Though it dominated the news cycle for quite some time after they split with Mike McCarthy, Deion Sanders was never actually a serious candidate for the Dallas Cowboys job.

Though Jones and Sanders spoke briefly about the job, and Sanders was at one point the betting favorite, Sanders never had an official interview. Jones confirmed on Monday that, though he and his son said they "think the world of" Sanders, he was never a serious candidate for the job.

Though Jones and Sanders spoke briefly about the job, Sanders never had an official interview. Jones confirmed on Monday that, though he and his son said they “think the world of” Sanders, he was never a serious candidate for the job.

Sanders, who spent five seasons with the Cowboys and won a Super Bowl there, just wrapped up his second season at Colorado. The Buffaloes, behind Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and his son, Shadeur, went 9-4 and reached a bowl game for the first time since 2020. It was their first winning record since the 2016 campaign, and just the third in the past two decades.

Jones, after splitting with McCarthy, opted to promote Schottenheimer to replace him late last week. The 51-year-old has spent the last 14 years as an offensive coordinator across the league, including the last two seasons with the Cowboys under McCarthy.

The search took quite some time. In fact, the Cowboys were the second-to-last team to hire a new head coach this cycle. They waited until a day before McCarthy’s contract with the team was going to expire before splitting with him, too.

Another name that was linked to the Cowboys coaching search was former tight end Jason Witten. The future Hall of Famer spent all but one of his 17 seasons in the league with the Cowboys, and he’s been the head coach at a Dallas-area high school. Jones said that he has spoken with Witten recently, but not about joining the Cowboys’ staff.

The hiring process, Jones acknowledged, has rubbed some fans the wrong way now that it’s over.

"I understand that," Jones <a data-i13n="cpos:3;pos:1" href="https://x.com/jonmachota/status/1883950672468664753"><ins>said</ins></a>. "I'm mad at me right now. But the issue is what are we gonna do about it. I'm the best man to do something about it."

Schottenheimer has already started filling out his staff. He hired former Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus as his defensive coordinator, and he's working to land an offensive coordinator. He will now be tasked with leading the Cowboys not just into the playoffs, but at least to the NFC championship game — which is somewhere they haven't been since the 1995 campaign. That's now the longest active streak in the conference.

Though that’s a lofty standard to live up to, and Jones knows that, he believes that Shottenheimer is the man for the job.

"If you don't think I can operate out of my comfort zone, you're so wrong," Jones said, via <a data-i13n="cpos:5;pos:1" href="https://x.com/JoeJHoyt/status/1883928800964272284"><ins>DLLS's Joe Hoyt</ins></a>. "This is as big a risk as you can take."