When former Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy was let go after four inconsistent seasons in Dallas, hardly anyone expected Jerry Jones to promote someone from within. There were even rumors linking Hall of Fame Cowboys legend Deion Sanders to the job.
After weeks of speculation, Jerry and Stephen Jones hired Brian Schottenheimer as the next head coach. However, the decision reportedly surprised Schottenheimer himself, as he had been planning to leave Dallas for another play-calling opportunity.
Yes. Cowboys insider Ed Werder revealed this while disputing a recent NFL.com report that suggested Schottenheimer had an agreement to remain with the team even if he was not hired as head coach.
“Not true. Stephen told me there was no way to have McCarthy return and keep Schotty,” Werder revealed. “Schotty last July on our Doomsday podcast 1-on-1: ‘I figured that they were going to work it all out. I’ll be quite transparent. I was planning on leaving because I wanted to go call the plays someplace else. And sometimes when your contract expires, you have those opportunities. So, you know, I was planning on, okay, Mike, you know- good luck with everything. And I was, you know, surprised when it didn’t work out.’”
However, NFL.com cited the podcast where Scottenheimer himself said that he had an “agreement” with the Cowboys that if he didn’t get hired as an HC, he would get a coordinator’s job.
Per Kevin Patra, who works for the NFL as a staff writer, Schottenheimer, who served as Mike McCarthy’s offensive coordinator for two seasons without calling plays, said on “The Twins Take Podcast” that he had an agreement with Jerry and Stephen Jones to stay with the Cowboys if he wasn’t selected as the team’s next head coach.
On that podcast, Scottenheimer said, “So, what we did is while they were going through the process — ’cause there’s a process, right? I wasn’t sure, and there were a number of other teams — saying this very humbly — that were courting me and trying to say, ‘Hey, we want you to come be our coordinator.'”
He also added, “And so, you know, after just talking it over with Stephen and Jerry, like, OK, while we figure this out and you guys go through the interview process, which is a thorough interview process you have to go through. We had made an agreement that I would stay here no matter what. And I didn’t want to leave. … I really wanted to be the head coach and put our fingerprint, our blueprint, on it. And that’s what God had planned.”
Both reports may look contradictory on a surface level, but are actually complementary to each other. Or let’s say they were in favor of Schottenheimer. One is saying the then-newly hired HC had an agreement to stay in Dallas. While the other one is saying, quoting Scottenheimer, that he was planning to leave Dallas.
Why I’m saying both reports could be true and are not contradictory is that Scottenheimer has deep ties with Jerry and Stephen of the Cowboys. But, it’s a matter of fact that he also has to look after his family. I mean, even though he had a so-called agreement with the Cowboys, not even Scottenheimer can deny that his life would have been a roller coaster if things didn’t work out in Dallas as a play-caller. That would have been a suicidal attempt to lose an opportunity anywhere with a dark future amid coordinator’s jobs at other teams.
But if we consider the report that Schottenheimer had an agreement with the Cowboys, it appears Jerry and Stephen Jones wanted to keep Schottenheimer in Dallas. And they did it. Schottenheimer held the offensive coordinator role in 2023 and 2024 but did not call plays.
Now, with him as head coach, the Cowboys are hoping to regain their offensive success. In his first year as a head coach, the Cowboys won seven games out of the total 17 in the regular season, ranking second in the NFC East. Now, whenever the reports about his hirings come, his job is to get the Dak Prescott-led Cowboys to the playoffs first and then the Super Bowl to fulfill the dream of millions.
1 Comment
Pingback: NFL news, July 10, 2026