Micah Parsons breaks silence on Cowboys firing Mike McCarthy

A day after the Dallas Cowboys fired Mike McCarthy as their head coach, reactions kept coming. This time, one of the defensive cornerstones of the franchise, Micah Parsons, shared his thoughts on the decision after a 7-10 record in the 2024 NFL season.

On Tuesday's edition of his The Edge Podcast, Parsons labeled the McCarthy news as "devastating," as transcribed by reporter Jon Machota.

“He’s always been good to us. Losing a great coach like Mike hurts. It’s gonna be a very interesting offseason. It’s gonna be a complete reset. I trust that we’re gonna make the right decisions.

“… As one of the leaders of this team, I’m gonna be looking forward to accepting all challenges and embrace whatever comes to help lead my team to a championship. We gotta move on. We can’t think about the past."

He added:

“… There are no setbacks. Some of the greatest players learn to adjust. … At the end of the day, coaches can only do so much. Us as players, we got to build a winning culture. I said we’re gonna hold the (Super Bowl) trophy because I believe in our guys.”

After joining the Cowboys ahead of the 2020 NFL season, Mike McCarthy posted three winning seasons, securing the NFC East title in 2021 and 2023 while finishing second in 2022. His first season finished with six wins and 10 losses, similar to the 7-10 the Cowboys boasted this campaign.

The process of finding a new head coach started and several high-profile names have been mentioned as options for the Cowboys. Among those potential candidates, Deion Sanders and Jason Witten have gotten a lot of buzz in recent hours.

Dak Prescott reacts to Mike McCarthy getting fired by Cowboys

Dak Prescott reacted to the news, as well, saying he felt "bummed" to see McCarthy leave like that.

“Bummed, because we built some things,” Prescott said, per reporter Clarence Hill. “But I guess they couldn’t reach an agreement. SMH.”

Meanwhile, Mike McCarthy is already testing the waters of free agency and will interview with the Chicago Bears on Wednesday. The Cowboys dealt with several injuries this season, including Prescott's season-ending hamstring issue.

Even so, they regressed this year. Dan Quinn's departure to the Washington Commanders hurt the defense, as they were nothing like the squad that stopped opponents in 2023.