Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK Klayton Adams is going to bring a lot to the Dallas Cowboys. The Dallas Cowboys hired former Arizona Cardinals offensive line coach Klayton Adams as their new offensive coordinator. Many are happy about the hire due to the Cardinals’ overachieving in the run game during his time in the desert. Will he be able to duplicate that success in Dallas? It’s unclear what things will look like, but here are three things we should expect after adding Adams to the coaching staff. 1. Re-invest in the running back With a run-game specialist as the new OC, it’s no secret the Cowboys will focus on improving their ability to run the ball. Dallas finished as the third-worst rushing efficiency team last year with just 4.0 yards per attempt. During his time with the Cardinals, Adams’ squad ranked second in the league with 5.0 yards per attempt in 2023 and 5.3 yards per attempt last year. Running the ball effectively is going to be priority one. It helps when you have a capable running back handling the workload and the Cardinals have had that in James Conner. Over his career, he’s been a steady 700-yards-per-year type of runner, but during these past two seasons, we’ve seen a jump in production. Since taking over the starting job in Pittsburgh (2018-2020) = average 719 yards/season His first two years in Arizona (2021-2022) = average 767 yards/season His last two years in Arizona (2023-2024) = average 1,067 yards/season That is a 300-yard-per-season jump for Conner since Adams started coaching the Cardinals offensive line. His only two 1,000-yard seasons have come with Adams and also include the two best yards-per-attempt years of his career. While Conner has been a good running back over the years, he’s not one of those dynamic playmakers like Saquon Barkley or Jahmyr Gibbs. Instead, he’s a straight line running with a bit of wiggle and enough physicality to punish arm tacklers. He’s not electric, but he’s effective. In a lot of ways, he’s like Rico Dowdle. A lot of ways. Check out their 2024 rushing stats… Games played: Conner = 16, Dowdle = 16 Rushing attempts: Conner = 236, Dowdle = 235 Yards per carry: Conner = 4.6, Dowdle = 4.6 That is not to say the Cowboys will again be content with re-signing Dowdle and calling it good. Even with Conner playing well, the Cardinals drafted Florida State’s Trey Benson in the third round. He was the second running back taken in last year’s draft. The Cowboys must take action to upgrade the running back position group, but it might not come in the form of using their 12th overall pick on Ashton Jeanty as many expect. 2. Getting linemen into space The success the Cardinals had running the ball isn’t predicated on having a star running back, but rather having all hands on deck when run blocking. Our own David Howman did a great job breaking down what we should expect from Adams, highlighting several key elements of his blocking schemes. 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. Adams will rely heavily on the athleticism of his offensive linemen. It wouldn’t surprise us if Tyler Smith ends up the top left guard in the league under Adams’ watch. Smith moves in space very well and could open up his own house of pancakes with the number of running starts he’ll be getting. The stage is set for many of the team’s young linemen to take a step forward. Cooper Beebe had a great rookie season and should be even better in year two. And while many are sour on Tyler Guyton, the athleticism is there and it will be interesting to see what he looks like with Adams. And even Terence Steele, the guy most believe will be a cap casualty this offseason, should flourish in this new system. Before his injury, Steele flashed some great moving run-blocking chops and could be in store for a career season this year. One cool thing about Klayton Adams’ run schemes is how often his RBs get a running start before they’re even touched. The constant pulling of linemen, great seals, and second-level execution makes for some nice running lanes. pic.twitter.com/xpkr8gJlt8 — Dan Rogers (@DannyPhantom24) February 1, 2025 3. Heavy tight end personnel The Cowboys are no strangers to using multiple tight ends in the past, but last season was a different story as they relied heavily on three wide receiver sets. They ran 775 plays last year using three wide receivers, ranking inside the top 10 in 11-personnel usage (one RB, one TE, and three WRs). Conversely, they ranked outside the top 20 in heavy tight end personal, running just 119 plays with two tight ends, and only 13 plays with three tight ends. They did use a fullback quite a bit, running 90 plays using 21 personnel (two RBs, one TE), which ranked seventh most last season. Mike McCarthy loved him some Hunter Luepke. Expect a change with the addition of Adams running the offense. He absolutely loves tight ends. There were 13 players for Arizona last year who had at least 400 offensive snaps, and three of them were tight ends. We all know about the pass-catching Trey McBride, but Adams also employed quite a bit of Tip Reiman (third-round pick last year) and Elijah Higgins (sixth-round pick in 2023). Here are last year’s personnel tendency rates for both teams (data courtesy of sumersports.com) TEAM 11 PERSONNEL 12 PERSONNEL 13 PERSONNEL Dallas Cowboys 70.2% (9th) 10.8% (26th) 1.2% (13th) Arizona Cardinals 50.4% (25th) 29.2% (8th) 14.5% (8th) League Average 60.7% 21.7% 3.3% What this means for

