Getty Former New York Jets coach Brian Schottenheimer talking with Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez during an NFL game.
In the NFL and really in life it comes down to who you know.
The National Football League is a brotherhood built on relationships and that makes the whole world go round.
With that in mind, a former New York Jets coach received a job offer he simply couldn’t refuse based on an interesting family tie.
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Heading Down to Big D
Longtime ex-Jets assistant Brian Schottenheimer has joined the Dallas Cowboys in a very “unique role.”
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated said his new position as a consultant will allow him to help out both the offensive (Kellen Moore) and defensive coordinators (Dan Quinn).
Sources: The Cowboys are hiring Brian Schottenheimer, the Jaguars’ pass-game coordinator last year, into a unique role, where he’ll help both coordinators, Dan Quinn and Kellen Moore.
Much of Schottenheimer’s job will center on league trends and game-planning. Pretty cool idea.
How did he land this cool new job?
The official site for the Cowboys provided this juicy nugget on the history between Schotty and Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy:
“Schottenheimer is the son of longtime head coach Marty Schottenheimer, who gave McCarthy his first NFL job with the Chiefs back in 1993 as a quality control coach. In 1998, McCarthy and Brian Schottenheimer worked together for one season on the Chiefs’ staff.”
Speaking of history, Schottenheimer has had a remarkable career in football that spans over 25 years.
This gig with the Cowboys will be his ninth different NFL job of course highlighted by his run with the Jets from 2006-11 as their offensive coordinator.
Those back-to-back AFC championship teams from 2009-10 were the last of the glory days for the green and white. Since Shotty left, the team is engulfed in the NFL’s longest active playoff drought: 11 seasons and growing.
In between several of those NFL jobs, he also worked in college football at several different stops including Syracuse, USC, and Georgia.
A Lot to Be Optimistic About
It has been a while since the Jets have had an offensive coordinator that fans feel good about, but that is the current mood with Mike LaFleur.
It didn’t start off great as many fans were calling for his head early, but thankfully head coach Robert Saleh isn’t an over reactionary kind of guy and stayed the course.
Saleh’s patience was rewarded as the inexperienced play-caller started to figure out exactly how he wanted his offense to look.
The other thing to consider about LaFleur’s slow start is the ingredients he was provided. Zach Wilson, his starting quarterback, was a rookie thrown into the fire.
There was so much youth and inexperience that it would’ve been stunning if this was a well-oiled machine right off the get-go.
Only the freaking New York #Jets can run that play, Dallas!
Mike LaFleur baby!
Now heading into 2022 with some improved weaponry and protection, still, with the draft to come, Jets fans’ expectations are rising higher than they’ve been in a long time.
After being an offensive bottom dweller for the better part of a decade, the Jets are looking to make a quantum leap next season. A realistic pop would place the green and white offense in the middle of the league statistically.
While that doesn’t sound like much to the casual football fan, for the Jets that would be a significant upgrade and a welcomed one by the fans.
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