Dallas Cowboys: Burn It ALL Down?

The Dallas Cowboys are not a good team right now, a coaching change is on the horizon, but does that mean they should burn it ALL down?

Before the responses start, no the Dallas Cowboys shouldn’t burn it ALL down. They have some really good pieces and pieces that with a change in scheme and coaching should absolutely stay. But, there is a lot on the horizon, it might be time for massive changes. However, it needs to start at the top and work its way down. So Sport DFW’s Reid Hanson started the fire last Friday. I’ll throw on the kindling and lighter fluid.

Look, we know Jerry and Stephen Jones are not going anywhere. It would be foolish to expect that they will make changes at the very top in personnel. However, if anything, both should step back and look at this season, and make some changes. The culture itself needs to change. When your two newest players are the most vocal and strongest leaders, you have a problem.

Jerry and Stephen need to look at their hand in the mess that is the 2019 Dallas Cowboys. There have been warning signs for a few years. We all saw a defense last year that we expected to take a step forward. They needed to add a defensive tackle, a safety, and hope that a few guys would take the next step. Instead, they went cheap. They didn’t really do anything to address the issues on the roster.

Add in a scheme that for years opposing players said was simple to play against, we had the makings of a problem. No one saw some players stepping back, but maybe we should have. A simple unchanged scheme allows teams to look at the previous year, and plan for that. We are seeing how teams have been able to make good players look pedestrian. It isn’t all on the players when your head coach says they don’t want to do too many different things on defense as it is too confusing.

Back to Jerry and Stephen, they have to be able to allow Will McClay more control, let him be the general manager. The next step is to find the right coaching staff. Much will be written about who the coach should be, but it needs to be the right culture too. Get away from being best friends with your coach, and make sure he is a good coach. Too often have we seen Jerry and even more so, Stephen, defending Jason Garrett. It goes beyond a belief in the coach, they are friends in the truest sense.

A new coaching staff will bring in new schemes. New schemes will bring in new priorities on positions. New priorities on positions bring in new players. New coaches, new priorities, new players, all helps bring in new culture. That culture has to be about football, not image, not friendship, not even family, no those things will happen when you win, it has to be about football.

This offseason will be a small tear down no matter how you look at it. There are a ton of contracts to be renewed or not. If Amari Cooper isn’t re-signed, it is Michael Gallup and some guys. If Dak Prescott isn’t signed, it is Cooper Rush and either a free agent or a drafted rookie. At corner, it is Chido Awuzie and Jourdan Lewis, and practice squad guys if no one is re-signed. There are thirty free agents this year for the Dallas Cowboys. The only starting unit not affected is the offensive line.