Bob Donnan-Imagn Images Your Sunday morning Cowboys news. Who is Klayton Adams? 5 things to know about Dallas Cowboys’ new offensive coordinator – Staff, DMN Adams is expected to have a big impact on the ground game. Schottenheimer steps in as the Cowboys’ head coach already with a reputation for preferring a strong run game. He said during his press conference that he was proud of his teams leading the NFL in rushing twice while he was a coordinator. The Klayton Adams hire seems to confirm that running the football will be a priority in Dallas. In 2024, Arizona finished 7th in the NFL in rushing yards (2,451) and yards per game (144.2). The previous season, the Cardinals were fourth in rushing yards (2,365) and yards per game (139.1). Now … is Adams’ run-heavy background expected to impact the Cowboys’ 2025 first-round draft pick, No. 12 overall? That’s yet to be seen, but some on social media have a theory. There’s a certain running back from Boise State who could be available, should he get to No. 12. Drafting Ashton Jeanty would be a nice housewarming gift for a run-heavy OC. The capper: Klayton Adams was an offensive lineman at Boise State where he was a part of two WAC Championship teams. He graduated in 2004 and converted to an assistant for the Broncos in 2005. Texas football RB coach Tashard Choice reportedly set to interview with Dallas Cowboys – David Eckert, Austin American-Statesman A familiar face could be another former-player-turned-coach for the Cowboys. Texas football assistant coach Tashard Choice is reportedly a candidate to join Brian Schottenheimer’s staff with the Dallas Cowboys. According to longtime Cowboys reporter Clarence Hill, Choice is expected to interview with Dallas on Saturday. Choice has served as the Longhorns’ running backs coach for the last three seasons. Within that span, he has coached three different NFL running backs in Bijan Robinson, Roschon Johnson and Jonathon Brooks. Jaydon Blue, part of Texas’ backfield-by-committee approach in 2024, could become the next Choice disciple to hear his name called in the NFL draft. Before arriving at Texas, Choice coached at Georgia Tech, where he tutored Jahmyr Gibbs and Jordan Mason. Choice appeared in 88 NFL games from 2008-13, including 54 with the Cowboys. The Dallas organization also helped kickstart his post-playing career by hiring him as a coaching intern before he caught on as an assistant at North Texas. He’s proven a valuable contributor to Texas’ recruiting efforts, too, with 247Sports crediting him with helping reel in the likes of CJ Baxter and Ryan Wingo. Cowboys’ Brian Schottenheimer selects Klayton Adams as offensive coordinator – Jon Machota, The Athletic With Adams under contract, the search begins for a new O-line coach – and running backs. Schottenheimer will be calling the offensive plays, but Adams will be a key part of trying to get more production out of a disappointing rushing attack. During his previous two seasons in Arizona, the Cardinals had one of the NFL’s top rushing offenses. They averaged an NFC-best 5.3 yards per carry and 144 yards per game last season. To compare, Dallas averaged only four yards per carry and 100 yards per game. Of course, a big part of turning the running game around will involve upgrading the roster. The Cowboys are still expected to hire an offensive line coach with Mike Solari not currently set to return after two seasons. Cowboys hire David Overstreet as their cornerbacks coach – Charean Williams, PFT This might be an important step towards retaining Jourdan Lewis. The Cowboys have hired Overstreet to coach their cornerbacks, Todd Archer of ESPN reports. Overstreet coached the Bears’ nickelbacks in 2024. Overstreet also was with Eberflus in Indianapolis. He began his NFL coaching career as a defensive quality control coach for the Colts from 2018-20 before a promotion to assistant defensive backs coach. Overstreet went to Chicago with Eberflus in 2022, where he spent two seasons as assistant defensive backs coach before overseeing the nickelbacks. He helped develop Kyler Gordon last season. Cowboys Offensive Line and Run Game to Get Big Boost – Cody Warren, Inside the Star The Cowboys just made a huge addition to their running game with the hiring of their offensive coordinator. Klayton Adams played football at Boise State, where he was the center for two WAC Championships in 2003 and 2004. As a senior in 2004, he earned second-team All-WAC. Playing center for a high-level program gives him a great perspective on offensive line play, and this has been evident throughout his coaching career. Klayton Adams’ coaching career took