National Football League

Stephen Jones: Cowboys DC Rod Marinelli wants to return

Published Jan. 12, 2015 5:33 p.m. ET

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Within hours after the Green Bay Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 26-21 in Sunday's NFC Divisional Playoffs, reports surfaced that Cowboys defensive coordinator was expected to become the defensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2015.

Cowboys Executive Vice President Stephen Jones went on "The G-Bag Nation" on Dallas-Fort Worth 105.3 The Fan [KRLD-FM] and doubted the veracity of the reports.

"I can't imagine a report like that is accurate when I think everybody understands that would be tampering," Jones said. "If anybody is, I'm sure they're quiet about it."

Rod Marinelli, like most of the coaching staff, is on a contract that expires at the end of the 2014 season. The Cowboys have three days to negotiate with Marinelli exclusively before the 65-year-old defensive coordinator can negotiate with other clubs. A team speaking with Marinelli during that three-day window of exclusivity would be tampering, according to Jones.

The Cowboys front office believes Marinelli will stay.

"We fully expect for him to come back," said Jones. "It would certainly be disappointing if that didn't happen. But we're going to go to work and try to extend his contract or get him a new contract so that he'll be a Dallas Cowboy.

"At the end of the day, we're really going to put forth a lot of effort here. It's our top priority is to keep our coaching staff together."

Should Marinelli move on to Tampa Bay, the Cowboys would be on their sixth defensive coordinator in just seven seasons.

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