Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports The Cowboys fill an important position coach opening on offense The Dallas Cowboys filled out the offensive side of their coaching staff on Monday, keeping continuity and the goal of getting the best football out of quarterback Dak Prescott in mind through the entire process. The decision as to who will actually be in the quarterbacks room with Prescott comes after Dallas already added former Carolina Panthers and Buffalo Bills quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey as an analyst. Instead of Dorsey, it will be an internal promotion for current analyst Steve Shimko. Steve Shimko will become the Cowboys’ QBs coach, according to a source. He was an offensive assistant last year but replaces Scott Tolzien now. He worked with Brian Schottenheimer for two years in Seattle. He was the OC at Boston College in 2023. — Todd Archer (@toddarcher) February 11, 2025 Shimko replaces a carryover from Mike McCarthy’s staff who also worked his way up from offensive assistant to quarterbacks coach in Scott Tolzien. The former Packers QB was Prescott’s QB coach over the last two seasons. Clearly, the Cowboys value closeness and familiarity as things Prescott has highlighted as important himself, yet still allowed new head coach Brian Schottenheimer to have his say in promoting a coach with ties to his days in Seattle. In Schottenheimer’s first season as offensive coordinator for the Seahawks in 2018, Shimko was a first time NFL coach as an analyst. That Seahawks team went 10-6 and lost in the Wild Card round to the Cowboys, Prescott’s first career playoff victory. Shimko entered the ranks of professional football after lower level stops at Rutgers, Western Michigan, and JUCO Garden City, but did have a stop in the SEC at Georgia as a graduate assistant in 2015. Shimko served as assistant quarterbacks coach in his second season with the Seahawks, seeing the benefit of staying at a stop long enough to be promoted. Current Panthers head coach Dave Canales was the QB coach he worked under. Shimko returned to college after the 2019 season, and again stuck at Boston College long enough to go from tight ends coach to quarterbacks in 2022 and offensive coordinator/quarterback coach in 2023. Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The BC Eagles ranked top 15 in the country in rushing attempts and yards per game in 2023 with Shimko as OC and QB coach. His résumé checks all of the boxes of being a scheme and philosophy fit in what the Cowboys under Schottenheimer are looking to accomplish. The overall youth of the Cowboys new staff has been pointed out by many as a potential positive when it comes to not only introducing new ideas, but helping this team create a new culture and identity where everything is earned. The Cowboys must find ways to show any complacency that led to a 7-10 regression out of the playoffs is on its way out of The Star. Brian Schottenheimer’s first staff as head coach of the Cowboys has come together quickly, and for now shows a level of coherency on the football side of things this franchise has been lacking. As for how it will translate into on-field success, the best that can be said here is that all 32 fanbases are now playing the same waiting game Dallas is following the Eagles Super Bowl win.

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images It would have been terrible if Micah Parsons had wound up with the Giants. Dallas Cowboys superstar Micah Parsons enjoyed the Super Bowl festivities in New Orleans, taking part in several interviews. Notably, he joined Bryant McFadden of CBS Sports, and name-dropped the division rival New York Giants. “They lied to me. People don’t know this. They told me if I fell to 11 that they was gonna pick me. That’s why I punish the Giants every time.” Parsons certainly has made a career punishing the Giants. He has 14 tackles and 4.5 sacks in eight career games against the team from New York. Most importantly, he is 8-0 against them to start his career. While there have been many decisions the Giants front office has made as of late that they likely regret, their 2021 NFL Draft was a disaster. The team traded back from their 11th pick with the Chicago Bears, who ultimately selected QB Justin Fields. New York drafted wide