Brian Schottenheimer will call the offensive plays for the Cowboys

Brian Schottenheimer will call the Cowboys’ offensive plays this season, a request of Jerry Jones before the team hired the longtime NFL assistant coach.

“We wanted Brian to call the plays,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Monday, via Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News. “We cherish his relationship with our players. We wanted him to call the plays. . . . I believe, if he doesn’t call the plays, he’s probably not with the Cowboys.”

Mike McCarthy called the offensive plays for the Cowboys the past two years after offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and the team mutually parted ways. The Cowboys promoted Schottenheimer to offensive coordinator in the 2023 offseason, but McCarthy took back the play-calling duties.

The Cowboys insist they wouldn’t have kept Schottenheimer for a third year of that arrangement.

Schottenheimer, like the rest of the coaching staff, was in the final year of his contract in 2024.

“Mike was going to call the plays if he were here,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said. “Schotty wouldn’t have been here had Mike stayed and called the plays. [Schottenheimer] was ready to go somewhere, and he had opportunities to go call plays [elsewhere].”

Schottenheimer said his starting point as play-caller is “things that our players do well.” He talked about shifts, motion and tempo as elements of his offense.

“Why do players like tempo?” Schottenheimer asked rhetorically Monday. “They like tempo because it allows them to play free. You guys have heard some of the play calls; Dak [Prescott] can rattle off four or five of them right now. They’re pretty long. So when you go fast, you’re playing on the ball. It’s a little more like pickup basketball.”

Schottenheimer last called plays for four games in 2021 in Jacksonville after the Jaguars fired head coach Urban Meyer. He has worked as an offensive coordinator for the Jets, Rams and Seahawks as well as at the University of Georgia.