So, it turns out that Emmitt Smith has a lot to say about the state of the Cowboys, especially after a horribly disappointing postseason in which the team locked up the No. 2 seed and a first-round home playoff game, only to go out and get thwacked by the No. 7-seed Green Bay Packers. Smith was not happy, and described himself as “surprised” that there was no change in the Cowboys coach in an eye-opening conversation with Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio and Chris Simms.

Smith was asked what he thought the Cowboys were going to do in the wake of the Packers loss, and axing Mike McCarthy was almost assumed. “Initially, I thought it would be Sean Payton. But at this point, I don’t know. I really don’t know,” he said.

But then he did turn his sights on one guy whose message he thought the Cowboys could use—former Cowboys tight end and current Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell.

That, Smith said, was a move he could get behind: “Outside of going out and stealing Dan Campbell from the Detroit Lions—because I think his message is the right message, that a lot of people are missing and a lot of kids are missing. Think about what he’s saying and how he’s doing it.”

Major Trade Needed to Get Dan Campbell to Be Cowboys Coach

Smith did acknowledge that Campbell certainly is not perfect himself. His Lions did, of course, just blow a 17-point lead in the NFC Championship game with a dramatic loss to San Francisco, one that included two controversial decisions to go for it on fourth down, conversions the Lions failed to make.

“Now, he’s making some mistakes, don’t get me wrong, going for it and all of that. … The other things, I can deal with some other things because I know the message is the right message and he’s gonna learn from what he just went through,” Smith said.

It should also be acknowledged that “stealing” Campbell is a great idea in theory, but would be incredibly difficult to pull off. Campbell signed a six-year contract in 2021 and would have to both want to leave the Lions and get Detroit to agree to the transaction in order to get himself to Dallas.

It would cost the Cowboys a huge draft haul, too, given the remaining length of Campbell’s deal and his current perch as one of the best coaches in the NFL. Remember, in 2002, in the biggest coach trade in NFL history, the Buccaneers sent two first-round picks and two second-rounders, plus $8 million, to the Raiders for Jon Gruden. Campbell would likely be even costlier.

Emmitt Smith Sees Lack of Fight in Cowboys

But Smith sees a certain lack of fight in the current crop of Cowboys, and that’s why he would back a move for Campbell, whose ability to inspire is one of his top qualities.

“Nobody wants to fight no more,” Emmitt said. “No one wants to fight hard anymore. They wanna [say], ‘Oh, we are the Cowboys. Tell me how good I am. Check out my Instagram posts. See me on my podcast? I’m doing all this stuff. I’m everything.’ Without doing anything.

“And everybody’s patting them on the back without doing anything. People wanna give them so much without doing nothing. And what they’re living off of is what happened in the past, not what’s going down right now. They’re not establishing their own legacy, let alone building off of the legacy that was established.”

Smith said his knowledge of the legacy of the Cowboys inspired him as a young player, and is something missing in the current group:

“When I got to the Cowboys, I knew one thing. I knew I could not disappoint Tony Dorsett as a running back. And I knew I could not disappoint Robert Newhouse as a running back. Or Calvin Hill. Or let alone ‘Bullet’ Bob Hayes. Then, I knew I could not disappoint Captain Comeback, Roger Staubach. Ed ‘Too Tall’ Jones. I embraced the history of who we were because I loved them as a Cowboy when I was a kid myself.”