Cowboys news: Jerry Jones has reached out to Pete Carroll about head coach opening

The latest buzz around the Dallas Cowboys.

Jerry Jones has reached out to Pete Carroll about Cowboys’ head coach opening – SportsDay Staff, Dallas Morning News

While the Cowboys’ head coaching search seems to have a frontrunner in Brian Schottenheimer, a new possible candidate emerges.

A person with knowledge of the Cowboys coaching search told The Dallas Morning News’ Calvin Watkins that Jerry Jones has had a conversation with the former Super Bowl champion about the organization’s opening, but have not set up anything formal about a potential job interview.

Carroll has officially interviewed with the Chicago Bears and Las Vegas Raiders about their head coach openings in recent weeks.

The 73-year-old Carroll is looking to return to the sideline after moving into an advisory role with the Seahawks at the end of last season. He led Seattle to its lone Super Bowl championship during a 14-year run that included 10 trips to the playoffs. He also won a national championship at USC, making him one of three coaches to win the top NFL and college prizes along with former Cowboys coaches Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer.

Carroll had a 137-69-1 record in the regular season with the Seahawks, leading them to five NFC West titles and 10 playoff victories.

Alongside his defensive coordinator at the time Dan Quinn, Carroll became the first coach to bring the Lombardi Trophy to Seattle with the Seahawks’ Super Bowl 48 victory over Denver. The Seahawks got back to the Super Bowl the following year, but Russell Wilson threw a goal-line interception in the final seconds of a loss to New England.

Cowboys head coach interviewee Robert Saleh is returning to the 49ers.

Trevon Diggs has surgery on his left knee – Nick Eatman, DallasCowboys.com

CB Trevon Diggs has surgery to repair his left knee after missing the latter part of the season. The timetable for return may extend into training camp.

Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs, who missed the last six games of the season with a knee injury, had surgery on Thursday.

Diggs battled through the injury during the mid-to-late part of the season and eventually went to IR.

The surgery, which is called a chondral tissue graft procedure requires considerable time from the initial injury.

Still, the Cowboys are hopeful Diggs can return next season at some point, even if he’s not ready to start practicing at the beginning of training camp.

Diggs, a two-time Pro Bowler, played in 11 games this past season, recording two interceptions. Diggs missed most of the 2023 season with an ACL injury, also on his left knee.

Brian Schottenheimer’s HC potential gets strong endorsement amid Cowboys buzz – Koby Skillern, Sports Illustrated

Michael Lombardi and Pat McAfee had high praise for the potential new head coach for the Dallas Cowboys.

Fans had hoped for a more high-profile, dynamic hire—someone with head coaching experience to help turn the team’s fortunes around.

However, not everyone shares the same skepticism. On The Pat McAfee Show, UNC general manager Michael Lombardi expressed his belief that Schottenheimer is ”more ready to be a head coach now than he ever was” and that he is ”rooting for Brian to carry on his father’s legacy.”

Lombardi went on to say that Schottenheimer would be a ”great hire” and a ”great leader” for the Cowboys. These comments offer a fresh perspective, countering the doubts from fans and analysts alike.

Pat McAfee also chimed in, adding, ”We had Schotty in Indy, I loved him.” McAfee’s endorsement carries weight, considering his firsthand experience with Schottenheimer during his time with the Indianapolis Colts.

What’s Next? Cowboys’ LB unit has tough road due to DeMarvion Overshown injury, Eric Kendricks’ free agency – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com

What will the Cowboys LB room look like in 2025?

Kendricks helped Zimmer save the day by swerving from his agreement to join the San Francisco 49ers and instead sign on with the Cowboys — the most important free agent signing last spring.

Liufau being added in the draft was first met with a “why?” from those outside of the building, seeing as Overshown was slated to make his debut, but it all made sense before it was all said-and-done, as Overshown’s injury thrust Liufau to the forefront to become Robin to Kendricks’ Batman and, at times, looking like Batman himself.

Nick Vigil, another Zimmer addition, became a special teams’ ace and, on the whole, the linebackers’ corps took huge strides forward in 2024 (mostly). But that was then, and this is now, and now there are new problems.

Damone Clark is entering Year 4 and he’d like to take Year 3 out back and burn it, his season under Zimmer devolving into a string of healthy scratches that led to his worst season as a professional, cascading from 17 starts and 109 tackles in 2023 to only two starts and 28 tackles in 2024.

That makes you wonder if he and the Cowboys will remain together for the year to come or if the former fifth-round pick will seek and be granted a fresh start elsewhere.

Future: Overshown suffered a torn ACL to his other knee that not only ended his outstanding debut season, but all but guarantees he misses the start of the next one, and likely a chunk of the entire 2025 campaign. What that means is Liufau not only serves as the saving grace, but also that he might need help due to Kendricks heading to free agency.

There will also be depth issues that could come to the surface due to free agency, seeing as both Vigil and practice squad linebacker Darius Harris are also on expiring contracts and, again, it’s unknown what the future holds for Clark, despite being under contract currently.

Best Rico Dowdle free agency fit isn’t the Dallas Cowboys, says ex-NFL RB – SportsDay Staff, Dallas Morning News

Cleveland might be a potential landing spot for Rico Dowdle as he tests free agency.

Maurice Jones-Drew, a two-time All-Pro while with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2010-11), recently put together a list for NFL.com of best fits for a half dozen free agent running backs this offseason — and pegged the Cleveland Browns as an ideal destination for Dowdle.

“Kudos to Dowdle for developing from an undrafted free agent in 2020 to the RB1 for the Dallas Cowboys in 2024, becoming one of just 16 players this season to top 1,000 rushing yards. That doesn’t happen without hard work and a belief in yourself,” Jones-Drew wrote.

“Dowdle won’t wow you, but he’s the type to wear defenses down. From Weeks 13 through 18, he earned 186 yards after forcing a missed tackle (second-most in the NFL in that span) and had 17 runs of at least 10 yards (tied for third-most), per Next Gen Stats. He’d be a great option in Kevin Stefanski’s offense, which needs a new bell cow back for 2025, with Nick Chubb’s contract running out. Pairing Dowdle with Jerome Ford would help get this run game back on track and elevate the offense.”

With Deuce Vaughn and Malik Davis as the only Cowboys running backs under contract for the 2025 season, the potential departure of Dowdle would put the Cowboys in a tough spot. Dallas would either need to fill out the position with its own pickups in free agency or potentially through the draft.