Jason Garrett won't be leaving the NFC East any time soon. According to a number of reports, the Dallas Cowboys coach officially received a five-year contract extension worth $30 million. That's $6 million per year, which is a $1 million raise from the $5 million Garrett earned on the last year of his contract in 2014.
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The Cowboys are 41-31 since Garrett took over as head coach halfway through the 2010 season. Dallas went 8-8 three straight years before finally getting over the hump in 2014 with a 12-4 record. The Cowboys even won a playoff game, in controversial fashion, before losing in the Divisional Round, also in controversial fashion.
Chip Kelly's Eagles are 2-2 all time against the Garrett-led Cowboys. The Eagles beat the Cowboys in Dallas to win the NFC East crown in 2013. The Cowboys defeated the Eagles in Week 15 of the 2014 regular season to put a big damper on Philadelphia's playoff chances.
There's no doubt Dallas finished the 2014 season better than most expected. But how much success they have beyond last year remains to be seen. A lot of changes could be coming. DeMarco Murray and Dez Bryant are due money. Murray is coming off a HUGE workload and it will be interesting to see if he can be effective in 2015. Along with the Dallas offensive line, Murray was so crucial to the Cowboys success in 2014 that it remains to be seen how they would fare without him. Dallas has the 11th least cap space heading into the offseason so they'll be working with a relatively tight budget.
Garrett's $6 million per year is slightly less than the annual value of Eagles coach Chip Kelly, who makes $6.5 million. But whereas Kelly is mostly responsible for Philadelphia's success (and failures), it's hard to know how much credit Garrett really deserves. The Dallas Cowboys have a head coach who used to call plays (Garrett), an offense coordinator who called them in 2013 (Bill Callahan), and a separate offensive play-caller, former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, as a passing game coordinator.
In other news, the Cowboys are also expected to keep defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli.