Schottenheimer and Eberflus to fight the same enemy: 3 biggest questions surrounding brand new Dallas Cowboys coaching staff
There's a new coaching staff in town for the Dallas Cowboys and fans are hoping it's good enough to overcome the obvious challenge ahead: Fight for a ticket to the playoffs in an revamped NFC East that features the two teams that battled for a Super Bowl ticket in this year's NFC Championship Game. To do […]
There's a new coaching staff in town for the Dallas Cowboys and fans are hoping it's good enough to overcome the obvious challenge ahead: Fight for a ticket to the playoffs in an revamped NFC East that features the two teams that battled for a Super Bowl ticket in this year's NFC Championship Game.
To do so, they'll have to compete with a top-heavy roster and a potentially rough free agency in which multiple quality starters could walk out the door, including DT Osa Odighizuwa, RB Rico Dowdle, and CB Jourdan Lewis.
How can they do it? It will take a lot but below are three biggest question marks Brian Schottenheimer's staff will face in the 2025 season, including a similar enemy for Schotty and defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.
How much will Brian Schottenheimer let Klayton Adams influence the run game?
On paper, Schottenheimer's staff is impressive. Instead of going for the buddy hires so typical of an NFL coach that's been in the league for a long time, the new Cowboys head coach drew in people from various schemes and philosophies.
He got Klayton Adams as offensive coordinator, who ran a night and day rushing offense in Arizona that used counter and pulling blockers at the highest rate of the league. He hired Derrick Foster as RB coach from a New Orleans Saints offense majoring in the wide zone scheme. For the offensive line and wide receiver coaching positions, he went into the college football world to make his hires.
On paper, it's a great collection of coaches. Now for the most difficult part: Schottenheimer will have to ensure he works his ideas into the offense and subsequent play calling. In particular, Schottenheimer needs to allow Adams to influence the run game to keep it from becoming stale. He'll have to defeat the stubbornness every coach has inside him to do so.
Can Matt Eberflus adapt and will he?
Eberflus has been near the bottom of the league in blitz rate since he became the Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator in 2018. Though he raised the bar when he became the head coach of the Chicago Bears, he still ranked low. In Dallas, he should buck that trend and flip the script.
Other than superstar Micah Parsons, there's no proven pass rusher under contract for the 2025 NFL season. Re-signing Osa Odighizuwa would go a long way but even if it happens the Cowboys would benefit tremendously from blitzing. Dan Quinn and Mike Zimmer alike creatively used pressure designs to free Parsons in one-on-one matchups.
Similarly to Schottenheimer, Eberflus will have to fight his own style and evolve, beating stubbornness from keeping him to adapt to his roster.
Can the Cowboys OL be better without better talent?
The Cowboys have remained spenders when it comes to building their offensive line. Tyler Guyton and Tyler Smith are both first-round draft picks and Cooper Beebe was a Top 75 pick as well. For better or worse, they signed Terence Steele to a contract extension and did so early on. Though adding OL is an option for Dallas, there is enough talent to be better. It starts with better coaching.
Adams and Conor Riley, the new OL coach coming in from Kansas State, will be responsible for that. Can the Cowboys improve without changing the lineup? That will be one of the most important measures of success for this staff.