Cowboys news: Head coach search continues with Kellen Moore, Brian Schottenheimer, Anthony Lynn

NFL Insider: Eagles’ Kellen Moore Front-Runner for Cowboys HC Job After McCarthy Exit – Doric Sam, Bleacher Report

None of us should be surprised if Kellen Moore is the next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

Machota noted that Moore was the first person to interview for the Cowboys’ head coach opening, and team owner Jerry Jones “thinks highly” of him.

Under Moore’s direction, the Eagles ranked seventh in the NFL in total offense with 367.2 yards per game and second with 179.3 rushing yards per game during the regular season. Philadelphia is one win away from making the Super Bowl for the second time in three years, as it will meet the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday.

With Moore focused on trying to help the Eagles achieve a Super Bowl berth, the Cowboys would have to wait a while before they could tab him for their head coaching position. According to Machota, “The longer the search goes, the more likely it would seem that Moore is the pick.”

Report: Cowboys, former position coach have ‘expressed mutual interest’ in HC candidacy – Todd Brock, The Cowboys Wire

The Cowboys are reportedly considering yet another defensive-minded head coach.

Among the candidates who have been discussed- albeit with wildly varying degrees of seriousness- are Kellen Moore, Deion Sanders, Jason Witten, Aaron Glenn, Mike Zimmer, and Brian Schottenheimer, all of whom have been on Jerry Jones’s payroll in one position or another over the years.

Now add Anthony Lynn.

Ed Werder of WFAA reports that there is “expressed mutual interest” between Lynn and the Cowboys for the team’s current head coaching vacancy. But despite a desire by both sides to meet, any talks will have to be delayed, as the job Lynn currently holds has him a little busy this week.

Lynn served on Dan Quinn’s staff in Washington this season as the Commanders’ run game coordinator and running backs coach. He’ll be preparing this week to square off against the Eagles with a Super Bowl berth on the line. He knows the divisional rivalries well; one of his first NFL jobs was in elsewhere in the NFC East, in Dallas during the Bill Parcells regime.

An ex-running back himself who played six seasons with the Broncos and 49ers, Lynn is a McKinney native who played his college ball at Texas Tech.

NFL insider provides clarity around the latest Dallas Cowboys’ coaching rumor frustrating fans at the start of the week – Mauricio Rodriguez, A to Z Sports

Without much of Mike McCarthy’s staff expected back, Brian Schottenheimer faces longer odds than some are suggesting to become the Cowboys next head coach.

Despite what the betting world thinks, however, NFL insider Adam Schefter from ESPN cleared the air a little on Monday when he indicated the Cowboys hadn’t approached Schottenheimer about the job.

“I think Brian Schottenheimer is the favorite in Las Vegas here,” Schefter said on The Pat McAfee Show. “Now that doesn’t mean that Brian Schottenheimer isn’t going to be the head coach at some point in time. We never rule out anything. But to the best of my knowledge he hadn’t even interviewed for the job and Dallas hadn’t approached about being the head coach.”

As Schefter notes, it doesn’t mean he won’t wind up as head coach but fans will find his report somewhat relieving after early reporting made the the hire feel inevitable. On Saturday, Jimmy Johnson brought him up as a legit candidate before he overtook Kellen Moore and Deion Sanders, among many others, to be the betting favorite.

Schefter added the Cowboys do like Schottenheimer and that they want him on the staff.

“I think the Cowboys absolutely love and respect Brian Schottenheimer and they want him there,” Schefter said. “But I don’t know that that’s as the head coach right now.

Former Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel headed for same role with Titans – RJ Ochoa, Blogging The Boys

The Cowboys have another big hole to fill on their coaching staff now.

He will not be back with the Cowboys, who are still looking for a replacement for McCarthy. It was reported on Monday afternoon that Fassel is headed to become the special teams coordinator of the Tennessee Titans.

The Titans feature Tony Pollard who was at one point a returner for Fassel’s group (that didn’t go well, but it is still true). They also recently had Luke Gifford as a part of their team, someone who Fassel has worked with before, too.

Whoever is playing for Fassel next season we know it won’t be anybody with the Cowboys. It makes sense that he would find another job as he is a coveted special teams mind and obviously the Cowboys are still tending to their own situation with their staff.

What’s Next? Cowboys are again unsettled at RB – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com

Running back is one of the first areas the new Cowboys coaching staff will have to address.

Present: Elliott was under the impression, as we were all told, that the Cowboys would operate as a committee at running back, and they sure did give it the ole college try. It failed miserably though, much like the WR-by-committee approach did in the post-Dez Bryant era.

It became a muddied mess at the position, eventually devolving into Elliott being made inactive at one point as a consequence for behavioral issues, a laughably bad experiment to try and get Dalvin Cook involved and the outright dismissal of any notion of getting Deuce Vaughn and/or Hunter Luepke involved in the offense.

The lone steady hand was Dowdle, who had a career year and then some.

The problem is Dowdle now heads to unrestricted free agency, yet again, and he will be looking for much more than another one-year deal, having earned more stability after last season. There is the as yet untapped potential Malik Davis on the practice squad, sure, but not enough has been seen from him to label him a definitive solution in the event Dowdle walks.

Future: This all puts the Cowboys in a worse position than they were last spring, and that’s saying a lot, when they tried throwing random bodies such as Royce Freeman and Snoop Conner at the problem, with undrafted rookie Nathaniel Peat also failing to pan out in training camp.

Where they go from here is anyone’s guess, because if Dowdle walks, they’re in dire straits.

If he re-signs, they’ll still need to add a true threat as the complementary back, and whoever gets the offensive playcalling duties could very well turn Vaughn and/or Luepke into something McCarthy wouldn’t; but that shouldn’t stop them from looking at viable candidates in free agency to help Dowdle or, what might be the better idea, to use a Day 1 or Day 2 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on a coveted prospect.