Many were shocked when the Dallas Cowboys announced they had parted ways with former head coach Mike McCarthy on Monday.

The two sides were reportedly engaged in talks about a contract extension after McCarthy led the team to four wins in five games from Nov. 24 to Dec. 22 – all without star quarterback Dak Prescott, who had been sidelined with a season-ending hamstring injury since Week 9.

But somewhere in between the team’s Jan. 5 season finale and Monday, things fell apart and McCarthy decided to walk and take his chances in landing one of the five other head-coaching vacancies in the NFL.

But now fans have a little more context about what transpired between McCarthy and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones thanks to a report from NFL Network’s Jane Slater, and it involves a former Cowboys great.

“It’s my understanding that Jerry has talked to Jason (Witten) in recent weeks and I do believe that he was part of a plan that Jerry initially had when he was going to bring back Mike McCarthy,” Slater said. “

I think the plan there was to be an heir apparent of sorts.

Mike McCarthy sort of surprised him by deciding he wanted to end these conversations, pursue something else. …

Now we’ll see if Jason Witten will still be in play here.” Witten has been linked to the Cowboys for some time, and some believe he’s a dark-horse candidate to replace McCarthy as head coach next season.

Jones even touted Witten as a potential future NFL head coach in the mold of Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell back in November. ”

Yes, without hesitation, yes,” Jones said when asked if Witten is ready to be an NFL head coach. “He has something that you can’t draw up.

He reminds me a lot of our other tight end who is head coach up there in Detroit right now. “… Jason is very sophisticated when it comes to understanding football and all the nuances.

But more important than anything, he really does understand the physical and the mentality of being physical and that part of it. Without a question, he could become [an NFL coach].

He has extraordinary work ethic. …

He can be a top coach.” It’s not known if Jones plans to interview Witten for the head-coaching vacancy.

The Cowboys do, however, plan to interview former New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh, and they’ve also been linked to Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders.