The Dallas Cowboys are coming off a brutal season in which they finished with a 7-10 record  and that led owner Jerry Jones to part company with head coach Mike McCarthy. Instead of bringing in a high-profile head coach with NFL experience at running a team to take over, he hired Brian Schottenheimer to become the Cowboys’ latest head coach.

Schottenheimer was the offensive coordinator for the Cowboys a year ago and the team did not distinguish itself in that area. The Cowboys were middle of the pack in yards gained, ranking 16th with an average of 328.4 yards per game. It was somewhat worse when it came to scoring as Dallas ranked 21st in the league with an average of 20.6 points per game.

As a result, the pressure is on Schottenheimer to make significant improvements in the team, in general, and on offense, in particular during his first year as the head coach. Schottenheimer is feeling the pressure at the Indianapolis Scouting Combine as the organization meets potential rookies and observes their performances in the scouting drills.

“I haven’t gotten out much, to be honest with you,” Schottenheimer said. “It’s been nonstop. There’s a lot of work to be done.”

Cowboys hoping for return from Dak Prescott

The Cowboys will need a healthy season from quarterback Dak Prescott in 2025 after he dealt with injuries last year. Prescott played in just 8 games for the Cowboys and he completed 185 of 286 passes for 1,978 yard with 11 touchdowns and 8 interceptions.

Schottenheimer is hoping that Prescott can get back to the form he had in 2023 when he made the Pro Bowl. Prescott was on fire most of the season as he completed 410 of 590 passes for 4,516 yards with 36 touchdowns and just 9 interceptions.

The Cowboys will need quite a bit more than Prescott returning to form if they are going to contend in the NFC East and challenge the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles and the upstart Washington Commanders. The Cowboys need to unearth talent at the Combine and will also have to make sure young players are brought up to speed without any delay.

Schottenheimer believes the new staff of Cowboys assistant coaches will help get the team back on track.

“I think we found great teachers. We found guys that were incredible people,” Schottenheimer said. “I have a real big belief in the fundamentals, and so I think if you look at all the coaches that we’ve added, both young, old, the ability to train fundamentals and the developmental process of our players is critical.”