AP

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett would love to keep Kris Richard next season.

There’s probably even a chance Richard could become the team’s defensive coordinator considering Rod Marinelli turns 70 this summer.

But Richard could become a head coach before then.

The Jets and Dolphins want to interview Richard for their vacant head coaching jobs, though, with the Cowboys playing in the wild-card round, that can’t happen until next week.

Garrett endorsed Richard as a head coaching candidate.

“He’s done a fantastic job,” Garrett said Wednesday. “Just a really, really good football coach. One of the things that we try to do, very thoughtful about, is bring a coach in on the defensive side who kind of fit with the DNA of our defense, so he and Rod and our defensive staff, they really complement each other really well. I think they believe in the same things, have the same values of what they want our defense to be. I think that’s meshed really well for us. Then, he’s brought other things – some of nuances and the details that he’s brought that maybe are different than what we’ve brought in the past have been positive additions. He’s a great teacher. He’s got great enthusiasm. Very knowledgeable. Very detailed.”