Dallas Cowboys Coaching Exodus Begins

ARLINGTON— The Dallas Cowboys are changing up the coaching staff after falling short of the big game in the playoffs.

The Dallas Cowboys announced Thursday the team will not renew the contracts of several position coaches. Those coaches include assistant Head Coach Rob Davis, senior defensive assistant George Edwards, assistant defensive line coach Leon Lett, running backs coach Skip Peete, offensive line coach Joe Philbin, and Kyle Valero who was part of quality control analytics.

The Cowboys did not fire the coaches, but their contracts aren’t being renewed. Not only will the coaches have to be replaced, but defensive and offensive coordinator might have to be filled as well.

Both Dan Quinn (defensive) and Kellen Moore (offensive) are being interviewed around the NFL for head coaching position. Moore was interviewed by Carolina and Quinn has interviewed with Denver and Arizona and Indianapolis have or are going to interview him twice. Also, both had interviews around the league last offseason as well.

Both of these coaches leaving would really hurt the Cowboys as Quinn has won over the defensive guys in the locker room and Moore has been around quarterback Dak Prescott since he was drafted in 2016.  During Prescott’s development into an NFL quarterback, Moore and former Cowboy quarterback Mark Sanchez, did a lot to help and prepare Prescott.

Also, fans are stupid and don’t know what they want. All fans care about are results and when you let fans try and run anything you get “The Rise of Skywalker”. Over the past couple seasons, Moore has been a very good offensive coordinator ranking second and fifth in 2021 and 2022 respectively. When the front office decides to go into a 17-game season with two proven receiving threats (Dalton Schultz and Ceedee Lamb) and it’s the receivers first year as the number one, it’s going to be rough.

That’s what happened this season. The Cowboys traded away Amari Cooper, let Cedric Wilson leave in free agency, and re-signed Michael Gallup, who was coming off on a torn ACL in Week 17 of 2021, even though they knew he wasn’t going to be ready until later in the season. Dallas did sign James Washington, but he injured his foot in training camp.

The Cowboys also lost Tyron Smith and had to start Tyler Smith, their first-round rookie from 2022, in his place. Also, the did lose Prescott for several games in Week 1.

Quinn also has been very successful in Dallas despite the front office. It helps having one of the best defensive players in the NFL floating the field like Micah Parsons does. The rotation up front helps keep the line fresh and that seems to work. At linebacker, when Leighton Vander Esch went down, the Cowboys struggled. At corner, when Anthony Brown was injured, that hurt the Cowboys even more. Turning to Kelvin Joseph caused the Cowboys to look at free agents like Trayvon Mullen and Xavier Rhodes.

Even with all the injuries, Quinn still had the defense playing well and should he leave to be a head coach, expect some assistants to go with him. This could only be the beginning.