot develop players…..he’s just wasting a talented team. He wasted the 1st one he got……this is the second one and it will be all for nothing until the owner you know the guy pretending to be a GM hires a real coach, lets him hire his own staff and stays OUT OF THE WAY. It literally blows my mind that ANYONE other then the ones that are responsible continue to get blamed …. So if McClay leaves? As long as nothing changes they find another excuse and get rid of yet another person that has really no say…… then the homers get all excited and shout out “OH NOW we’re going to the SB”……but alas it’s not to be. Not with this coaching staff.
Wouldn’t insufficient coaching be all the more reason to worry about losing a top personnel guy in McClay – giving these “clueless” coaches even less talent to coach?
Jerry Jones had success (i.e. superbowl wins) being the GM many, many years ago. However that, as we are all painfully aware, was with a strong HC in Jimmy Johnson. Let’s face it, Dallas’ last superbowl was won with the team Jimmy helped build. JJ hasn’t had a strong HC since Jimmy and he’ll never hire one because Jerry won’t give up enough control of the team to inspire a strong & talented HC to come in and take charge. I consider that to be the issue with what’s wrong with this team. JJ is a smart business man. But as, far as I’m concerned, he was better at digging oil wells than he is at managing a football team. When JJ brought Wade in, he already had Garrett situated as the assistant HC and he even paid Garrett more than he did Wade. In fact, Garrett was the highest paid assistant HC in the league. What other teams have done this and how many other coaches in the NFL would even tolerate this? This is just a glimpse of the type of character any prospective HC would have to have just to coexist with JJ. As for Will McClay, I think it is just a short matter of time before another team comes along and offers him a tempting enough deal that he just couldn’t refuse it. I think a large part of the reason as to why he decided to stay in Dallas just this past year is because he has a young child and he didn’t want to uproot her from everyone she knows. However, it’s been 22 years now since Dallas has last appeared in a superbowl and the clock is ticking. There’s no doubt that Will is hungry to put together a superbowl winning team. I don’t see any reason as to why he should limit himself to just trying to do it in Dallas. Another superbowl appearance may not happen again in Dallas under JJ’s regime.
If I was JJ I’d pay Will what a GM gets paid. These last 2 drafts are a direct result of his hard work and insight. The 2016 draft was exceptional, but I think Will made his bones last season with the 2017 draft. We started at #28 instead of #4. I hope we hold onto him by making it impossible for him to want to go anywhere else.
From what I’m hearing, McClay is being paid almost as much as a GM now. It’s just not widely known in the public and Will doesn’t volunteer that information, but J.J. will be happy to keep spending $$$ on McClay to try and keep him here.
The question is how much control does McClay want versus responsibility in other areas that he might not want to deal with. Stephen Jones handles all the contracts and the cap management. Will might not want to have to deal with that. In addition, J.J. is the face and allows McClay to keep doing what he enjoys without the glare of the public spotlight.
Spot on, Kevin. Well said. This is all correct
Yep give that guy the war room him, Stephen and the scouts the rest clear out make the title official GM. Stay out of the room Garrett and Jerry!