Dak Prescott called Tony Romo “a great coach” during the game in 2016. When the Cowboys’ rookie quarterback came to the sideline, Romo would tell him what he’d seen and what Dak could do about it.
Every time that advice helped Prescott, and it got a little harder for Romo to get his job back.
Judging by the rookie season Dak had, I would give the offense to Tony Romo, and I’d have Sean Lee take over the defense. Let’s not confuse these two with experienced signal callers as both would be calling NFL games for the first time.
I could live with that if the coaching staff was led by Dan Campbell, especially if I had some say in who worked under them.
I kept my picks for the staff to former players who suited up for Dallas in the last 30 seasons. Campbell is the exception I would make based on availability because he is still the coach of the Detroit Lions.
Dan Campbell and the Lions are My First Call
When Campbell took over play calling in Detroit in 2021, Ben Johnson was his tight ends coach. Campbell gave Johnson more responsibility for the passing game as the season went on and eventually promoted him to offensive coordinator the following year.
That’s one of the many things I like about Dan Campbell as head coach. He got to see which parts of the job a young signal caller could handle before handing over the entire offense.
I would want him involved with Tony Romo early, particularly in how much offense he tries to bring into a game. We all know you could find about six ways to beat a coverage, but on Sunday, somebody has to pick just one.
La’el Collins Gives Marc Colombo the Edge
Andre Gurode had a great case for the offensive line job due to his work in the UFL with San Antonio, who he helped get to the title game, with a backup center playing more than half the season.
He also had his right guard move to left tackle and that is not an easy transition. I would trust Gurode to get the offensive line through some injuries.
I’m still taking Marc Colombo because he has NFL coaching experience. If you remember back to the 2018 season, La’el Collins drew five holding flags through the first seven weeks. The Cowboys promoted Colombo during the bye, and Collins drew two over his final 10 games.
Colombo would later coach two All-UFL linemen in St. Louis. What I like the most is Dallas needed help at right tackle in the middle of the season, and Collins played much better after Colombo took over.
Witten, Austin, and Choice Round Out the Offense
I would get Miles Austin to coach the receivers, a job he held with the Jets in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, the Jets receiving core didn’t amount to much besides Elijah Moore averaging 12.5 yards a reception and he had five touchdowns.
The 2022 Jets had Mike LaFleur as an offensive coordinator and Garrett Wilson as its number one receiver who finished the season with 1,100 yards.
Hopefully he’s over gambling.
Jason Witten would coach the tight ends because why not have the best tight end in Dallas Cowboys history get our tight ends up to his standards. He’s currently the new offensive coordinator for the University of Oklahoma after being the tight end coach.
As the tight end coach at Oklahoma, he has Rocky Beers up to 446 yards (second on the team), 13.1 yards per reception, and leads the team with four touchdowns.
Romo and Witten spent years together having to agree on where a route should end. If Witten saw room to settle inside, he settled, it didn’t matter if Romo expected him to keep running. But these two had the best connection of any quarterback and tight end.
Tashard Choice would coach the running backs. He’s worked with running backs for years after retiring from the NFL. He worked with Jahmyr Gibbs and Jordan Mason at Georgia Tech. Then Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson at Texas.
Being familiar with Dan Campbell after being hired by him in Detroit keeps some familiarity and two coaches who are familiar with each other.
Sean Lee is My Defensive Coordinator with a Wildcard for the Linebackers Coach
Leighton Vander Esch said he was meeting with Sean Lee before his first Cowboys OTAs. Sean Lee would draw up plays and get Vander Esch to answer questions. We watched games where Lee would diagnose a play so quickly it looked like he read the offensive playbook.
Having him teach an entire defense how to study, take angles, and fill gaps would be amazing for this defense. That’s why I would want Lee to lead this defense and be particular about who I have leading the linebackers.
I thought Dat Nguyen would be the guy, but he may be too busy running his Chic-fil-A. He also hasn’t coached since 2011 at Texas A&M.
I like Ernie Sims as the linebackers coach. He coached Antonio Grier to all-conference honors at South Florida and Jason Johnson to all-conference honors at UCF. Since then, he has been named the interim defensive coordinator at Florida State.
I’d take Sims because he could handle the linebackers and Lee could spend more time with the secondary, where a decision by one of his linebackers can leave the safety trying to cover two people. Sounds familiar.
I would have Terence Newman coach the defensive backs where he has experience after Mike Zimmerman hired him to his staff the day he retired in Minnesota. Vikings then safety, Jayron Kearse, said teammates went to Newman for help while he was still playing.
Greg Ellis Runs the Defensive Line
To keep the defensive line running on all cylinders, I would bring DeMarcus Ware back to coach the pass rush and put Greg Ellis in charge of the line.
During their playing time together, Ware called Ellis a mentor early in his career.
Ellis is no stranger to coaching on the Cowboys staff. He was assistant defensive line coach in 2024, and as for Ware, he was brought in to work with Von Miller and Bradley Chubb in Denver.
I’d let Ware spend individual practice periods with the rushers while Ellis handles the front on every down.
I like Carlos Polk as the special teams’ coordinator. He played for Dallas in 2008 and has coached on special teams since 2010.
Polk is currently on the coaching staff as the assistant special teams coach, so he would be getting a promotion, but I would give him the whole unit.
With Romo and Lee learning to call games, I would want someone who already knows how to prepare the coverage and return teams each week.
The part I want Jerry Jones to understand is that hiring these guys means letting them coach. If Romo wants a different quarterback or Lee wants to bench a highly paid player, their history shouldn’t make that hard.
I think I could get behind this staff. They couldn’t do much worse than what we have now.
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