Inside The Star
For the last four years, one thing the Dallas Cowboys did not have to worry about was the production that they got from former special teams coach John Fassel.
Now with him gone and in Tennessee, the Dallas Cowboys are turning to former 49ers coach Nick Sorensen to keep the production just as high, and maybe even get it to another level.
With Fassel, three of his players earned six Pro Bowl berths, including returner KaVontae Turpin and kicker Brandon Aubrey last season.
Dallas set an NFL record in averaging 32.1 yards per kickoff with Turpin leading the league with 33.5 yards per kickoff return. He also had a 60-yard punt return. Aubrey was second in field goals made.
Sorensen, a 10-year veteran as a player from 2001-10, has plenty of playing experience on special teams. As a coach, he was an assistant on the Seahawks’ staff in 2013-16. Sorensen has been on staff with Schottenheimer before, both serving on the Jaguars staff in 2021.
Nick Sorensen has the easiest job on staff with his special teams roster lined up and officially returning. Bryan Anger was the final piece of the puzzle and it just fell into place. https://t.co/Jvbsf5nWIx
— Jess Nevarez (@JessNevarez_) March 12, 2025
I don’t know much about Sorensen. He was the defensive coordinator for the 49ers a year ago, but was fired after they had a very underwhelming season.
Nick was once before a special teams coach with the Jags in 2021.
The issue I have found is that when he was the ST coordinator with the Jags, they ranked 30th in the league. Now they did not have a guy like Turpin as their main man, but after diving into this a bit more, I am not doing flips over this hire.
It is going to be hard to do what Fassel did with this group, year after year, but when you have maybe the best kicker in football in Aubrey and the fastest man in the NFL as your weapons, it makes things a lot easier. Oh, and let’s not forget about Bryan Anger.
I think he just needs to keep things simple and don’t try to overdue it, allow your All-Pro players to do the dirty work and add in a few wrinkles. You have all the talent in the world in this group, no need to overdue it.
This new staff under Brian Schottenheimer looks good on paper, but when it comes time to do the dirty work, will they be able to handle the pressure of coaching Jerry Jones? That is something we will find out very quickly. It may work out, or it will get very ugly.
