Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images The Cowboys need to get back to hitting home runs in the draft. The word “frustrating” has been used now more than ever to describe the Dallas Cowboys. Whether it has been through the Cowboys coaching search trying to replace Mike McCarthy, their lack of aggressiveness in free agency and the trade market, the way they have handled recent contract negotiations, or their performances in the playoffs, Cowboys fans are becoming quite familiar with being frustrated. One of the reasons they were as bad as they were in 2024 and their inability to get over the hump in the playoffs is because they simply have not drafted well over the last three-to-four years. NFC East rival and Super Bowl-contender, the Philadelphia Eagles, are coming off a year in which they added multiple Rookie of the Year candidates in Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell. In 2023, they added Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith. In 2022, they added Jordan Davis, Cam Jurgens, and Nakobe Dean to the fold and all those additions are key reasons they are competing for the NFC Championship this weekend. In their first year under new ownership, the Washington Commanders built a playoff contending team quickly adding Jayden Daniels, Jer’Zhan Newton, Mike Sainristil, and Brandon Coleman, all key pieces to the Commanders and their ability to reach the NFC Championship game. Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images For the Cowboys, they have struggled to add true-difference makers through the draft in recent years. Out of the 2024 draft, Cooper Beebe is the only player that played at an acceptable level. In 2023, DeMarvion Overshown is the only player drafted who has showed signs of being a true difference-maker, but after yet another devastating knee injury, the Cowboys would be wise to plan to be without Overshown for the foreseeable future. In 2022, Dallas did hit home runs with Tyler Smith and DaRon Bland, and Jake Ferguson has potential, but the rest of their 2022 draft class, who will be heading into the last year of their rookie deal in 2025, have left a lot to be desired. That more than anything is the key difference between the Eagles and the Commanders who have absolutely crushed their recent drafts, all while adding difference-makers in free agency over the last few offseasons. By now, Cowboy fans should not expect the team to make splashes in free agency, but with their inability to add multiple difference-makers in the last few drafts, it leaves them behind the eight ball in terms of roster building with the rest of their NFC rivals. Looking at it a bit deeper, the Los Angeles Rams, a team Stephen Jones has criticized on their team building strategy, has been a much better drafting team over the three-to-four year stretch we are talking about. The Rams have added Jared Verse, Braden Fiske, Kamren Kinchens, Beaux Limmer, Steve Avilla, Byron Young, Kobie Turner, Puka Nacua, Kyren Williams, and Cobie Durant, over the last three drafts, to continue to build a competitive roster after going “all-in” for their Super Bowl victory in 2021-2022. The Detroit Lions, a Super Bowl favorite over the last two years, have built their roster heavily through the draft, adding Terrion Arnold, Jahmyr Gibbs, Jack Campbell, Sam LaPorta, Brian Branch, Aidan Hutchinson, Jameson Williams, and Kerby Joseph through the last three drafts. The Cowboys playoff hopes live and die with how they do in the NFL Draft, and over the last three years they have added just four difference-makers, while their NFC rivals having much better luck building their team through the draft, while also using other resources to add talent. With uncertainty surrounding who will coach the team in 2025 and beyond, one thing is for certain, and that is for this team to get back to its winning ways they need to crush the 2025 NFL Draft. It has been quite a while since they have done so, but it is likely now-or-never for this team’s chances of making a playoff push.

Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images It may be hard to believe, but there are still NFL teams playing football this weekend. Four of them to be exact, meaning, of course, that Sunday’s games will determine who plays in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. A division rival of the Dallas Cowboys is guaranteed to be there as the Philadelphia Eagles host the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game. For the Eagles, it will be their third appearance in this game over the last eight seasons. Representing a division well-known for not having any repeat winners for more than the last two decades, the Eagles have found some consistency in a place it matters much more – the postseason. The Commanders appearance in Sunday’s early game is their first since 1991, which officially made the Cowboys drought of not appearing a win away from the Super Bowl since 1996 the longest in the conference. When the Eagles and Commanders square off for the third time this season, looking to determine a series winner after both teams defended home field in the regular season, it will be a matchup of former Cowboys coaches in Eagles OC Kellen Moore and Commanders HC Dan Quinn as well. While Dallas’ circus of a coaching search ended with internal candidate Brian Schottenheimer being hired, two of their former assistants have found the grass much greener on the other side. As if the Cowboys going 7-10 and missing the playoffs entirely after winning the division a year ago didn’t offer enough potential for their front office to finally learn some hard lessons, the cherry on top has to be the two teams finishing ahead of them still vying for the Lombardi trophy. Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images The Cowboys are well aware that a rapidly growing number of younger fans are coming to know them more for their playoff failures since 1996 and not anything close to their own history of hoisting the game’s ultimate prize. The actual nuts and bolts, football-related reasons why the Cowboys have fallen off so much feel as far away as their Super Bowl XXX win, and unfortunately adding the Commanders and Eagles reaching this point with their former coaches hasn’t seemed to help much. The Cowboys went a combined 1-3 against these teams this season, with a wacky, impossible to replicate fourth quarter win at the Commanders in Week 12. Aside from that the reasons these teams are better than the Cowboys on the field are obvious, and have been on display for the Eagles in playoff wins against the Packers and Rams so far, and likewise for the Commanders against the Buccaneers and top-seeded Lions on the road. One of the results of being faced with an early start to the offseason in Dallas was supposed to be the jolt needed to actually address the future of the team. Instead the Cowboys appear just as rudderless as they were throughout a meaningless regular season they brought upon themselves. So, with less than 48 hours until either Kellen Moore or Dan Quinn is actually handed a trophy, let’s take a closer look at the reality the Cowboys currently find themselves in. The Coaching Factor Robert Saleh. Leslie Frazier. Kellen Moore. Brian Schottenheimer. Those are the four names of the only coaches to officially interview for the Cowboys head coaching vacancy. This is the list produced by Jerry Jones’ reported “solo mission” to find his franchise’s next coach after five seasons of Mike McCarthy. No Ben Johnson, who went to the Chicago Bears. No Aaron Glenn, who is now the head coach of the New York Jets. No Mike Vrabel, who predictably returned to the New England Patriots. Even the slight intrigue of the Cowboys starting the interview process with Saleh and then adding Frazier, signaling a potential shift to a defensive mind after a decade and a half of Garrett and McCarthy specializing in offense, was quickly swept up in the momentum of another offensive hire feeling inevitable once Schottenheimer became the first candidate to reach a second interview. The very fact the Cowboys needed a new head coach after rumors and speculation they wanted McCarthy back, and it was more of the former coach’s decision to part ways than it was the front office was surprising. McCarthy has since interviewed for the now-taken Bears job as well as the still-open Saints job. If this is true, hiring Schottenheimer is the closest thing to McCarthy, his offensive coordinator for the last two seasons, and is probably also the closest thing the Cowboys can do to tell the fans they don’t see a need for real change. Schottenheimer has never had an opportunity to call plays for the Cowboys, but the bad taste left in the mouth of how the offense looked so inept and fundamentally broken under both McCarthy and Schottenheimer’s guidance in 2024 is enough to feel like retaining any significant part of the previous staff on this side of the ball is a bad idea. There is another layer to this that perhaps gets even darker. Again, if it remains true that the Cowboys were sent into scramble mode even just a little bit by McCarthy’s exit, their final interview list paints a picture of not having the easiest time in the world convincing coaches to consider the job. When the quarterback responsible for three of the five Super Bowls in the team’s history calls the job “not exactly coveted”, there is fire where this smoke blows. The Cowboys clearly had their opportunity to choose Quinn as their head coach if they wanted to over the three seasons he was McCarthy’s defensive coordinator, sticking with McCarthy and watching Quinn remain loyal. This loyalty ran out at the exact same time the magic of Quinn’s defense did as well, as a 48-32 beatdown at the hands of the Packers in the Wild Card round last year hurt Quinn’s prospects as a head coach candidate elsewhere. It took a while, but