off at the University of Colorado, where he coached from 2013 to 2018. In the 2016 season in Colorado, the offensive line posted its highest average per rush (4.1) in 10 seasons. He also helped RB Philip Lindsey become the first player in school history to post back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. He would continue this type of success in the NFL. His first stop was with the Indianapolis Colts. There, Adams coached the offensive line, tight ends, and running backs over three years. With Adams in charge, the offensive line and run game ranked in the top ten in several categories. In Arizona, the offensive line helped the running game reach number four in rushing yards with 2,365 and second in rushing average at 5.02 yards per carry. The Cardinals led the NFL with 23 runs of 20+ yards. This was due to Adams’ influence on the offensive line and run game. These numbers would be a nice change if the same type of success could be seen in Dallas, and it could come with a commitment to the run. Klayton Adams used what was available to him at each stop and turned around the offensive line play and the run game. The same could happen with the Dallas Cowboys and the young offensive line. Once Adams gets into Dallas and sees the young players on the line and their success towards the end of the

Photo by Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The Cowboys need some interior linemen. There has been a lot of talk about the 3-technique position over the last few months. With Osa Odighizuwa a current free agent, and likely to demand a contract that could pull him away from Dallas, the Cowboys could be in desperate need of a 3-technique defensive tackle this offseason. We all know by now the Cowboys do not spend big money in free agency, and with Odighizuwa staring a big payday in the face, the Cowboys will need to replenish the defensive tackle room with or without Odighizuwa returning. That need became an even bigger position of concern once the team announced the hiring of Matt Eberflus as the defensive coordinator earlier this week. It is no secret that the 3-technique spot is one of the key spots in a successful Eberflus defensive system. “Big, long and fast.” -Matt Eberflus when asked to describe his ideal defensive lineman. The Bears are still on the hunt for a three-tech anchor. It’s a crucial position in Eberflus’ defensive scheme and one of the Bears’ biggest priorities this offseason. — Carmen Vitali (@CarmieV) February 28, 2023 During his time in Indianapolis, Eberflus shored up the spot with the addition of Deforest Buckner. When in Chicago, Eberflus did a nice job developing Gervon Dexter and Justin Jones. In Dallas, Eberflus’ only 3-technique is a current free agent with no proven NFL talent left on the roster. That is where Toledo’s Darius Alexander comes into play. The interior of the defensive line has been a weakness for the Cowboys over the last several seasons. And it looks to be even more of an issue heading into 2025. The Cowboys currently hold three picks in the top 100, and with a plethora of needs, it will be hard for them to check every box in this year’s draft. One name to get familiar with is Darius Alexander. Every Darius Alexander 1-on-1 from the Senior Bowl – this is what it looks like pic.twitter.com/qSu0VxExll — James Foster (@NoFlagsFilm) January 30, 2025 Alexander is not a guy you have heard about often in this year’s draft cycle… yet. The 6-foot-3, 310-pound interior defensive lineman is coming off an excellent year at Toledo where he recorded four sacks, 25 hurries, and a pass rush win-rate of 12.8%. Alexander is also coming off a nice week at the Reese’s Senior Bowl, proving to be one of the top interior defensive linemen in Mobile. If Matt Eberflus is looking for big, long, and fast three-techniques, Alexander checks all the boxes. 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl Measurements.✅ Verified.#TheDraftStartsInMOBILE™️ pic.twitter.com/U9rmMM8JEU — Reese’s Senior Bowl (@seniorbowl) January 27, 2025 Along with being a very good pass rush presence along the interior, Alexander more than holds his own against the run. Alexander uses his 34+” arms well to shed blockers and make plays in his gap, as well as using his quickness and power to win behind the line of scrimmage consistently. In 2024, Alexander posted a 90.3 run defense grade according to PFF and an impressive 7.9% run-stop win rate. Before raising his stock at the Senior Bowl, Alexander was projected as a day three pick but will likely push himself into the day two conversation after an impressive Senior Bowl week and his expected testing at the NFL Scouting Combine at the end of February. There are plenty other intriguing options for the Eberflus coached defense in this upcoming draft and the Cowboys could elect to shore up the position in free agency, but Darius Alexander is a name that should be on the Cowboys radar, whether that is to pair with Osa Odighizuwa or the plan to help replace the four-year veteran if he is to sign elsewhere this offseason.

