It is going to be fun to see what Brian Schottenheimer’s offense fully looks like.
The NFL offseason is full of sporadic reminders and little things that signal the upcoming season’s arrival, and the Dallas Cowboys have arrived at an important one this week. Minicamp is underway at The Star, and while the practices won’t differ too drastically from the team’s OTAs the week before, it is yet another first time obligation for HC Brian Schottenheimer to manage.
Following this Cowboys offseason through the lens of a first-year and first-time head coach has added renewed interest in some of these otherwise mundane offseason events, as each one is a new opportunity to learn more about the coach tasked with picking up the pieces of a very difficult season for his predecessor. The most important area to look for this improvement under Schottenheimer will be offensively, where Schotty will pick up where Mike McCarthy left off as play-caller. Schottenheimer served as offensive coordinator during both the highs and lows of McCarthy’s offense, but will go into his first season with the challenge of calling plays.
Schottenheimer is hardly the only figure that will have a say in the all-important return season for Dak Prescott. The Cowboys front office has been notably much more active in player acquisition this offseason. When it comes to supporting Prescott through better offensive line play, the team spent the 12th overall pick on Alabama guard Tyler Booker. The time to evaluate line of scrimmage players fairly will have to wait until training camp and padded practices though. Much more interesting at the current moment of minicamp is the newest wide receiver the Cowboys traded for, former Pittsburgh Steeler George Pickens.
The Pickens and CeeDee Lamb duo gives the Cowboys a pair of dynamic receivers. There are things to look for when it comes to how Schottenheimer will move the Cowboys offense forward, one of which is another thing Cowboys fans have been wanting for a long time. A more diverse scheme that puts players in advantageous matchups is one thing, but using pre-snap motion and shifts is another thing the Cowboys can do to start closing the gap between them and some of the best offenses in the NFL.
Not only has Pickens had good things to say about the shifts and motions in the new offense so far, but so too has a skill player with untapped potential on offense, return man KaVontae Turpin.
Pickens had this to say about the speed, motions, and versatility between him and Lamb through the offensive install periods so far, via the team website.
“A different scheme could allow me to do more,” he said. “It’s a good thing. … College is probably the most recent time I’ve played with a lot of guys with speed — a lot of guys this fast. … Team speed applies to the scheme, too. So if you got a lot of fast guys, you’re definitely gonna have a different scheme.”
“A lot of motions,” Pickens said of the playbook. “A lot of things that you get an indicator on what the defense is doing before you say hike. Some coaches don’t do that.”
“Getting an indicator of what the defense is doing” is certainly a breath of fresh air from the years of the Cowboys offense flipping this on its head and giving the defense an advantage instead. Lining up in the same spots, running the same route concepts out of these looks, and not creating more space for pass catchers to get the ball in the open field have all plagued the Cowboys offense at times in the Prescott era, and are things Schottenheimer can look to improve while trying to get the most out of Lamb and Pickens.
Just as the passing offense couldn’t all be on Lamb a year ago though, it can’t all be just Lamb and Pickens if the Cowboys are going to emphasize things like getting the ball out of Prescott’s hands quickly, taking advantage of his ball handling and mobility again, and creating yards after the catch for skill players. KaVontae Turpin is a player with more potential in this style of offense, capable of lining up as a slot receiver, outside target, or out of the backfield. He too had glowing things to say about the vision for Dallas’ offense in 2025 under Schottenheimer, again via the team website:
“He wants to do shifts and motions, to get the ball in playmakers’ hands in space, and to get one-one-ones,” Turpin said at the start of mandatory minicamp. “I feel like that’s good for me. One-on-one with a linebacker or a safety, I’m gonna take advantage of them.”
This part of the offseason may be all about making everything sound positive and building the hype from now until training camp that the season will be enjoyable. Of all the teams that need not just a successful, but an enjoyable season this year, the Cowboys should be among the most desperate after the amount of dysfunction and injuries they battled through to finish 7-10 last year. With that said, the Schottenheimer hire has quickly gone from one that caused a nuclear reaction in the fan base that the team was as lost at sea as ever before, to one that has led to many positive – albeit small – reasons for optimism so far.
The Cowboys front office immediately got to work bringing in new players that seem to fit precisely what Schottenheimer and his new staff want to do, one of the biggest being Pickens. The players around The Star are echoing Schotty’s emphasis on having one of the best cultures in sports, and football feels fun again for a host of new and old players looking to inject new life into a team that’s been due for it.
The trio of Lamb, Pickens, and Turpin all having positive things to say about the offense from the perspective of wide receivers, and the confirmation that more pre-snap motion and shifts are coming, should be music to Prescott’s ears. It’s hard to remember when Dallas had this storm of an unknown coach, a new play-caller, a new scheme, and new play-makers all going for them to try and sneak up on opponents a bit in 2025. They hope to come out as one of the surprise teams of the year in a division known for having a new champion each year for over two decades.