Stephen Lew-Imagn Images Kellen Moore reportedly coveted the Cowboys job that went to Brian Schottenheimer. After about two weeks the Dallas Cowboys finally made a move at head coach on Friday night and chose to hire Brian Schottenheimer, their offensive coordinator over the last two seasons. Schottenheimer was also on staff for one year prior to that. To say that the Schottenheimer thing came out of nowhere for the Cowboys would be to put the situation quite mildly. It all began on Monday morning when he appeared as the betting favorite by one oddsmaker and by that day’s end he had been scheduled to interview formally with the team. Yes, he was the betting favorite before an interview even happened. As the week wore on Schottenheimer would gain a second interview, the only candidate to do so, and on Friday night at just about 10pm ET the news was made official. Schottenheimer was indeed the only candidate to formally interview twice, but three others did so once apiece: Kellen Moore, Robert Saleh and Leslie Frazier. This time last week it really felt like Moore might be the top choice by Cowboys brass, but obviously opinions changed. Whether opinions were impacted by Moore’s current team in the Philadelphia Eagles still being active in the playoffs and him therefore unavailable for activities that have to get underway or any other reason, there was seemingly a pivot. In the aftermath of the Schottenheimer news becoming official, there were many pieces of information reported by various insiders. Among the thoughts that ESPN’s Todd Archer offered was that Moore reportedly coveted this job. Coaches, executives and industry people I spoke to were shocked that Schottenheimer rose to the top of Jerry Jones’ list above seemingly more qualified candidates. Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, a former Cowboys player and the former OC in Dallas, was believed to covet the job and there is surprise in league circles that Dallas didn’t wait to explore that possibility more fully. There are two ways to read the report from Archer here. The first is obvious in that an assumption can be made he is saying that Moore coveted the job this cycle and wanted the job and is therefore upset that he did not get it. There is certainly logic to that idea. Another perspective though is that the belief that Moore coveted the job could have been one held by many prior to the process unfolding. Maybe everybody in question believed that Moore long coveted the job, but that he individually ultimately felt differently. There are a number of possible realities here. That the Cowboys job is or was a coveted job at any point this cycle by Kellen Moore or anyone else is an idea that another former quarterback of the team would seemingly disagree with. You will recall that on the day that Dallas and Mike McCarthy officially parted ways that Troy Aikman blasted the team’s process and specifically said that he did not believe the job to be a coveted one. He used that exact word. Troy Aikman on the Dallas Cowboys: “I thought Mike McCarthy would be the head coach, so this is a bit of a surprise for me today… It suggests that there’s not a real plan… To say that it’s a coveted job, I’m not sure I would necessarily agree with that.” ️#NFL pic.twitter.com/M6cmb1dOaO — Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 13, 2025 Maybe Moore really wanted the job and is bummed out that he did not get. Perhaps Moore thought he wanted the job and things ultimately changed for him or the team. Whatever the case the job officially belongs to Brian Schottenheimer, whether it was coveted or not at any point in recent history.

Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images Brian Schottenheimer is the new head coach of the Cowboys… and we are trying to be as optimistic as we can. After days of speculation and a general feeling of inevitable dread from the fan base, the Cowboys made it official: Brian Schottenheimer is replacing Mike McCarthy as the head coach. Needless to say this hire is not popular among fans, and there are very few people who feel good about the process that led to this decision, as well as the decision itself. That said, Schottenheimer is not entirely without his merits. The son of coaching legend Marty Schottenheimer, one of just seven coaches with 200 career wins to his name, Brian Schottenheimer has some positive attributes. If you’re looking for a moderate amount of copium after the news, here are four reasons why this is a good hire. Good relationship with Dak Prescott, offense The main selling point from the moment Schottenheimer became a public candidate for the job was his standing within the locker room. The players apparently like and respect Schottenheimer, just as they did McCarthy, and Schottenheimer especially has a strong relationship with Dak Prescott. Obviously the connection between your head coach and quarterback is important, so Prescott’s approval is a big deal. Schottenheimer has also been there for three years, with two of them playing a large role in the formation of the Texas Coast offense when McCarthy took over play-calling. Prescott’s lone full year in that scheme saw him put up the best year of his career and finish second in MVP voting. That’s nothing new for Schottenheimer, either, as we detailed earlier. He’s been the coordinator for career years from Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford, and Russell Wilson before as well. Multiple coaches around the league have described Schottenheimer as someone who gets the most out of his quarterbacks. How does Brian Schottenheimer compare to Kellen Moore as a head coaching candidate? Asked around + broke it down on today’s episode of Inside Coverage… Full conversation with @YahooSchwab & @jasonfitz : https://t.co/gVxPm944oJ : https://t.co/wLbFH4Ie93 pic.twitter.com/5DSTBJLe40 — Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) January 23, 2025 The Cowboys are, of course, contractually tied to Prescott for the foreseeable future and the quarterback will be coming off a season-ending injury to start 2025. Keeping some level of continuity for Prescott, and doing so with a coach he already knows and likes, is objectively a positive. Deep connections to build his staff Schottenheimer has been coaching for nearly three decades at this point and worked with 10 different franchises and eight different head coaches. On top of that, he has a long list of connections by way of his father, too. When it comes to building out a coaching staff, Schottenheimer will have plenty of names to call. Oftentimes the concern with rookie head coaches is just that: their rolodex of names is too limited. One reason that so many Bill Belichick disciples have failed in their own head coaching ventures is because their network of coaches is essentially limited to just one coaching tree. Even Sean McVay owes much of his early success to the arranged marriage of veteran coach Wade Phillips coming on as his defensive coordinator. That won’t be an issue for Schottenheimer. He has a long list of names to reach out to and is well-respected around league circles. Even if there are coaches he doesn’t personally know, Schottenheimer likely knows someone who can make a connection on his behalf. Familiarity with how the Cowboys operate The number one criteria for being the head coach in Dallas is being able to work with Jerry Jones. By that I mean being comfortable with an owner who also calls all the shots, but will occasionally be hands-off and delegate to others, and then also randomly decide to take control of the wheel and even publicly contradict you on the radio. Simply put, most coaches are not interested in putting up with that. It’s why Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn were never going to be serious candidates in Dallas, regardless of when the Cowboys had their opening. McCarthy didn’t fully understand what he was getting himself into when he took the job either, and after five years of those working conditions, it absolutely played a part in the coach deciding to walk away. Schottenheimer, though, is fully aware of that power dynamic now. He’s observed McCarthy the past three seasons and seen things up close and personal. Whereas any external candidates, such as Pete Carroll or Robert Saleh, would be coming in practically blind, Schottenheimer is doing so with eyes wide open. He also already has a relationship with Jones, evident in his back-to-back interviews with the owner. Outside of Kellen Moore, whose own interview apparently didn’t even last very long, Schottenheimer is the only candidate out there who would take the job knowing exactly what he’s getting into and what to expect. That alone eases the learning curve significantly. Much needed chip on his shoulder Schottenheimer is not naïve. He knows full well that he’ll be stepping into this job without a single person in the fan base believing in him. Shoot, he may not even have the owner believing in him, but rather believing he’s the easiest path towards Head Ball Coach Witten. Schottenheimer also believes in himself. Only six coaches in NFL history have won more than his father, and young Brian was right by his side to watch it all unfold. He’s also had a wide variety of experiences, both good and bad, throughout his career. He was there when the Jets, led by Eric Mangini, oscillated from 10-6 to 4-12 and back to 9-7. He was also there when Rex Ryan took the same team to consecutive AFC Championship games. He became well-versed in Pete Carroll’s aggressive coaching style while also witnessing the decline of that dynasty, largely due to poor roster management as stars got older. He got a masterclass in dysfunction during his one season