Robert Scheer/IndyStar The Cowboys have made another addition to their defensive staff. The Dallas Cowboys have had a busy week filling out their coaching staff. They hired Matt Eberflus to be the defensive coordinator as well as several position coaches on that side of the ball. After bringing in Klayton Adams to be the new offensive coordinator on Friday, the Cowboys have now added David Overstreet as their new cornerbacks coach per ESPN’s Todd Archer. Curtis worked under Eberflus while he was the head coach of the Chicago Bears for three seasons. The Cowboys have hired David Overstreet, who worked with defensive backs in Chicago under new DC Matt Eberflus and new passing game coordinator Andre Curtis. — Todd Archer (@toddarcher) February 1, 2025 Overstreet spent two years as an assistant defensive backs coach for the Bears before taking over as teams nickel coach in 2024. Before he went to Chicago, Overstreet spent four years with the Indianapolis Colts. The first three were as a defensive quality control coach before moving up to an assistant defensive backs coach in 2021. He worked under Eberflus while he was the defensive coordinator for the Colts during that time as well. One thing is for certain, Eberflus is getting a ton of familiarity with his style of coaching on board in Dallas, which should make for a smooth transition, and hopefully a better defensive unit in 2025.

Tim Heitman-Imagn Images This has been a long offseason for the Cowboys and it has barely started. The Dallas Cowboys introduced their newest head coach, Brian Schottenheimer, on Monday, and ever since then have been busy building the staff that will work underneath the first-time head coach promoted from the offensive coordinator role. The hires will be just one piece of the puzzle to seeing how the 2025 Cowboys differ from the team that just suffered through a 7-10 season, with the next being the full player acquisition phase to reinfuse the roster with talent. A major step in this process is already underway with the two college All-Star bowls, and the Cowboys have done well to move just quickly enough to have something of a staff direction in place while evaluating draft prospects. Brian Schottenheimer’s introductory press conference was technically the first chance to gather info on the new direction of the franchise, with the new head ball coach seated between both Jerry and Stephen Jones. As silly as it seemingly is, there is such a perceived thing as “winning a press conference” in today’s NFL. Whether or not the Cowboys did this when introducing Schottenheimer is almost entirely dependent on any given fan’s opinion on the hire before ever hearing a word from either the front office of Schotty himself. There was not all that much from Monday’s proceedings that turned those against the hire from the start into Schottenheimer’s biggest fans and believers in the whole process, and those in favor of the hire shouldn’t have heard anything that completely swayed them the other way either. Tim Heitman-Imagn Images Two themes were persistent throughout the press conference, and they weaved their way in between long stretches of Jerry speak and cringeworthy air quotes from Stephen throughout the hour-plus session. One theme was how the hiring of Schottenheimer represents both risk and necessary change for the sake of improvement. The risk in taking a lifelong assistant coach who did not interview for any other head coaching openings this cycle and promoting him after three seasons with the Cowboys. The changes that would come with it both in Schottenheimer’s leadership abilities and coaching style, as well as more tangibly on the field. Schottenheimer did not get an extraordinary amount of time to discuss any scheme or philosophy changes he plans on implementing, but when he did it took no time at all to start with emphasizing the run game – surely music to the Jones’ ears after already interviewing Schottenheimer twice – as well as more play-action and the types of throws Dak Prescott thrived on much earlier in his career. The second theme was much more consistent, and did its best to contradict both some of the good and bad from the first. This was the theme of familiarity, of the importance of family, and the overall sense of doing things the “right way” and winning with the “right guys”. It didn’t take long for all of these things to create a comparison between Schottenheimer and former head coach Jason Garrett, also promoted from an OC role. Schottenheimer talked about the business of football always being about the people more than the X’s and O’s. As valid as this may be, the Cowboys had Monday as an opportunity for the first time since the season ended unceremoniously at home to address just how flawed they were on the X’s and O’s