Story by
Cowboys front office tying new head coach's hands behind his back, and for what?
- Story by
- Cowboys front office tying new head coach's hands behind his back, and for what?
Being an NFL head coach is no easy task. They have to manage their coaching staff, develop their players, serve as an intermediary between the roster and the front office, deal with obligations from media, scheme successful gameplans, and find a way to win games all before the fanbase and ownership turns against them. Being the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys is all this, times 10.
First-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer didn't just get his dream job in 2025, he potentially got his worst nightmare. The headaches that come with coaching America's Team are well documented over the years and 2025 has certainly proven to be no exception.
Advertisement
Not only are the Cowboys blanketed in controversy with Micah Parsons sitting out, but they are attempting to rebound from a disastrous 7-10 season by improving their 31st-ranked defense and 25th-ranked offensive line from a season before. Achieving such a massive endeavor would be a tough ask for the very best coach in the league, yet the Cowboys are asking a first-time head coach to do it and to do it without major investment in free agent upgrades.
Just days before the regular season kicks off in Philadelphia , the Cowboys are dealing with a handful of very predictable problems they could have addressed months ago. The cornerback position is in utter disrepair since Trevon Diggs and Shevon Revel are still recovering from knee injuries. Dallas knew Diggs would see a late start even before free agency opened last March and they suspected the same when they added the injured Revel in the draft back in April. Yet they did very little to cover themselves leading up to the season. It's a situation Schottenheimer has been tasked to deal with.
Defensive tackle is another predictable problem the Cowboys chose to ignore. 1-tech has long been a point of weakness on the defensive line yet the Cowboys did next to nothing to help it. Now the Cowboys enter the 2025 season trying to improve the second-worst run defense in the league with a massive question mark at the DT position.
As if that wasn't enough, the Cowboys also neglected to upgrade at the offensive tackle positions. They are hoping Terence Steele and Tyler Guyton can improve on their dismal 2024 seasons, but they didn't add much in the way of back-up plans. Like defensive tackle, organic improvement from within is the hope. And again, the front office isn't doing much to help the head coach.
Advertisement
Parsons, a player who's refused to practice or play, has added to the complicated nature of the situation.
As Schottenheimer's top defender, he's someone the team can ill afford to lose if they want to even tread water as a unit, let alone improve on last season. Re-signing him feels like a no-brainer, but the front office has dug in their heels and Schottenheimer's been left to deal with the consequences.
Coaching an NFL team is never supposed to be easy, that's why those guys get paid the big bucks. But coaching the Cowboys in 2025, under these specific set of circumstances feels like an especially challenging situation. Good luck, Schotty!
You can follow Reid on X @ReidDHanson and be sure to follow Cowboys Wire on Facebook to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys FO has put HC Brian Schottenheimer in tough position for 2025