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images The latest and greatest news surrounding the Dallas Cowboys is here. Dallas Cowboys hiring Brian Schottenheimer as 10th head coach in franchise history – RJ Ochoa, Blogging The Boys The Cowboys chose Brian Schottenheimer as their new head coach. The Dallas Cowboys have a new head coach. It is Brian Schottenheimer. Schottenheimer is an NFL legacy as the son of the late Marty Schottenheimer, so he has been around the game for a long time. He has been in and around the NFL for over 20 years and has served as the offensive coordinator for several teams, including the Cowboys over the last two years, but this is his first opportunity to be a head coach. While Schottenheimer did serve as OC for the last two seasons he did not call plays, head coach Mike McCarthy did. Clearly the front office is interested to see what he can do. Cowboys to hire coordinator Brian Schottenheimer as head coach – Todd Archer, ESPN Can Schottenheimer can get the offense back on track, the way Archer suggests he did in 2023, when the Cowboys abandoned McCarthy’s caveman offense and came out with a high-octane offense after the bye? Schottenheimer has been an offensive coordinator with the St. Louis Rams, Jets and Seahawks. He served as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ passing game coordinator in 2021 before coming to Dallas. In 12 years as a playcaller, Schottenheimer had four offenses finish in the top 10 in points per game and three times in the top half in the league in yards per game. His best three years came with the Seahawks when they finished sixth, ninth and eighth in points per game with Russell Wilson at quarterback. Though he did not call plays under McCarthy, Schottenheimer had a large role in the offense. Team sources say he helped jump-start the offense in 2023 after a slow start. The Cowboys, who scored 30 or more points in seven of their final 11 games, finished with the highest-scoring offense in the league (29.9 points per game) and were fifth in yards (371.6) that season. Matt Eberflus is the favorite to become Cowboys defensive coordinator – David Moore, DMN Late last night, Moore called Eberflus the prohibitive favorite to land the job, and a little later, Ed Werder jumped the gun by confirming the hire, only to then quickly issue a correction. Matt Eberflus was a highly regarded position coach in his time with the Cowboys. Chances are he’ll be welcome back to oversee the defense. Eberflus, who left Dallas to become the defensive coordinator for Indianapolis before using that as a platform to become the head coach of the Chicago Bears, is in discussions with club officials to return to the Cowboys as defensive coordinator, two people with knowledge of the potential staff told The Dallas Morning News. Corrected: Eberflus has emerged as a candidate to be the next DC and discussed the position but team will first conduct interviews as required by league rules before final decision, per source. https://t.co/eKjJSTOLJM — Ed Werder (@WerderEdNFL) January 25, 2025 Report: Jason Witten not currently part of Dallas Cowboys plan to build staff – Grant Grubbs, Newsbreak Witten’s name caused a lot of hand-wringing on social media over the last week, but it seems throwing out his name was more about engagement farming than anything even remotely close to what was actually happening in Dallas. While insiders speculated who will be joining Schottenheimer’s staff, NFL Network’s Jane Slater named one person who won’t be. “A source informed tells me the #Cowboys have not completed the process of hiring their defensive coordinator,” Slater wrote. “Matt Eberflus is certainly someone held in high regard and certainly part of the consideration however. “Not part of their considerations, according to two sources, Jason Witten on staff. While Jerry Jones has maintained a relationship with him and they have talked in recent months it appears my sense of him being part of the plan are unsubstantiated at this point and haven’t been discussed in fact.” Cowboys defensive backs coach Al Harris joining Chicago Bears staff, per report – Kellen Bulger, Dallas Morning News Al Harris is the latest member of the Cowboys coaching staff that won’t return in 2025. As the NFL coaching carousel continues to spin, the Dallas Cowboys lost yet another member of its coaching staff on Thursday, when ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that defensive backs coach Al Harris is set to join the Chicago Bears staff. Cowboys defensive backs coach Al Harris — a former Packers standout cornerback — also is joining the Bears’ coaching staff as Chicago’s Defensive pass game coordinator/DBs coach, per source. https://t.co/WJsYfGMyjF — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 25, 2025 Harris will be joining new Chicago head coach Ben Johnson’s staff. Johnson was recently hired by the Bears after multiple successful seasons as the Detroit Lions’ offensive coordinator. Harris was a standout cornerback in the NFL and after his playing days was hired by Dallas in 2020 by his former head coach in Green Bay Mike McCarthy. Under Harris, multiple Cowboys secondary players saw career years. Perhaps most notably Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland. Best NFL rookie classes: Ranking teams with most production – Aaron Schatz, ESPN The last two, maybe even three, drafts have not been great for the Cowboys, and the 2024 Cowboys rookie class is another one with low grades. 19. Dallas Cowboys First-round pick Tyler Guyton struggled with both knee and ankle injuries but managed to make 11 starts at left tackle. He was exactly league-average in pass block win rate (88.9%), ranking 30th, and slightly above average in run block win rate (75.7%). Cooper Beebe became the Cowboys’ starting center and was more impressive, ranking eighth in pass block win rate (95.3%) and 10th in run block win rate (70.5%) at the position. Tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford caught nine passes for 88 yards with good blocking. The leading defensive rookie was third-round linebacker Marist Liufau, who started

Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images Matt Eberflus seems to be a potential defensive coordinator option for the Cowboys. The Dallas Cowboys offseason finally has a direction. Their head coaching search came to an end on Friday night with the official hiring of Brian Schottenheimer, giving the offensive coordinator of the last two seasons his first ever promotion to the head coaching ranks of the NFL. The next order of business is filling out Schottenheimer’s staff as quickly as possible, which will require much more than just hiring a new OC and DC. Assistant head coach and secondary coach Al Harris got away to the Chicago Bears to join Ben Johnson’s new staff as passing game coordinator, and now a former Bears coach is reportedly in consideration to return to the Cowboys as defensive coordinator. Sources consider former #Bears head coach Matt Eberflus a prime candidate for the #Cowboys defensive coordinator job under new coach Brian Schottenheimer, per sources. Eberflus was a Cowboys assistant from 2011-17. pic.twitter.com/tIPvtLA6II — Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) January 25, 2025 The #DallasCowboys and Matt Eberflus have discussed the defensive coordinator opening and he is considered the favorite for the job heading into the interview process, per team source. League rules require a process. Eberflus is expected to be the guy at the end. pic.twitter.com/CPX8VMRTvn — Nick Harris (@NickHarrisFWST) January 25, 2025 Eberflus served as the team’s linebackers coach from 2011-15 and passing game coordinator from 2016-17. There was some positive buzz about Eberflus as a potential fast riser through the coaching ranks over this entire period of time working with the Cowboys linebackers, and he left Dallas to be the Colts defensive coordinator in 2018. In his first season with Indianapolis, Eberflus’ Colts defense shut out the Cowboys 23-0 at home in week 15. After three seasons of his first coordinator job, Eberflus was named head coach of the Chicago Bears. His midyear firing from the Bears this past season was very public and frankly embarrassing for the franchise, with the final straw being a Thanksgiving loss to the Lions marred by terrible late-game clock management. It was one loss as part of a bigger 10-game losing streak the Bears wouldn’t snap until the final game of the season at the Packers. The Cowboys clearly believe Schottenheimer gives them the best chance to rebuild a strong offense around Dak Prescott again, and could now be looking inward once again at a former coach to maintain the defense. Eberflus would be the second straight defensive coordinator for the Cowboys with previous coaching experience for the team, following Mike Zimmer’s one-year tenure. With Eberflus’ specialty as far as position coaching being linebackers, and the Cowboys finding some of their few bright spots from the 2024 season here in rookie Marist Liufau and Demarvion Overshown (who’s next season is in jeopardy after another knee injury), this is a reunion that makes some sense. We will see if, similarly to Schottenheimer’s freshly inked four-year deal, the Cowboys can drive this one “across the finish line”.

Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports Jason Witten may not wind up on the Dallas Cowboys staff after all. The Dallas Cowboys have a new head coach as of Friday night and his name is Brian Schottenheimer. Time will tell what his staff ultimately looks like. It seems fair to say that the success of this team moving forward will largely depend on the hires made to support him. For now the only name that has been connected to the group in any way is former team staffer Matt Eberflus. One name that many have assumed will grace the staff when it is assembled is former tight end Jason Witten. While Schottenheimer ultimately was named head coach, at one point in time Witten was being connected to the job himself. To date Witten has no coaching experience at the collegiate or professional levels, and many have thought that a plan to groom him may be in place which would obviously require him to join an NFL staff, the Cowboys in all likelihood. There have been mixed feelings on this potential, many that fans have been vocalizing ever since Witten’s name first popped on the overall coaching radar. For what it’s worth, according to NFL Network’s Jane Slater, it seems like Witten may not be joining the staff after all. A source informed tells me the #Cowboys have not completed the process of hiring their defensive coordinator. Matt Eberflus is certainly someone held in high regard and certainly part of the consideration however. Not part of their considerations, according to two sources, Jason… — Jane Slater (@SlaterNFL) January 25, 2025 Slater notes that Witten is not “part of their considerations” and adds that he and Jerry Jones have maintained their relationship. Perhaps there was never any legitimacy to the idea of Witten joining the Cowboys staff, whether as head coach or in some other capacity, or perhaps there has been an about face of sorts. Former players decorate team’s sidelines all of the time so the idea of Witten as a tight ends coach or something would certainly not be unheard of. It was the notion of him as head coach that seemed to have people up in arms. Schottenheimer is scheduled to have his introductory press conference on Monday at 12pm ET so it feels fair to assume we will get more information then. Obviously things could leak in the time being as well. We will be watching.