FRISCO, Texas – And we say this once again, and maybe this time with even more gusto and especially for these Dallas Cowboys: There is no "off" in the NFL offseason. Just a bunch of busy bees.
As a reminder, this is basically what we should just call the "no- game season."
Let's see, over a week's time the Cowboys have:
Hired a new defensive coordinator, Christian Parker.
They have played host to the annual East-West Shrine Bowl week of practices with the game being played out here at Ford Center Tuesday night.
In the meantime, they have pulled up stakes and headed to Mobile, Ala., for this week's Senior Bowl practices with the game being played Saturday afternoon.
They are in the midst of reconstructing their defensive coaching staff after firing previous coordinator Matt Eberflus and moving on from four of their 2025 defensive assistants – so far. That includes defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton, who was given permission to make a somewhat lateral move to Tennessee as the Titans' defensive line/run game coordinator.
And while in Mobile, along with Parker and head coach Brian Schottenheimer leading the way, they are now conducting interviews to fill defensive assistant positions.
Plus, they don't merely just watch those Senior Bowl practices. There are the highly beneficial player interviews taking place since the 2026 NFL Draft, so crucial to rebuilding this defense with two first-round draft choices in their back pocket (Nos. 12 and 20), is now but three months away, that preceded by the NFL Scouting Combine a month from now as well.
Oh, and it's never too soon to commence working on signing some of their own impending unrestricted free agents like Javonte Williams, George Pickens and Jadeveon Clowney.
As my mom liked to say, "No rest for the weary."
Nor for us, a multitude of "shots" awaiting, no matter the 3-inch thick of ice coating my driveway the past four days, allowing me to reacquaint myself with a slapshot for kicks.
- Schotty' Shots: Make no mistake just who is leading the charge putting this defensive staff together. It's head coach Brian Schottenheimer in concert with Parker, whose perceived personality seems in lockstep with Schottenheimer's. Cowboys COO and co-owner Stephen Jones has said as much during various interviews from the Senior Bowl, pointing out how Schotty and Parker are leading the charge. And as Stephen said, they would like to have this defensive staff in place by the weekend. Then there was this from Stephen about no-game season priorities, which will be music to your ears, "The biggest thing, we want to get our personnel, we need to have the defense evolve into one of the top defenses in the league." An unanimously seconded motion.
- Let's Not Forget: It's being reported that the Cowboys are interviewing Minnesota assistant defensive line coach Marcus Dixon for the vacant defensive line coaching job. What seemingly most have forgotten, it was the Cowboys and owner Jerry Jones giving Dixon his first shot in the NFL, signing him in 2008 as an undrafted free agent out of Hampton University. Dixon spent two seasons on the team's practice squad before getting released during the final cuts in 2010, then picked up by the Jets where he started four games in his 22 played over three seasons. Started his coaching career back at Hampton, then went on to coach with the Rams and Broncos before ending up with the Vikings. If I remember correctly, ran into him the summer of 2022 when the Cowboys held a few practices in Denver with the Broncos. He introduced himself with one of those, "Do you remember me?" greetings. I sure did. Has an amazing life story. Google him.
- Hands Off, Mike: Nice to see the Steelers hiring former Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy as just their fourth head coach since Chuck Noll was hired in in 1969, followed by Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin. McCarthy emotionally accepted his dream job, having grown up in the Greenfield area of Pittsburgh. But hey, Mike, get your hands off Cowboys valued tight ends coach Lunda Wells, who was being interviewed for Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator position. Now, McCarthy already has said he's running the Steelers offense and calling plays, as he did with the Cowboys, but knows he needs a trusted hand to handle the OC busy work. Wells, who led the West squad's 21-17 win over the East in Tuesday night's 101st Shrine Bowl as the head coach, has done a wonderful job with the Cowboys tight ends, having a hand in developing Dalton Schultz, Jake Ferguson and even out-of-nowhere undrafted free agent Brevyn Spann-Ford since Mike brought him here in 2020. And you, too, Dan Quinn, interviewing Lunda for the OC, and now the Jets as well with Aaron Glenn also looking for a new coordinator.
- Shriners Shrining: There always seems to be someone out of nowhere sort of, uh, shrining in the East-West Shrine Bowl. Last year it was running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt popping up as the Offensive MVP, rushing for 97 yards and two touchdowns after eligibility confusion limited him to just one game in 2024 with Arizona. The Commanders drafted Croskey-Merritt in the seventh round, only for the rookie to become Washington's leading rusher with 805 yards and an NFL rookie-running-back high eight touchdowns. And this year it's got to be the East squad's Defensive MVP Mason Reiger of Wisconsin, thanks to his three sacks, one of those a strip-fumble. He also showed the ability to play the run, finishing with four tackles, and he did a nice job setting the edge for a guy previously considered a Day 3 draft prospect. Consider eyes opened for sure.
- Rubbing It In: After signing a free agent deal with Seattle this past offseason and getting into a social media scrum with former Cowboys teammate Micah Parsons a year ago March, 11-year Cowboys veteran defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence stated he'd have a better chance of winning a Super Bowl in Seattle than with the Cowboys, finishing with "I'm here." Well, he's a man of his word since Seattle plays New England next Sunday in Super Bowl LX. And Lawrence had a lot to do with the Seahawks' 31-27 NFC Championship Game victory over the Los Angeles Rams. Check this line out: On 28 snaps (47 percent), D-Law finished with three tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss, three QB hits, one pass defensed and two forced fumbles. He richly deserves this opportunity.
- Off the Cuff: See there is an uproar over the leak of information concerning Bill Belichick not becoming a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer when results are announced next Thursday during the awards ceremony prior to Super Bowl LX. But know voters can only choose three candidates among the coach category (Belichick), owner category (Robert Kraft) and the three senior nominees (Ken Anderson, Roger Craig, L.C. Greenwood). And just read an extensive piece predicting one of those Patriots very well could be left out on some ballots … NFL owners continue going young with head coach hires, the Bills promoting OC Joe Brady to head coach at 36 … Starting with 10 head coach openings, do we really think there are 10 legit head coach candidates out there, which is just why we get retreads and so many coordinators hired as first-time head coaches … Me, I'd be also looking at these college CEOs, since at least they have experience running the whole show … Talk about being on a fast coaching track. At age 25, Parker was hired to coach cornerbacks at Notre Dame (2017), then at 26 as a defensive analyst at Texas A&M and at 27 a Packers defensive quality control coach before moving on to Denver in 2021 as defensive backs coach before turning 30.
For this week's final word, thought this was an interesting perspective from Stephen Jones during one of his many interviews Tuesday from the Senior Bowl, this one pertaining to being a member of the NFL Competition Committee when asked about any new rule alterations being discussed.
"We'll look at these things here starting right away," Stephen began during an NFL Radio interview. "We've already had several calls, and I expect, like we do very year, to expand replay assist and, you know, how we operate that and at what point in games. Right now we do it at the two-minute mark. Should we move it to four minutes, five minutes at the end of the game?
"So you do get things right, especially at the end where, you know, our fans even focus more because one call there at the end of the game, and not to say the ones early don't (matter), but certainly at the end they stick with you."
Why, for the sake of getting it right, let's go.