receiver Kadarius Toney, offensive tackle Evan Neal, cornerback Aaron Robinson, and tight end Daniel Bellinger with their picks acquired from the trade. Thank goodness the draft ended up as it did. Not only is Micah Parsons one of the few bright spots on this current Dallas Cowboys roster, but imagine if the offense had to go up against Parsons twice a season. Parsons is due for a potentially record-breaking contract extension in the near future. Through four seasons with the Cowboys he’s already accumulated 52.5 sacks, establishing himself as one of the best pass-rushers in the NFL. “[The Giants] lied to me… people don’t know this… they told me, if I fell to 11 that they was gonna pick me.” – Micah Parsons reveals why he PUNISHES the Giants with @BMac_SportsTalk pic.twitter.com/dgIXV7tQWy — NFL on CBS (@NFLonCBS) February 6, 2025

Photo by Joshua Bessex/Getty Images Ken Dorsey is expected to join the Cowboys coaching staff Before the hiring of Klayton Adams as the Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator, Ken Dorsey was a name we also heard was in contention for the role. With the team deciding to go with the Arizona Cardinals offensive line coach as the team’s offensive coordinator, many thought Dorsey may be in line to take the quarterbacks coach job in Dallas if he did not get an offensive coordinator job somewhere else. It was reported today by Mike Garafolo that Dallas wants to hire Ken Dorsey, but the role has yet to be finalized. The #Cowboys are working to hire former #Bills and #Browns offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, sources tell me and @RapSheet. Not done yet and the role is being finalized but Dorsey is expected to join Brian Schottenheimer’s coaching staff soon. pic.twitter.com/wtqBT2Gogu — Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) February 10, 2025 Dorsey, 43, has spent time as quarterbacks coach with the Carolina Panthers (2013-2017), Buffalo Bills (2019-2021), and was promoted to offensive coordinator for the Bills in 2022. Dorsey was fired mid-year in 2023, which was met with much criticism around the league. In his full season with the Bills, Dorsey led the Bills to the second-overall EPA/play and second-overall success rate. Dorsey’s role in Dallas is yet to be defined, but we can add him to the list as another coach who has had previous success who should help bolster the offensive coaching staff that has already received rave reviews. As it stands today, there has yet to be a quarterback’s coach named in Brian Schottenheimer’s staff, so that is a position to keep an eye on as things develop.

Photo by John Rivera/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The 2024 Cowboys rookies got more playing time than you might have expected. In early May last year, about two weeks after the draft, we published an article titled “Why the Cowboys’ 2024 rookie class could see more playing time than most recent rookie classes.” At the time, as the author, I wondered if the 2024 draft class could “yield four eventual starters,” even if the 2024 class might not have the star power of some successful previous draft classes. The projection at the time was for the 2024 rookie class to account for 13.6% of total snaps. In reality, the draft class came in with 12.9% of all snaps, which isn’t very far off the initial projection. Unfortunately, this was not from being blessed with the gift of prophecy or having access to some nifty algorithm. Instead, a promising draft class got extended playing time when the Cowboys decided not to acquire or retain free agents to fill key roster holes, and subsequent injuries to veteran players forced the team to play the rookies more than they might have in a normal season. There are many different ways of evaluating the impact, success, and quality of a rookie class, though most of them in some form or another revolve around early impact and the number of starters drafted. In any rookie class, you’re looking for immediate contribution from your early picks, and perhaps hoping for some additional contribution from your late-round picks. In the medium term, it’s widely held that a good draft class yields two solid starters, even if they are not necessarily expected to be starters in their first season. For our purposes today, we’ll use the 2024 rookie class snap count to evaluate their first-year contribution and to compare this class to previous rookie classes. 