INDIANAPOLIS – In 2025, the Cowboys offense was among the best in the NFL under new head coach and play caller Brian Schottenheimer as well as offensive coordinator Klayton Adams.
The benefit that Dallas' offensive staff had in their first year together was the unknown. Schottenheimer hadn't called plays since his final year as offensive coordinator of the Seahawks in 2020. Adams was a first-time coordinator who got to help design concepts for the first time. Heading into year two, Adams and the staff know they need to stay ahead of the curve now that there's a year's worth of film on their offense for opposing teams to study.
"That's a conversation that we're constantly having," Adams said. "People, I'm not sure where it came from, but everybody's got this term like 'Oh, we're going to run it back, or 'we're just going to roll it back out there,' and to me, that's the worst mindset you can possibly have, is 'Alright, here's some stuff that worked last year, let's just try it again.'"
"Having said that, you've also got to understand what your core building blocks are and who you are as an offense, and that's going to change a little bit every year as well. But in my opinion, if you just go back out there and you're like, 'here it is,' there's too many good football players in this league and too many good coaches in this league for that to work. So you've constantly got to be trying to seek the edge and find the sharper points of how you can get better."
As the Cowboys have begun and continue their self-scouting process in the offseason, one of the places that Adams has used to draw inspiration for innovative tweaks to the offseason were Dallas' interviews for their defensive coordinator position, which was filled by Christian Parker.
"Just hearing specifically how some of the teams that we were playing against are trying to defend us, and some of the things that concern them or worry them, is good for me to hear," Adams said. "Because quite frankly, I'm not always thinking of it from that same perspective."
"So just hearing some of the things that people are saying, 'Hey, this is what kept me up at night,' or 'this is what we're really worried that you guys were going to do.' It just gives me thoughts and ideas on how we want to attack and use those guys going forward."
One of the pieces Adams and the offense will have returning in 2026 and beyond is Javonte Williams, who signed a three-year, $24 million deal to remain with the Cowboys on Tuesday. Even though Williams posted career highs with 1,201 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns, there's a lot more he does without the ball that adds to his value.
"He's a huge part of it, not just for the run game, he does a lot for us in pass protection," Adams said of Williams. "He's a good leader, he's a good teammate, and really just making it as simple as possible, if you got George Pickens on one side and you've got CeeDee Lamb on the other side, he's one of our kind of aspects or ways that we take advantage of the middle of the defense."
"Being able to not necessarily just jam the ball down the middle all the time, but really having the ability to beat up the inside of the defense with those two guys on the outside, it just makes us more whole."
On the offensive line blocking for players like Williams and quarterback Dak Prescott, the Cowboys have invested a lot of first-round draft capital to be able to hold up in the trenches. There are a lot of questions at tackle, but Adams feels there can be solutions for both.
With soon-to-be third-year left tackle Tyler Guyton, a big part of his potential solution is availability.
"The most important thing for a young player, specifically talking about Tyler Guyton, is you've got to get out there and you've got to play," Adams said. "That's the part I know that he's been the most frustrated with, is he plays really well in training camp, and then he got dinged up, and then he starts coming back really without having much of a training camp, and then gets dinged again. So he's just been a little bit unlucky in that way."
One of the metrics that Adams uses himself to measure progress with young players is when they hit 20 to 25 career starts. Guyton has 21 through two seasons in Dallas, and is in the range where Adams has seen players begin to figure themselves out.
"Once you can get a guy through that first 20 to 25 starts, you can really start seeing those guys kind of self-reflecting and kind of modernizing their game on their own a little bit, which is always fun to see." Adams said.
Could a move to right tackle, where Guyton played in college at Oklahoma be on the table?
"That's not something that we've gotten into so far this offseason," Adams said. "At the end of the day, to get your best five guys out there, anything's on the table, but that specifically hasn't been."
As for the current right tackle Terence Steele, Adams believes he can continue building and improving off the things he already is doing well, and become a better player goin into the seventh year of his career with the Cowboys.
"I just think that there's a ton of good things that he's doing," Adams said. "The margins are smaller as you get later in your career for the type of improvement that you specifically want to be able to make, but we've got an improvement plan ready for him for probably seven or eight different things that maybe he hasn't worked on in his career. And so I can certainly see some of the benefits of the way that the guy works. He's an absolute pro, and we're gonna continue to find ways to help him get better."
