Former NFL MVP believes Jerry Jones' Cowboys will tank for top 2026 NFL Draft prospect and 292-win CFB legend

A lot has been said about the Dallas Cowboys choosing to promote offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to head coach. As a result, there will be more than a few first-time head coaches in the league in 2025 including Schottenheimer, Bears HC Ben Johnson, Jets HC Aaron Glenn and Jaguars HC Liam Coen.

While the other first-time hires were met with some approval among fans, Schottenheimer's hire was seen as Jerry Jones elevating a yes-man to the job in order to ensure he has his say in the grand scheme of things. One man who believes the Cowboys are going a step beyond is former NFL MVP Cam Newton, who suggested Jones hired Schottenheimer with the sole objective of tanking in the 2025 NFL season.

“I think they’re tanking for Arch. Make it make sense. Coach Schottenheimer has one-and-done written all over him,” Newton said on ESPN's First Take.

"Why do you want one and done? You get the first pick of the draft. Not only that, I’m going to go back into my Godfather bag and say, Ok, Jerry Jones is a business man, and he’s going to get into his Don Corleone mentality and he’s going to give him a deal he can’t refuse."

Newton then suggested Jones could pony up a massive offer to bring former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban out of retirement to bring Dallas back into contention.

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Cowboys legend continues to bang the drum for Deion Sanders

Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin strongly backed Deion Sanders to be the next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. But when Jones decided to promote Schottenheimer, Irvin made it clear he wasn't a fan of the move:

“This third backend of the Cowboys fan club has never really had that championship story. If we’re going to pass down the great history of this franchise to keep it alive, you gotta have connectivity. You’re not giving this generation anything to connect to. Deion, win, lose or draw, he’s connected with this generation," Irvin said on FS1's Speak.

“Sears used to own everything but they wouldn’t take all of the items out of that little book and put it on the internet. You could’ve been Amazon before Amazon but you were too damn rigid to move and now you’re gone. Blockbuster was the same way. Could’ve beat Netflix to Netflix. Right here the Cowboys stayed rigid and rigid is not good."

Irvin also noted that since Schottenheimer didn't have the experience and didn't coach plays with the Cowboys offense last year, hiring Sanders would have brought the team back into relevance.