2024 Rookie Class POS Name Total Snaps Drafted OT Tyler Guyton 670 1st DE Marshawn Kneeland 256 2nd OC Cooper Beebe 1,061 3rd LB Marist Liufau 521 3rd CB Caelen Carson 252 5th WR Ryan Flournoy 156 6th OT Nathan Thomas 0 7th DT Justin Rogers 0 7th TE Brevyn Spann-Ford 305 UDFA Rookie totals 3,221 In % of team total 12.9% The Cowboys got at least two (Tyler Guyton, Cooper Beebe), maybe three (Marshawn Kneeland), and possibly four (Marist Liufau) starters out of this draft class. That’s a success any way you look at it, no matter the injury situation. So how do the snap counts above compare to those of previous rookie classes? The title of this post already gave it away, the snap counts for the 2024 rookie are the second most since 2017. Here are the Cowboys rookie class snap percentages since 2007: ’07 ’08 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’14 ’15 ’16 ’17 ’18 ’19 ’20 ’21 ’22 ’23 ’24 Rookie snaps in % 3.8% 6.7% 1.5% 6.9% 8.5% 6.5% 15.3% 9.5% 10.0% 13.5% 10.6% 10.2% 2.4% 14.0% 9.7% 12.5% 5.2% 12.9% For this analysis, let’s assume that adding the equivalent of two starters (or 9.0% of all snaps) to the roster is a good target for a rookie class. By that measure the data here suggests the Cowboys had some really bad draft classes between 2007-2012, but things started looking up in 2013, and have been mostly green since Will McClay took over the Cowboys drafts in 2014, the occasional glitch (2019 & 2023) notwithstanding. The 2024 draft class is the third best in McClay’s 11-year tenure (as measured by snap count contribution), but it takes more than a strong rookie season to determine the value of a draft class. Three years (and sometimes even more) is the standard often used to fully evaluate a rookie class. Which is why we’re now going to look at how the snap percentages of each season’s rookie class have progressed over the years. The snap data I have available only goes back to 2007, so no snap numbers for the rookie seasons of rookie classes prior to 2007. But we do have the second year of the 2006 class and the third year of the 2005 class, which is about as far back as we want to go anyway. What this shows is how different rookie classes perform in terms of snap percentage in each of their first five years in the league, which is summarized in the table below. To make the table easier to read, it is color-coded as follows: Blue = 3 or more starters (>13.5% of all snaps) Green = 2-3 starters (9.0%-13.5%) Yellow = 1-2 starters (4.5%-9.0%) Red = less than 1 starter (<4.5%) Class Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 2005 – – – – 16.9% 16.3% 11.7% 2006 – – 8.8% 3.6% 7.7% 7.6% 2007 3.8% 7.1% 9.3% 13.0% 10.8% 2008 6.7% 10.9% 11.9% 9.4% 4.6% 2009 1.5% 0.9% 3.6% 4.6% 0.0% 2010 6.9% 14.2% 11.7% 11.3% 7.9% 2011 8.5% 10.9% 11.6% 10.9% 4.5% 2012 6.5% 11.5% 12.5% 11.7% 11.3% 2013 15.3% 14.8% 14.1% 11.9% 11.3% 2014 9.5% 12.8% 9.0% 10.3% 7.0% 2015 10.0% 10.8% 14.2% 15.4% 7.8% 2016 13.5% 17.2% 19.3% 16.8% 11.0% 2017 10.6% 13.4% 12.3% 10.0% 5.3% 2018 12.1% 10.4% 16.7% 16.1% 11.3% 2019 2.4% 10.5% 5.4% 10.2% 6.4% 2020 14.0% 16.7% 18.0% 16.1% 13.3% 2021 9.7% 11.0% 7.7% 10.2% – – 2022 12.5% 21.9% 14.5% – – – – 2023 5.2% 12.2% – – – – – – 2024 12.9% – – – – – – – – Red <= 1 starter, Yellow = 1-2 starters, Green = 2-3 starters, Blue = >3 starters The first thing you may notice as you scan the colors is that rookie season snap counts fluctuate wildly. We see the pre-McClay sea of yellow and red from 2007-2012, and then things start to solidify from 2013 onward, with two glaring exceptions in 2019 and 2023. You may also notice a similar fluctuation in year five. The fifth-year drop in playing time contribution is largely due to the way

Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Another home run hire for Brian Schottenheimer The Dallas Cowboys are still working hard to round out their inaugural coaching staff under Brian Schottenheimer. Just a few hours before the Super Bowl kicked off, news broke that the team was hiring Oregon co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Junior Adams to coach the receivers in Dallas. The Cowboys are expected to sign Oregon co-offensive coordinator/WRs coach Junior Adams as their new WRs coach, according to a source. Second college coach to join staff with K-State’s Conor Riley coming on board as OL coach. — Todd Archer (@toddarcher) February 9, 2025 Adams comes to the Cowboys after three seasons working with the Ducks. This will be his first NFL coaching job, but the longtime college coach has been viewed by many as a rising star for quite some time. The California native originally played wide receiver for Oregon State before transferring to Montana State. Shortly after graduating, Adams was hired as the wide receivers coach at his alma mater. After three seasons there, he spent one season at the high school level with a program familiar to the Cowboys: Prosser High School in Washington. The head coach at the time was Tom Moore, and the team was led by the coach’s son, Kellen Moore. Adams left Prosser after one year for another one-year stint at Chattanooga before heading back to the Pacific Northwest to coach receivers for FCS powerhouse Eastern Washington. While there, Adams played an integral role in the rapid ascension of Cooper Kupp, who recently shared that the Rams will be seeking to trade him this offseason. In part because of Kupp’s stardom, which led to him being the second-highest drafted player in Eastern Washington history, Adams was hired by Boise State. While there, he coached former Cowboy Cedrick Wilson Jr., among others. After three seasons, Boise State’s offensive coordinator – Mike Sanford Jr. – was named the head coach at Western Kentucky, and he brought Adams along as his offensive coordinator. Adams was tasked with calling plays the first year, but Sanford took over after going 6-7 in the first year. That proved to be a mistake, as the Hilltoppers won just three games the next year and Sanford (along with Adams) was fired. Adams then landed with the Washington Huskies as the receivers coach under head coach Chris Petersen. A year later, he was retained when defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake was promoted to head coach following Petersen’s retirement. While there, Adams worked with a handful of young receivers who went on to have strong college careers, though the three biggest names are Puka Nacua, Jalen McMillan, and Rome Odunze. Adams got another chance to call plays, being named the interim offensive coordinator in 2021 for the final three games of the year. Washington lost all three, and the offensive problems that led to the coordinator’s firing were not magically solved by Adams. Still, his strong reputation for recruiting and development landed him the co-offensive coordinator position at Oregon under Dan Lanning. Since coming to Eugene, Adams has finished in the top 10 in his conference in recruiter rankings each year, and his work in 2024 led Adams to being ranked the fifth best recruiter in the entire nation. Adams has also continued his trend of developing players. Troy Franklin and Chase Cota are in the NFL now, while Tez Johnson and Evan Stewart are bound for the league as well. While Adams did not get promoted to play-caller when Kenny Dillingham left for the Arizona State head job, he’s remained a key part of the game-planning process under current coordinator Will Stein, who is being eyed for the same role at Ohio State. Adams’ career trajectory has encountered a few setbacks, and it seems as if calling plays is not his forte at this time. Still, his energetic personality has been a boon for him on the recruiting trail, and Adams has been one of the best talent developers of the last decade, with five different receivers going on to become starters in the NFL. That is exactly what the Cowboys need in their receiver room right now. Outside of CeeDee Lamb, the Cowboys have a lot of young and unproven names in their receiving corps. Jalen Tolbert took a step forward this year, but still hasn’t proven himself to be a viable starting option. Meanwhile, the likes of Jonathan Mingo, Jalen Brooks, and Ryan Flournoy all have a lot of work to do at this stage in their careers. That Adams also has some level of experience in crafting an offensive game plan makes this hire even more exciting. He can instantly fit in as a valuable piece of the coaching staff, supporting Schottenheimer as the play-caller while also helping the receiving corps reach the next level.

