Just about every week, there seems to be a few questions coming my way with people wanting to know more about Will McClay.
He's the assistant director of player personnel for the Cowboys, a role that he took on before the team left for Oxnard before the 2013 season.
It was a nice promotion for a guy that is extremely hard working and prepared. What is different about McClay from the other guys that have sat in that chair, is that his background is more on the pro side of the ball. Guys like Larry Lacewell, Jeff Ireland and Tom Ciskowski were guys that went on the road to scout the college players.
What I like about this change for the front office and coaches, is that McClay knows this league backwards and forwards. One of the key component in building your 53 man roster is knowing who you are playing. College scouts are [embedded_ad]
outstanding at telling you about that safety at Florida State but very few of them can tell you who is lining up there for the Washington Redskins.
I have worked with McClay before and he even followed me in Jacksonville, when I came to Dallas. His strengths are an old school belief in the toughness of your team, along with speed but his best trait is understanding how this league is about matchups. He has a keen understanding of how you find players that can handle the quickness out of the slot against the Giants or the edge rushers in Seattle or the offensive power of the 49ers.
To McClay it's about winning your division first, then working from there. With McClay, you will not have a mixed matched squad. From my experience with him, each player will have a specific role and assignment on why they are part of the roster and he will be able to marry that with the other members of the front office. Communication is extremely important to him.