side of things in 2024, and all but passed on it. Without seeing a clear vision for how the team can improve here, and with all four of the conference championship participants from the day before looking leaps and bounds better in this critical area than the Cowboys, it remains hard to fully believe in this offseason being consequential enough to move this team all the way from third in the NFC East into first place again. Especially when the two teams that finished ahead of them just competed for a chance to go to the Super Bowl, both with former Cowboys coaches playing key roles in Kellen Moore for the victorious Eagles and Dan Quinn for the Commanders. It didn’t even take very long at all for Jerry to say point blank that he “wanted to be a coach”, which is sure to draw all sorts of eye rolls and discussion about the lack of experience from Schottenheimer in a role like this compared to his near lifelong dedication to the game of football. Is this the closest Jerry can actually get to having a coach like influence on the team, even commenting at length on his “proximity” to Schottenheimer in team meetings as a key part of the hiring decision? Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images Within those meetings, Jerry specifically talked about watching Schottenheimer both have “deference” to Mike McCarthy at times, and also “bite his lip” at other times when discussing game plans. If Schottenheimer’s presence was strong enough in these meetings to sell himself as a head coach without even realizing it, why was it not strong enough to make a difference on the field, where the offensive scheme persisted in the image of McCarthy’s play calling and hardly any of anything from Schottenheimer’s past in Seattle or elsewhere? If it was because a veteran head coach like McCarthy knew how to protect his own power within the team over anything else, and not allowing his coordinators to have big enough roles was a reason for parting ways after five seasons, how can the merits of a first time head coach like Schottenheimer, who will need an even stronger reliance on his support staff, be spun as a positive? If you’re going to sell a first time head coach to the fans, maybe start off by spelling his name right at the introduction @dallascowboys. My goodness. pic.twitter.com/w8phwukIbV — Sean Martin ✭ (@SeanMartinNFL) January 27, 2025 Unfortunately, these were not the only points of confusion when watching a team so desperate for a

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images Cowboys fans seem to be coming around to the idea of Brian Schottenheimer. The Dallas Cowboys season may be over, but the NFL rolls on and the offseason takes over. We still have the Super Bowl to go and all the hoopla around that (more on hoopla below), but for most teams taking care of offseason business is in full swing. The Cowboys were one of the franchises that underwent a big change, that of changing their head coach. At first, it seemed that Mike McCarthy would stay and things would just continue on until Jerry Jones wouldn’t give him the length of contract that he wanted. McCarthy walked, which led to a chaotic head coaching search that included names like Kellen Moore, Robert Saleh, and apparently Pete Carroll in a bigger way than we thought. In the end, though, it was offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer who got the job. What did Cowboys fans think of that? As you might already surmise, they didn’t like it. The most popular grade was a ‘C’ (30%), followed closely by an ‘F’ (27%) and a ‘D’ (24%). That’s a vote of no confidence. We’ll have to wait to see how it ultimately plays out. It looks like the Cowboys are assembling a pretty strong coaching staff around Schottenheimer so that may help when the 2025 season rolls around. But it is safe to say Cowboys fans aren’t thinking Super Bowl right now. Speaking of the Super Bowl, the Manning brothers will be renewing their rivalry in the Kick of Destiny before the game on Super Bowl Sunday. The brothers will battle it out in a kicking contest from 25-yards out. Peyton may have been thought of as the superior quarterback in their NFL careers, but Eli is the pick of NFL fans to win the competition. Our partners at FanDuel are putting on the competition and if you are interested in making a pick, head on over. How to Play Download or Log In to FanDuel Sportsbook. Click the Kick of Destiny Icon on the homepage with your new or existing account Make your FREE Pick before 3pm ET on Super Bowl Sunday. Pick whether you think Peyton or Eli will win the Kick of Destiny 3 Win a share of $10,000,000 in Bonus Bets if you made the correct pick. Watch live Super Bowl Sunday on Fox to see the Mannings kick! Then, check back Monday to see how much you got! What is the Kick of Destiny? It’s a field goal competition pitting brother vs brother with a max of 3 rounds. If the first kicker makes his 25-yard kick, the second kicker is given a chance to tie. But if the first kicker misses, the second kicker is given a chance to win. If both kickers miss an attempt, they will move 5 yards closer for the next round.’ If no winner is decided after 3 rounds, the kicker who kicks it closest to the center target on the net in the third round will win the tiebreaker and be crowned Kick of Destiny Champion!

