The Dallas Cowboys are a totally new team this year and under the guidance of new head coach Brian Schottenheimer, who is trying to put together a lineup that takes them a lot further than last season. Of course, it will be nice having franchise quarterback Dak Prescott back after his season-ending injury last year, and CeeDee Lamb is another start to watch this season, as always.
The Cowboys are getting close to their first preseason game, and then, it will be time for the regular 2025-26 season to start. At this point, there’s less than two months to go until the regular season kicks in, and the Cowboys are on fire.
So, as previously mentioned, the Cowboys’ coaching staff looks great different this year, and it’s getting some attention. Now, ESPN has released its tally of the best coaching staffs in the NFL. In the feature, Ben Solak breaks down all of the NFL team’s staffs and ranks them from best to worst. So, where do the Cowboys and their new staff fall?
Dallas Cowboys Get Disrespected
While there’s lots of talk about the best players in the NFL leading up to the 2025-26 season, and rightly so, sometimes, it’s easy to overlook that there are other factors to a team’s success. One of the biggest measures of how well a team is going to do during the season, for any sport, is their coaching staff. From the head coach down to the coordinators and their staff, having a solid coaching staff is so critical to making sure a team thrives.
GettyNew head coach of the Dallas Cowboys Brian Schottenheimer talks during at a press conference along side team owner Jerry Jones at The Star in Frisco on January 27, 2025 in Frisco, Texas.
Solak ranks the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff the No. 29 best staff in the NFL. That’s really low, and even though it’s a new coaching staff, it’s surprising to see them that low on the tally.
Solak doesn’t mince words. “I didn’t think I would need to brush off the old Schottenheimer stats from back when he was coordinating the Seahawks’ offense for Russell Wilson and fans were beseeching Pete Carroll to pass the football, but here we go: Schottenheimer has been an offensive coordinator for 14 seasons in the league,” Solak notes. “Six with the Jets, three each with the Rams and Seahawks, then the last two in Dallas.”
He adds some numbers, noting, “Schottenheimer called plays in 12 of those 14 seasons, but if we look at all 14, his average success rate on offense is 42.9% — the league average last year was 43.5%. His offenses score an average of 1.85 points per drive — the league average last year was 1.91. As far as expected points added per play, Schottenheimer’s offenses literally average out to 0.00.”
So, Solak doesn’t see the numbers adding up for the Cowboys. Let’s hope Dallas proves him wrong.
PFF Names the Top NFL Coaches for 2025-26
PFF has also released their tally of the top 10 best NFL head coaches. Of course, Schottenheimer isn’t in here, likely because he’s so new and has something the prove. They have Chiefs head coach Andy Reid as No. 1, which make sense. Reid does have the stats to show he’s one of the best.
“Like Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots teams before them, the Kansas City Chiefs are the masters of situational football,” Dalton Wasserman says in the piece, published on June 24. “The Chiefs played in 12 one-score games last season, including the playoffs, and won all of them. They found a way to reach the Super Bowl for the third straight season because Andy Reid has his entire team prepared for any situation.”
He adds, “The Chiefs ranked 17th in PFF offensive grade during the first three quarters of games but slotted into fourth in that same category in the fourth quarter and overtime. They simply find ways to step up their game despite their flaws, injuries and lack of explosiveness. That’s a testament to Reid’s levelheaded approach to the game and wealth of experience.”
Cowboys Tank in Preseason Prediction (And They Deserve Better)