Mike Zimmer Is Not Going To Dallas (Or Anywhere Else) Until 2021

Mike Zimmer is under contract with the Vikings under 2021. He is the last person in the history of this game that would break a contract he has signed, and the owners of the Vikings are the last family that would “trade” a coach that has their team in the playoffs.

Rumors have circulated around ‘Black Monday’ (the day after the NFL regular season that often brings the dismissal of several head coaches in the league) that Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys are interested in Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer.

What that means to some knuckleheads is that Zimmer could somehow be sent to the Cowboys for a package of players or draft picks or a combination of the two.

But please don’t believe the hype, no matter how unsubstantial it is or how silly it may sound. There is no reported basis for such rumors except ‘Black Monday’ itself.

Moving The Head Man

Yes, coaches have been traded before. The three most famous cases involve Bill Belichick, Bill Parcells, and Jon Gruden. Those grand transactions involved some really hotheads (including then Raiders’ owner Al Davis) and some big deals coming out of New York and New England.

This potential plan would involve another headline-maker in Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones, a man who has had his hand in big deals, including the blockbuster that sent running back Hershel Walker to Minnesota in 1989 for a bevy of players and picks that built the Dallas Super Bowl run from 1992-1995.

You see, that’s just one of the reasons a deal like this would never be considered by the Wilf family. If they were the proprietors of a pro football team that allowed lightning to strike twice on the same ground…

Well, let’s just say that Zygi and Marc Wilf are not that type of fellows.

Instead, they are very prudent and successful New York and New Jersey real estate developers who look closely at each deal they make. They delegate responsibility for their football team (and football stadium) where it is appropriate and they let professionals do their job.

That means such a tremendous arrangement would have to be carried out by the Vikings’ general manager, Rick Spielman. Looking back again upon the history of “trades” between Dallas and Minnesota, he would also decline a meeting from the folks in Texas about the Vikings’ head coach.

Tuna Talk

Another reason the Wilfs’ would not let Zimmer go is Bill Parcells himself. He knows both Mike Zimmer and Jerry Jones well. Even though Jones left Parcells alone to do his business when he was coach of the Cowboys (2003-2006) it hardly means that he and his son Stephen wouldn’t be stepping into the coaching kitchen with Zimmer as they have with Jason Garrett for going on a decade.

As they have since Parcells himself left in 2006.

Parcells was the driving force in the Wilfs’ hiring of Zimmer, and he would be a strong proponent of letting him go–if he was asked.

In addition, Zimmer himself knows Jerry Jones. Is it some kind of a coincidence that Zimmer left his defensive coordinator position in Dallas at the same time Parcless called it quits?

No.

Coaching, Community And Continuity

Nobody takes the time to promote the history of the Minnesota Vikings more than Mike Zimmer. He not only is part of the ‘Mike Zimmer Foundation’ that offers numerous programs in the Minnesota community, he–and the Wilf family–cultivate a culture of nostalgia and appreciation of the Minnesota Vikings’ players and teams that have made this franchise a remarkable success.

Let’s not forget that without Zimmer and the exponential rise in this football team from 2014 on brought about a local groundswell that built a thing we now call US Bank Stadium.

Mike Zimmer is staying in Minnesota until 2021, when, as he has said in jest, he becomes “free agent.” At that time, who knows what happens to a coach like him?

For now, we do know. He prepares his team to beat the New Orleans Saints on January 5, 2020.