Photo by Lee Coleman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Who do you think the Cowboys are going to draft in the first round? It is no secret that the 2025 NFL draft is one of the weaker classes we have seen in recent years. With only a few blue-chip prospects at the top, the 2025 class will likely see fewer first-round-graded players than we are used to. For most draft analysts, there seems to be between 10 and 13 first-round-graded players in the 2025 NFL draft. With the Cowboys owning the 12th overall pick in the 2025 draft, will they have the opportunity to land one? Another expert consensus board update. pic.twitter.com/ytF1rvjLDs — Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) January 28, 2025 Above is a recent update of the consensus board, and we can see where many of the main NFL draft evaluators have players graded in this class. Penn State’s Abdul Carter seems to be the consensus number one overall player in this class with Travis Hunter following closely behind. For most evaluators, Carter and Hunter seem to be the only blue-chip players in this class and will likely not be in range for the Cowboys to draft come April. Where things start getting interesting are the few names following Carter and Hunter. Michigan DT Mason Graham, Michigan CB Will Johnson, and Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty are the three other players landing in the top five of the consensus rankings. In Daniel Jeremiah’s most recent mock draft, he has Graham landing with the Jacksonville Jaguars at fifth-overall, Johnson landing with the Atlanta Falcons at 15th overall, and Jeanty landing with the Dallas Cowboys at 12th overall. Dane Brugler’s most recent mock draft has Graham landing with the New York Jets at seventh-overall, Johnson landing with the Jacksonville Jaguars at fifth-overall, and Ashton Jeanty landing with the Denver Broncos at 20th overall. As you can see there is no real consensus outside of Carter and Hunter, who ended up going in the first three picks in both Brugler and Jeremiah’s recent mock drafts. With the 12th overall pick, the Cowboys are likely keying in on wide receiver, offensive line, or defensive line with their first-round pick, but the sleeper here is Jeanty. He is widely considered a top five prospect by most people studying the NFL draft, but with questions about positional value and one of the deeper running back classes in recent years, it is tough to determine how high he will go in April. The Cowboys are likely to be one of the two teams in the top 15 to consider the Boise State running back, with the Chicago Bears a sneaky team to watch with the recent hire of Ben Johnson. For the Cowboys to land one of the few first-round-graded players, they will likely need a few of the quarterbacks to go off the board early to some of the quarterback-needy teams picking in the top eight. Luckily, for the Cowboys, there are currently six teams (Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders, New York Jets, New Orleans Saints) in the top ten who could be in the market for a quarterback as of today. With Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders the only two quarterbacks garnering top ten consideration, there is a good chance both players could go ahead of the Cowboys in this year’s draft, pushing first-round-graded players at positions of need to them. As of today, I currently have only 11 first-round grades in the 2025 draft. Those 11 are: 1. Abdul Carter, ED, Penn State2. Travis Hunter, WR/DB, Colorado3. Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Arizona4. Mason Graham, iDL, Michigan5. Will Campbell, OL, LSU6. Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State7. Malaki Starks, S, Georgia8. Will Johnson, CB, Michigan9. Mike Green, ED, Marshall 10. Emeka Egbuka, WR, Ohio State11. Jalon Walker, ED, Georgia The Cowboys will likely be right on the border of being able to draft one of those players based on where they stand currently, making the next few months a nervous wait for the front office and fans. In most cases, the 12th overall pick is almost guaranteed to land you a first-round-graded player, but unfortunately for the Cowboys they are ending up with a premium draft slot in a non-premium draft year.

Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images The latest and greatest news surrounding the Cowboys is here. Cowboys name Klayton Adams new offensive coordinator – Todd Archer, ESPN Dallas keeps filling out their new coaching staff. While Brian Schottenheimer will call plays in his first year as the Dallas Cowboys’ coach, he has hired his offensive coordinator in former Arizona Cardinals offensive line coach Klayton Adams. Adams, 41, spent the past two seasons in that role for the Cardinals and is well regarded across the league for his run game. The Cardinals had the seventh-ranked run game in the NFL last year (144.2 yards per game) and were second in yards per carry (5.3). James Conner had 1,094 yards and eight rushing touchdowns for Arizona in 2024. The Cowboys were led by Rico Dowdle, who is set to be an unrestricted free agent, with 1,079 yards and just two touchdowns. The Cowboys had only six rushing touchdowns on the season. The Cowboys are expected to hire an offensive line coach in addition to having Adams. Before joining Arizona, Adams spent four seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, working with the tight ends and serving as an assistant offensive line coach. Ready to run? Here’s what Cowboys new OC hire could mean for Dallas’ offense – Calvin Watkins, DMN The Cowboys look like they want to run more, but who’s going to carry the rock? With Schottenheimer as the offensive play caller and with the run schemes Adams used with the Arizona Cardinals in his two seasons as the offensive line coach, this might be a good fit. In 2024, Arizona finished 7th in rushing yards (2,451) and yards per game (144.2). The previous season, the Cardinals were fourth in rushing yards (2,365) and yards per game (139.1). The problem with all this success in Arizona is that Dallas doesn’t have a lead running back for the 2025 season or a quarterback that moves. Dallas Cowboys making one thing clear in Schottenheimer era: They will ‘run the damn ball’ – Nick Harris, Star Telegram Harris with some early ideas about who could end up carrying the rock. In 2024, the Cardinals led the NFL in post-snap pulling with offensive linemen in the run game, as Adams specialized in intricate blocking schemes that allowed for multiple blockers to pave holes for running backs such as veteran James Conner who finished with the highest single-season rushing total (1,094 yards) in his seven-year career. While at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., the Cowboys’ scouting department put in a lot of work in interviewing multiple running backs such as UCF’s R.J. Harvey, USC’s Woody Marks and Kansas’ Devin Neal among others. With Rico Dowdle set to hit free agency, Deuce Vaughn is the only running back from the 2024 active roster signed for next season. Drafting one running back, if not two, was already a necessity. With a now clear emphasis on establishing a run game, it’s now become a requirement. Whether it’s drafting Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty with the No. 12 overall pick or selecting production machines such as Harvey or Neal later on, the need is there for a running weapon in a league where Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry have powered their teams to deep playoff runs. With the right hire and weapons in place to do that, it will only make life easier for Dak Prescott and the beginning of the Schottenheimer era. Interesting to note that AZ’s run game has been more diverse (and effective) with its run scheme than DAL since Adams came on board prior to 2023, notably using “counter” concept runs much more frequently (over 3x more) over the past 2 seasons. #Cowboys https://t.co/KpmsatD9QQ — John Owning (@JohnOwning) January 27, 2025 Courtesy of @JohnOwning, here’s a direct comparison of run concepts between the two teams. What to expect from new Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams – David Howman, Blogging The Boys Here are the important nuggets about Klayton Adams. 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