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When news broke that the Dallas Cowboys were interviewing offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer for their vacant head coaching gig, it turned heads around the NFL for all of the wrong reasons.
Now granted, teams hiring their offensive coordinators to head coaching jobs is nothing new, especially when their old coach isn’t fired but instead has their contract expire or opt to retire, but usually, that coach is still an in-demand prospect. While Schottenheimer has coordinated a few good offenses over the years, including as recently as 2023, he’s coming off of a bad season in a strong coaching class, where big names like Robert Saleh remain on the open market.
Discussing the Cowboys’ interest in keeping Schottenheimer in Dallas but in a grander role, career backup quarterback Chase Daniel unloaded the clip on Jerry Jones and company in an appearance on Scoop City, noting that the team will never find success if they continue to avoid premier candidates because of their organizational pull.
“He’s never been a head coach; he doesn’t have head coaching experience. This isn’t an indictment on him, but like he’s been around the league forever. You let go of a Super Bowl-winning coach if this happens, we don’t know if this happens, but you let go of a Super Bowl-winning coach, who you could’ve had, and you decide to go through everyone else,” Daniel boldly declared. ”
You get a late start to it, you don’t even interview Ben Johnson, you don’t even interview all these other big-named guys, and Kellen Moore is out there, which I think would be good, but you end up with Brian Schottenheimer. I think it’s because Jerry wants to pull the strings. He’ll never give up control of pulling the strings, and Brian Schottenheimer is like, here’s a carrot, it’s dangling in front of me, and you get to be the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, but I get to pull the strings. Okay, let’s do it.”
Is Daniel on the money? In a word, yes; since news broke that Schottenheimer was a potential target for the Cowboys, fans, pundits, and reporters alike have noted that this feels like an opportunity for Jones to hire a “Jerry guy” who will allow him to run the show without the owner being challenged. Goodness, NFL Insider Ian Rapoport went so far as to suggest that Jones might be targeting Schottenheimer because he won’t cost as much to hire as some of his more acclaimed peers, with the certified billionaire multiple times over opting to save a few million dollars on the most important role in his familial organization
Throw that all together, and it’s hard to see why anyone would want the Cowboys’ job at all.
Could Dallas ultimately end up hiring someone like Moore, who is considered a totally fine option by most? Sure thing, but after going to war over the literal sun earlier this year, Jones may just dig in his heels to prove he’s the smartest man...
