The NFL coaching carousel is in full swing, and for the Dallas Cowboys that means an ongoing search for their newest defensive coordinator. Other teams within the NFC East are actively looking for new coordinators
as well, but only the New York Giants were in on the head coaching hiring cycle, landing what many considered the biggest fish on the market in John Harbaugh.
It had been known for some time, prior to the end of the regular season even, that the Giants would be searching for a new coach, having put the interim tag on Mike Kafka once moving on from Brian Daboll. The Washington Commanders also moved on from offensive coordinator and play-caller Kliff Kingsbury, and most recently the Philadelphia Eagles parted ways with offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo following their home playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
This means something very important for the Dallas Cowboys, Dak Prescott, and second-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer. Prescott and Schotty will be the only quarterback and play-caller battery in the division with continuity from the previous season in 2026. They will do so after going 4-2 against the NFC East in 2025, with a gritty four-point loss on the season’s opening night at the Eagles and Week 18 loss at the Giants where Prescott did not play the second half – and New York cost themselves the number one overall pick by winning.
The Cowboys overall finishing record of 7-9-1 in year one under Schottenheimer was still a disappointment, but when compared to preseason expectations and now adding the fact they’ll have the benefit of continuity, there is room to look on the bright side. When the Commanders and Eagles went to the NFC Championship game in 2024, both with former Cowboys coaches in prominent roles and Washington with a star rookie quarterback, the consensus popular opinion around the league was that the Cowboys would be behind both teams for the foreseeable future.
Just one season later, the Cowboys swept the Commanders and saw the Eagles regress so far from their championship season that Jalen Hurts will have his 10th offensive coordinator in 11 seasons including his college career, and A.J. Brown’s status moving forward as their WR1 is in serious question. The Cowboys have every reason to think they’ll be right back in the mix in 2026, for familiar reasons.
The narrative that the Cowboys best path to winning is with Prescott being the best QB on the field is a bit of a tired one, and understandably so, but that doesn’t mean it can be totally forgotten either. It feels tired at this particular junction in the early arrival of another Cowboys offseason because it hasn’t played itself out in the ways the Cowboys have hoped for since signing Prescott to his massive extension, with 2024 being an injury year and Prescott playing with a defense that allowed over 500 points for the first time in franchise history this past season.
If for no other reason though, this notion around Prescott should be all the motivation the Cowboys need to use it as a barometer and quickly fix their defense from the state Matt Eberflus left it in. A dominant, shutdown defense, especially in year one under a new coordinator, does not have to be the goal. For the Cowboys to get back to winning at a consistent clip under Prescott, they simply need a defense that will bring down the level of the opposing quarterback just enough to allow Prescott to shine, and perhaps be opportunistic taking the football away like they were previously under Dan Quinn (also hired going into year two of previous head coach Mike McCarthy). For an example of a team still playing at the time of this writing that’s followed this model this season, fans don’t have to look any further than the Chicago Bears, who led the NFL in takeaways under Dennis Allen and unlocked Caleb Williams at QB thanks to Ben Johnson’s offense.
Besides the continuity to develop their scheme even further and really lean into the passing concepts that Prescott was most successful in with year one of a new scheme, the Cowboys can look to be more viable in their ball control style of offense in year two with an improved defense as well. Dallas was forced to try and make big plays in the passing game while trailing far too often this season, and impressively still did with all three of CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, and Ryan Flournoy contributing consistently in this area. The Cowboys can prioritize keeping all three receivers together by re-signing George Pickens early this offseason. Considering they are also reportedly going to prioritize bringing back Javonte Williams in the backfield, the Cowboys have internal, proven options to make the run game their lifeblood again, which in turn will make their play-action and drop-back deep passing game even more potent. All but one team that won the time of possession on Wild Card weekend also won the game, so the Cowboys are on the right track here.
The single most important thing the Cowboys will pair with the Prescott/Schottenheimer (and OC Klayton Adams) continuity in 2026 is their offensive depth though. Dallas has made the same mistake numerous times in the past of not taking a 360 degree view of the roster in the offseason, targeting just their obvious positions of need and not at all accounting for the full picture of roster attrition that is inevitable. One hole is patched, and a newer, sometimes even more problematic one, like Allen Hurns being a WR1, emerges. The Cowboys need to pour more resources into defense compared to offense this offseason, nobody at all is denying that, but the depth on offense is positioned to allow them to do just that in a good way. Phil Mafah and Jaydon Blue showed flashes at running back in the season finale. Nate Thomas, Brock Hoffman, T.J. Bass, and Hakeem Adeniji were all valuable depth pieces along the offensive line at different points in the season. Tyler Booker was a plug-and-play starter as a rookie at right guard. Brevyn-Spann Ford and Luke Schoonmaker still have room to ascend as options in the passing game. These positions and others on the offense will still need some form of routine maintenance this offseason for them to remain strengths, but the Cowboys are in about as good of a position as they could ask for after year one of a drastically new offensive scheme to work with what they have and focus on rebuilding the defense instead.
The fact the Cowboys will be the only team carrying over the offensive play-caller for their quarterback that still managed to win seven games with a historically, astronomically bad defense is an added bonus the Cowboys couldn’t count on. Coach Schottenheimer’s team has a lot of growing up to do in 2026 to flip all the talk around potential into actual results, but they’ll be able to do so starting now while their closest rivals are working on introducing new coaches and installing new schemes.
