Brian Schottenheimer has found his right hand man in Klayton Adams
The Dallas Cowboys have landed their final coordinator of Brian Schottenheimer’s inaugural coaching staff, adding Cardinals offensive line coach Klayton Adams as offensive coordinator. Schottenheimer will call plays on offense, but Adams will serve in a vital support role for the new head coach.
Prior to Adams’ hiring, Stephen Jones offered these comments during the Senior Bowl on what the team was looking for in an offensive coordinator for Schottenheimer:
“I think most of these guys always want to check the run game box,” Jones said. “Most of these guys are very, if you will, fluent when it comes to throwing the ball around the yard. But you always want a great offensive line coach, a great running game coordinator. And of course, the key this day and time is to marry that run game to the pass game.”
“We want to be able to run the ball,” Jones said. “Everybody says that we want to run the ball and we want to stop the run, and certainly that’s what we want to do. That’s what great championship football teams do, and I know coach Schottenheimer wants to do that. I think it’s real important that we find in this hire a coach that’s going to be outstanding in the run game area.”
That description fits Adams to a tee. In just his second season coaching the offensive line for the Cardinals, Adams helped Arizona finish eighth in EPA/rush and ninth in rushing DVOA. As a team, the Cardinals averaged 5.3 yards per carry, outdone only by the Ravens this year.
Adams’ coaching background has exposed him to a variety of different offensive schemes. It began in his playing days, when the California native committed to Boise State, back when Dan Hawkins was the head coach and Chris Petersen – soon to be the face of the program – was coordinating the offense. There, Adams was exposed to a variety of different run schemes due to the multiple nature of the Boise State offense that Kellen Moore later drew on to jumpstart his own coaching career.
After graduating, Adams started coaching as a graduate assistant at his alma mater. He moved on to various stints at FCS programs before coaching tight ends at San Jose State. When his head coach, Mike MacIntyre, took the head job at Colorado, Adams followed. Over six seasons in Boulder, Adams worked with running backs, tight ends, and the offensive line. He also added co-offensive coordinator duties to his plate in his final season with the Buffaloes.
MacIntyre was fired following that 2018 season, which led to Adams jumping to the NFL. He was hired as the assistant offensive line coach for the Colts, reuniting him with his former position coach at Boise State, Chris Strausser. There, Adams was part of an offensive staff led by head coach Frank Reich, who called the offensive plays. Adams’ first season saw two offensive linemen earn Pro Bowl nods for the first time.
After two seasons assisting Strausser with the offensive line, Adams opted to return to college to coach the offensive line at Arizona State under Herm Edwards. However, the Colts lost their tight ends coach to the Eagles just a few days later and enticed Adams to return for the tight ends job, which he accepted.
After two seasons coaching the tight ends, which ended with Reich being fired midway through the year, Adams left for the offensive line job with the Cardinals. There, he took a prominent role under offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, a longtime disciple of Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski.
Between Petzing and Adams, the Cardinals have built an offense that, in many ways, mirrors the offense that Stefanski runs in Cleveland. There are strong influences of the Shanahan type offense that Stefanski majored in with the Vikings, but with a more varied blocking scheme in the run game.
For example, the Cardinals have been one of the top gap-blocking teams in the league these past two years, using at least one pulling offensive lineman on just under two thirds of their run plays this past year. In 2024, they found great success running counter, finishing second in the NFL in counter run plays but showing a wide variation of formations they ran it from.
The Cardinals didn’t just have a strong running game, though. They excelled in pass protection too: their 28.0% pressure rate was the sixth-best in the league, ranking one spot ahead of the Cowboys, despite losing both starting tackles to injured reserve and playing with a quarterback in Kyler Murray whose frequent scrambling ability often makes it harder on the offensive line to hold up.
Part of this was accomplished through an insanely high play-action rate, something Schottenheimer has already mentioned as a priority for his offense. Only three other quarterbacks had a higher play-action rate than Murray this year, and only four quarterbacks threw for more yards off play-action.
One other point to consider with Adams’ hiring: the tight end position. Outside of the offensive line, Adams has spent the most time in his career working with the tight end position, and Trey McBride became a focal point for the Cardinals this year. He finished one catch behind rookie sensation Brock Bowers for most receptions in the league, and McBride’s 1,146 yards, 526 yards after the catch, and 2.14 yards per route run all ranked second in the league as well. That background could potentially be impactful for Jake Ferguson, who’s coming off a bit of a down year and enters the final season of his rookie contract.
All in all, Adams brings some exciting experience with creative and highly efficient run schemes, something that had already been mentioned as a priority for Schottenheimer’s offensive coordinator. On top of it all, Adams has often been praised for his charisma and ability to relate to players, making him a perfect stylistic match for his new head coach.
