You wouldn’t know it based on the headline-driven narratives the national media has ran with, but it has been a fantastic week for the Dallas Cowboys.
It started with Brian Schottenheimer nailing his introductory press conference. That was followed by some truly savvy moves, including extending vice president of player personnel Will McClay, retaining tight ends coach Lunda Wells and hiring Aaron Whitecotton to coach the defenisve line.
The Cowboys have gone about their business and have quietly put together an A+ staff for Schottenheimer. Schottenheimer himself deserves credit for that and his fingerprints are all over the team’s offensive coordinator hire, which just became official.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Cowboys have hired Cardinals offensive line coach Klayton Adams as their offensive coordinator. It’s a done deal.
It was reported early Friday that Adams would be at The Star on Friday for an in-person interview after taking a virtual interview last week. Cowboys fans urged the team to not let Adams leave the building without a deal and they did just that.
Brian Schottenheimer has reiterated since he was hired that he wants to become a strong running offense. Well, Adams is the perfect man for the job.
According to Bo Brack of PHNX Sports, the Cardinals’ 30 allowed sacks this past season were the fifth-fewest in the NFL. They also allowed the third-fewest pressures. In terms of Arizona’s running game, only the Eagles and Ravens have more rushing yards the last two years. They are also second in that span with 5.2 yards per carry as a team.
Adams was the architect behind all of that. The Cardinals’ offensive line thoroughly outperformed their talent thanks to Adams’ coaching and their run schemes were some of the most exotic in football.
A lot of Arizona’s success on the ground can be attributed to how much they ran counter run schemes. The Cardinals ran the second-most counter runs in the NFL this past season, while Dallas ranked 30th, per Mauricio Rodriguez of A to Z Sports Dallas.
It is important to remember that Schottenheimer will call plays. That leaves Adams’ role open for interpretation but it stands to reason he’ll serve as the de facto run-game coordinator while also designing the offense’s blocking schemes.
It has definitely been hard to sell optimism for the Schottenheimer Era, but if you pair some of the hires that have already been made with adopting Arizona’s run scheme and offensive line play with (likely) improved talent at running back, that is one heck of a start.
