FRISCO, Texas – And now the Dallas Cowboys rest.
Been a whirlwind offseason for sure, first on Jan. 12 moving on from head coach Mike McCarthy, allowing his five-year contract to expire.
Then 12 days later, on Jan. 24, the Cowboys announce the hiring of Brian Schottenheimer as head coach, the 51-year-old long-time NFL assistant's first gig as the head man.
Then he had to put together nearly an entirely new coaching staff, bringing in three new coordinators, totaling 17 new assistant coaches – five of those with previous coaching ties to the Cowboys, including new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, who had spent seven seasons in Dallas from 2011-17 as the linebacker coach, the next four as the Colts defensive coordinator and the past three as the Chicago Bears head coach.
By Jan. 29, the Cowboys extended vice president of player personnel Will McClay.
Then, how about all this to date:
Ten either renegotiated or re-signing of their own players, most notably Osa Odighizuwa, KaVontae Turpin, Brian Anger and C.J. Goodwin.
Four players traded for, including George Pickens, Kenneth Murray, Kaiir Elam and Joe Milton.
Nine players drafted.
Nine players signed as undrafted rookie free agents.
Twelve external free-agent signings.
Eight players they moved on from in free agency, most notably DeMarcus Lawerence, Jourdan Lewis, Brandin Cooks, Cooper Rush and Rico Dowdle.
One retired player, that being nine-time Pro Bowl guard Zack Martin.
Whew, busy, busy, busy.
And now after conducting a three-day rookie minicamp, nine days of OTA workouts and a three-day mandatory minicamp, yes, they rest until boarding their charter flight on July 20 for the start of training camp in Oxnard, California.
Oh, and one more on the to-do list, sorry, wanting to sign Pro Bowler Micah Parsons to a contract extension while having scoured available players as potential free agents from the United Football League.
Yeah, that's about it. Go ahead, take a break.
"I don't know if you ever get it all accomplished. I feel really, really good about the offseason program," Schottenheimer said during his final press conference of the offseason, then going on to mention what he and the coaches did with the players off the field, concluding with, "So I think that's been amazing. I think getting the system in place in all three of those phases is really important.
"I love where we're at right now offensively, just in terms of the changes and the adjustments and things that we're going to do. I feel really good about that."
So see you in the fourth week of July.
- Encouraging Words: These are only projections but thought this interesting when referring to the Cowboys' 2025 NFL Draft. Their first two picks, guard Tyler Booker and defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku, were selected to NFL.com's projected 22-member All-Rookie Team. As for Booker, heck, I could have predicted that, seeing as he was the first player at his position drafted, the Cowboys taking him at No. 12, and from just watching him out here at these workouts. But wasn't as sure about Ezeiruaku, the 44th player chosen, 12th in the second round. And here is the NFL.com synopsis of his choice: "With pterodactyl length and hair-on-fire spirit, Ezeiruaku explodes off the snap with a quick first-step, often allowing him to get to the edge and bend to the quarterback. If the pure speed rush doesn't work, no worries. The dude knows how to use his hands, and he has a full bag of tricks that range from a spin to a Euro step to a pretty wicked ghost move." Oh wait, work to do there, the Boston College product is one of 30 second-round draft choices yet to sign their contracts, a consorted effort by agents to get their guys guaranteed contracts as the first two players drafted in the round were given in unprecedented fashion.
- Salary Boosts: There is a little-known salary boost for fourth-year players called a Proven Performance Escalator that began in 2018 with the new CBA. The formula is based on starts over the first three years for players drafted from the second through seventh rounds. The Cowboys' largest boost went to 2022 fifth-round draft choice DaRon Bland, the only third-tier classification. He will be going from his $1.1 million fourth-year base salary to $5.346 million, equal to being tendered at the second-round restricted free agent level. Carl Pickens, a 2022 Steelers second-round pick, classified a Tier 2 player, received a $250,000 base salary raise, bumping up to $3.65 million. The Cowboys have three more players with performance-based boosts: third-round draft choice Jalen Tolbert jumping from a $1.4 million base to the $3.406 level; fourth-rounder Jake Ferguson jumping from $1.4 million to $3.406; and the same for fifth-round linebacker Damon Clark, thanks to starting 73 percent of his 2023 season games and 40 percent overall. Those bumps equal being a restricted free agent tendered at their original draft choice level. Nice pay raises but eating into that Cowboys' 2025 cap space.
- Kicking It Around: Former Cowboys kicker, special teams assistant/kicking coach Chris Boniol is sending yet another kicker from the spring football league to the NFL. Chris first did so with Cowboys two-time Pro Bowl kicker Brandon Aubrey while serving as the special teams coach for then USFL Birmingham Stallions following the 2023 spring season. And this offseason, with the Stallions now in the UFL, Boniol is sending his 2025 kicker Harrison Mevis to the New York Jets. Mevis, better known as the "Thiccer Kicker" at the University of Missouri, was signed last year and released by Carolina during his rookie season. But under Boniol's guidance, Mevis nailed 20 of 21 attempts for Birmingham this spring, the three-time defending champs beaten by the Michigan Panthers in the playoffs, the first postseason loss for Stallions head coach Skip Holtz, son of Lou Holtz. Mevis has 60-yard range.
- Off The Cuff: Parsons came in ninth on the NFLPA's top-50 year-end player's sales list, with CeeDee Lamb finishing 17th and Dak Prescott fifth in bobblehead sales … Former Cowboys assistant coach Brett Maxie (2008-11), father of Cowboys current mid-states area scout Brett Maxie II, spent nine of his 13-season NFL playing career with New Orleans and is being inducted this year into the Saints Hall of Fame … Did you realize, led by Parson's 12 sacks, the Cowboys totaled 52 team sacks in 2024, third in the NFL behind Denver (63) and Baltimore (54). And to think Micah missed four games with 34 of the team's sacks coming after Parsons returned for the final nine games … Here's one more, from 2020-24, McCarthy's five season's as head coach, the Cowboys averaged 30 points a home game, the second most during that period to only Buffalo's 30.4, and that includes just a 24.67 mark in the 6-10 season of 2020, even though they were averaging 38.3 the first three home games until Dak suffered his season ending leg injury.
Can't seem to shy away from what first-round draft choice Tyler Booker has to say, so we'll rely on the presumptive starting right guard for this week's final words. This came during the minicamp when asked if it helps having veterans like Tyler Smith and Terence Steele in the offensive room to provide guidance for his rookie season.
"We're building great chemistry, and just like I said earlier, having guys with experience right next to me, so if I ever have a question right before that, they're able to help me out and lead me in the right direction," said Booker, knowing even center Cooper Beebe has at least one year under his belt to his immediate left. "But I'm trying to make sure that doesn't become a habit, you know what I mean? I'm very prideful in knowing the offense, and I want to make sure I'm not holding this room back by any means.
"So I'm definitely in my playbook a lot to make sure that I'm not going to hold the offense back."
See what I mean about this guy?