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images Notable headline surrounding America’s team. Eagles ride dominant defense to Super Bowl LIX win over Chiefs – Dan Graziano, ESPN The Cowboys archenemy, the Eagles, have become the Super Bowl champs. The defense forced three turnovers and held Mahomes and the Kansas City offense to 275 yards. It was an all-night party at the tail end of a weeklong party for Eagles fans in the Big Easy. And in the end, it was the oft-maligned Hurts and Eagles coach Nick Sirianni holding up the Lombardi Trophy. The Eagles took it right to the Chiefs and didn’t let up. The first half was a mash-up of things that aren’t supposed to happen. The Chiefs bottled up Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley, limiting him to 31 yards on 12 carries before halftime. But it didn’t matter, partly because Hurts was making pinpoint throws and sharp decisions, partly because the Chiefs were shooting themselves in the foot with uncharacteristic penalties and partly because Mahomes threw two interceptions — something he’s only done five other times in his career in a single half. But as shocking as the Eagles’ dominance may have been, the fundamental problem that cost the Chiefs their chance at history was the same one that cost them the Super Bowl four years ago against the Tom Brady-led Buccaneers and the same one that looked for most of this regular season like the one that might do them in: They could not protect their quarterback. Philadelphia generated pressure on seven of Mahomes’ 17 first-half dropbacks in spite of not blitzing once. Veteran Chiefs offensive lineman Joe Thuney, who appeared to have solved the team’s left tackle problem when they moved him there from left guard with five games left in the regular season, got manhandled repeatedly by the Eagles’ defensive front. Edge pressure from Josh Sweat and Nolan Smith, interior pressure from Milton Williams and Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis… it didn’t matter where it was coming from, Mahomes couldn’t do anything against it. Cowboys’ Jerry Jones crashes Super Bowl 59 with bogus Micah Parsons rumor- Jerry Trotta, The Landry Hat Jerry won’t let the big game dim his spotlight. The Dallas Cowboys have not made it to the Super Bowl since their last championship in 1995. That also marked the last time Dallas advanced as far as the NFC Championship Game. They now own the longest NFC title game drought in the conference after Washington booked a ticket with their upset win over the No. 1 seed Lions. That’s Jerry’s music. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Cowboys have had “internal discussions” about whether to make Parsons the highest-paid defender in the league or trade him for a “king’s ransom.” Rapoport noted that there hasn’t been any trade talks involving Parsons. Cowboys fans should not be alarmed by the Micah Parsons trade rumors Let’s make this absolutely clear – Micah Parsons is not getting traded. Rapoport’s report noted that Parsons “hasn’t said much of anything” regarding the Cowboys’ hire of Brian Schottenheimer as head coach and that Parsons referred to Mike McCarthy’s exit as “devastating”, hinting at potential unrest with the perennial All-Pro. Cowboys $91 million position predicted to be addressed in both draft, free agency- K.D. Drummond, Cowboys Wire The QB room could look very different in 2025. External Free Agents There’s a limited amount of intriguing QBs in free agency this year, and the Cowboys aren’t going to be looking to spend significant space on a backup with so many other needs. Failures elsewhere, such as Justin Fields, Mac Jones and Daniel Jones, will probably have a market that prices the Cowboys out. Prediction: Sign Jameis Winston, two-year, $7.5 million (void years), $2 million cap hit 2025 NFL Draft The Cowboys could have gone in multiple directions with their head coaching hire, but clearly were looking for stability with the staff that has worked with Prescott. Any idea the club would be looking to escape Prescott’s contract soon and draft an heir apparent to groom went out the window with Schotty’s hire. That doesn’t mean the club will be out on QB in the draft though, as it makes sense to draft and develop a future backup. Prediction: Use one of their four fifth-round picks to draft a QB, such as Louisville’s Tyler Shough. Saquon Barkley compared to Dallas Cowboys legend ahead of Super Bowl LIX – Matt Galatzan, Sports Illustrated It stings because there is truth to it. In fact, Barkley was so consistently good all season, that he has been drawing comparisons to NFL legends. That continued to be the case on Sunday morning when Draft Kings analyst and former Sports Center anchor Trey Wingo compared him to Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame running back, Emmitt Smith. “When I see (Saquon) running, I feel like it’s kind of like when I watched Emmitt Smith run with the Cowboys back in the ‘90s,” Wingo said. ”It’s like nobody touches him until it’s a defensive back that’s trying to stop him because that line is doing such an amazing job.” And upon further inspection, Wingo may be on to something here. During the Cowboys golden era of the 90’s Smith was an absolute workhorse, and was fortunate enough to have arguably the best offensive line in the NFL at the time. And just like Barkley, Smith would routinely find himself at the second or third level of the defense before being touched by an opposing defender. Ravens will not give Cowboys a chance to rectify one of Jerry Jones’ biggest mistakes- John Buhler, FanSided There goes that dream. Derrick Henry is projected to return to the Baltimore Ravens next season While I am skeptical about the Ravens’ chances of ever winning a Super Bowl with Lamar Jackson as their franchise quarterback, all they need is a lucky break or two to come out of the AFC one day. Baltimore has the right structure in place organizationally to take advantage of