NFL analyst sounds off after Cowboys drop Deion Sanders' plan in favor of Brian Schottenheimer: "It was all nonsense"

After Mike McCarthy's surprise exit, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones heavily courted Hall of Famer Deion Sanders to fill the franchise's head coaching vacancy. Unlike other teams, the Cowboys did not field any interview requests and were seemingly all-in trying to land the Colorado Buffaloes head coach.

However, on Thursday, reports emerged that the franchise had moved on and wasn't looking to hire Sanders. While the Cowboys' sudden pivot caught many analysts off-guard, Nick Wright claimed that the team's interest in the Buffaloes' head coach was a smokescreen and that Jones wasn't seriously planning on hiring him as the head coach.

On Fox Sports' First Take First, he said:

"I'm not saying it's bad. I'm just saying, more importantly, I told you so. What I said was, it would not be Deion Sanders. Us and every show took the bait and did Deion and the Cowboys,tbut it was none.

"And I resent the reporting about the Deion thing, because the reporting was, Deion would take the job. People around Jerry want him to do it. Jerry's enamored with giving him the job."

Wright claimed the Cowboys owner successfully goaded the media into believing that he wanted Sanders to take over while he secretly worked on finding a real candidate:

"Well, those that reporting means Deion's gonna be that coach. Instead, they never interviewed. It never even got close to happening. It was all nonsense... And Jerry Jones is incredibly thrifty when it comes to his head coaches, which is why Deion was always fake news."

Cowboys HC search: Brian Schottenheimer, not Deion Sanders, the frontrunner for the job

On Thursday, NFL insider Clarence Hill Jr. reported that the Cowboys had decided to promote offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and make him the franchise's new head coach.

The 51-year-old joined the franchise as a coaching analyst in 2022 before being handed the reins of the offense a year later. In his first year as the offensive coordinator, the Cowboys' scoring average jumped from 26.8 to a league-best 30.1.

In Schottenheimer's second season leading the offense, the unit took a massive step back, averaging only 20.6 points per game. However, the Cowboys' top brass are seemingly pinning the regression on quarterback Dak Prescott missing nine games, and the slew of injuries to key players on offense.

Schottenheimer has been a coach for 28 years and has worked for nine NFL franchises and three college football teams. The Cowboys are the first team to entrust him with the head coach gig and it remains whether he repays the trust or showcases why he has never been handed over the keys to the castle in his near-three-decade-long career.