Cowboys Staff: Did Jerry Jones go cheap with coaching hires?

The Cowboys 2025 coaching staff has been finalized, but that hasn’t stopped fans from asking questions. Some are pointing out that Jerry Jones may have gone cheap on the coaching hires this offseason.

When you look at the list of the staff provided by the team, you’ll see a ton of guys in their first year with Dallas, but you will also see 12 coaches with five years or less of NFL coaching experience.

The Dallas Cowboys have finalized their coaching staff pic.twitter.com/x4TWUL8LKB
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) February 14, 2025

That isn’t always a bad thing, but that is the way to go if you want to bring in cheap contracts.

We also have a new story, which shows a highly-touted college coach that the Cowboys interviewed leaving his job for the Detroit Lions.

It seems they offered him what he wanted, and Dallas didn’t.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I like a lot of the assistant moves the Cowboys made, but that doesn’t mean we can ignore a problem: Jones may have been reluctant to pay coaching candidates what they deserve.

Tashard Choice: Dallas Doesn’t Give Top Dollar

That college coach I mentioned was none other than now-former Texas Longhorns running backs coach, Tashard Choice.

The former Cowboys draft pick in 2008, who became a coaching sensation in Austin, is headed to Dallas’ northern rival in Michigan. They interviewed him for the running back coach job, and it seemed like a match made in heaven until it wasn’t.

Choice, 40, developed players like Bijan Robinson, Jonathon Brooks, and Jahmyr Gibbs during his college coaching career.

This track record has resulted in a strong reputation and a large financial demand to leave Texas. It was rumored that the Longhorns would increase his salary to over $800k a year, which is a ton for a college assistant coach.

Not a great look for the Cowboys that they wouldn’t pay Tashard Choice what he wanted and more than he was making at Texas. Lions obviously were willing. https://t.co/ACXQhNNOyQ
— Charean Williams (@NFLCharean) February 13, 2025

However, it clearly wasn’t too much for Detroit to afford, and that is saying something. They spend a lot in free agency, but from an ownership perspective, they are far from Dallas’ wealth.

The latest NFL team valuations showed the Cowboys being worth $11B, the most in football, and the Lions at $5.4B, the fifth lowest.

It is the teams that pay for the coaches, since there is no coaching salary cap, so how in the world could the 29th most valuable team afford to pay Choice, but not the Dallas Cowboys?

Derrick Foster: Dallas’ Cheaper Backup Option

In the end, the Cowboys settled on Derrick Foster, who served as running backs coach for the Saints and Chargers in the last five years.

Foster is a fine choice, and he brings experience developing Austin Ekeler and leading the charge of Alvin Kamara’s rebound season in 2024. That said, it appears he was Jerry Jones’ third, and least expensive, option for the position.

Aside from Choice, the team also interviewed Oregon’s Ra’Shaad Samples, another highly touted collegiate running backs coach.

Samples, a Dallas native, also seemed like a perfect fit until the Ducks came calling with a $700k per year offer. That knocked the Cowboys out.

Source: Ra'Shaad Samples committed last night to staying at Oregon w/ a new deal. He interviewed yesterday for the Dallas Cowboys' RB coach position. Samples is expected to earn over $700,000 each of the next two years.

📸 Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK pic.twitter.com/BVMBotQqdA
— Joseph Hoyt (@JoeJHoyt) February 3, 2025

It was then that they switched over to Foster, who was sure to cost Dallas less.

This is not at all a knock on Foster, and in the end, he may prove to be the best choice the front office and ownership could have made, but a team as valuable as Dallas should never be outbid for something as small as the running back coach job.

The bottom line here is simple: if you expect Jerry Jones and the Cowboys to suddenly spend money this offseason, you already have proof against that thought.

This will be another tight budget year for the world’s richest football team.