Derrick Foster

Cowboys Making Coaching Hires

February 7th, 2025 at 8:11pm CST by Ely Allen

The Mike McCarthy-era is over in Dallas, and the time has arrived for Brian Schottenheimer to lead the Cowboys. Despite hiring his new head coach from within, the lack of urgency from owner Jerry Jones allowed for the contracts of all of his assistants to expire along with that of McCarthy.

Schottenheimer has already made the two most important hires in his first career head coaching gig, bringing on Klayton Adams as offensive coordinator and Matt Eberflus as defensive coordinator. Now, both coordinators have begun building their new staffs.

On offense, the team has hired Derrick Foster as their new running backs coach, per Nick Harris of the Star Telegram. Foster first came to the NFL after three years as a running backs coach at Iowa. He began in Los Angeles, where he coached Austin Ekeler through his two best seasons as a Charger, before spending last year in New Orleans coaching Alvin Kamara. He’ll inherit a running backs group that returns Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn, and Malik Davis, though his position has certainly been bookmarked as one needing improvements in the offseason, potentially through the draft.

We saw the Cowboys interview one of its former running backs, Tashard Choice, for the position, as well. According to Clarence Hill Jr. of All City DLLS, Choice will be staying in his current role with the Longhorns. Though he was also in consideration for roles with the Raiders and Saints, a raise in excess of $800K will keep Choice in Austin.

While Adams brings plenty of offensive line experience to the offense, the Cowboys have brought in Kansas State co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Conor Riley as their new offensive line coach, per Hill. Riley has been an extremely well-respected position coach in the college coaching ranks with his other stop being at North Dakota State. He’ll make his NFL coaching debut in 2025.

Also on offense, we saw wide receivers coach Robert Prince depart for Miami. While his replacement has not yet been hired, Tiquan Underwood will be on hand after getting hired as assistant wide receivers coach, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. He takes over the position after holding the same job with the Patriots last year.

On the defensive side of the ball, ESPN’s Todd Archer reports that a slew of former Bears assistants have followed Eberflus to Dallas. We already saw reports on the arrival of defensive pass-game coordinator Andre Curtis and linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi with Eberflus, but Archer adds that David Overstreet will follow as assistant defensive backs coach and Bryan Bing will join as assistant defensive line coach. Both Overstreet and Bing held those same positions on Eberflus’ defense in Chicago.

There are still some vacant positions on the Cowboys staff to fill out, but Dallas is working quickly to make some big hires after getting a late start to the market. With Schottenheimer’s inexperience as an NFL head coach, the supplemental ability of his coaching staff will be crucial.

Ken Dorsey On Cowboys’ OC Radar; Latest On Brian Schottenheimer’s Staff

January 30th, 2025 at 12:16pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Cowboys have conducted two interviews for their OC role already, but neither of the early candidates — the Falcons’ Kevin Koger and Cardinals’ Klayton Adams — have experience in the role. Brian Schottenheimer is now moving to see about a meeting with a seasoned option.

Following his second firing in 15 months, Ken Dorsey is back in the mix for a coordinator gig. The Cowboys have the ex-Bills and Browns play-caller on their radar, per ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler, and are determining a potential interview. This marks the first Dorsey coordinator mention since his recent Cleveland ouster.

The Browns fired Dorsey after his stint as their play-caller, doing so despite having hired him only last year. Prior to Dorsey’s one-and-done stay in Cleveland, Buffalo axed him midway through his second season in the role. Dorsey worked under Brian Daboll as Buffalo’s QBs coach prior to climbing into the OC chair.

Beyond their OC search, the Cowboys are making more moves to fill out their staff under Schottenheimer. Andre Curtis will become the team’s defensive pass-game coordinator, while Aaron Whitecotton will step in as D-line coach. Dave Borgonzi will come aboard as linebackers coach, the team announced. Curtis, who overlapped with Schottenheimer in Seattle, interviewed for the Dallas DC job Matt Eberflus ultimately landed. Additionally, the Cowboys are interviewing Saints running backs coach Derrick Foster for the same position, ESPN.com’s Todd Archer tweets.

Cleveland hired Dorsey in an effort to tailor its offense more to Deshaun Watson‘s strengths. That backfired, though this may have been less on Dorsey than Watson proving a woefully unsuccessful trade acquisition. After Watson’s season-ending Achilles tear, Kevin Stefanski gave Dorsey play-calling responsibilities. He had previously held the play sheet throughout his Buffalo stay as OC. As the Browns rode the Jameis Winston rollercoaster and then inserted overmatched starters (Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Bailey Zappe) into the lineup to replace him, the team finished the season ranked last in scoring.

Buffalo’s offense ranked second in points and yardage in 2022, Dorsey’s only full season, but Sean McDermott fired the veteran staffer in November 2023. Allen improved on the turnover front under successor Joe Brady, who reduced Stefon Diggs‘ role to close out the 2023 season. Prior to his OC climb in 2022, Dorsey spent eight years as a QBs coach, mentoring Cam Newton and then Allen.

Curtis spent the past three seasons as the Bears’ safeties coach. He was, however, was the Seahawks’ defensive pass-game coordinator throughout Schottenheimer’s Seattle OC tenure. Having a history with both Schottenheimer and Eberflus boded well for Curtis. Dave Borgonzi, the younger brother of new Titans GM Mike Borgonzi, also comes over from Chicago; he had previously been the Bears’ linebackers coach.

Whitecotton spent the past four seasons as Jets D-line coach, mentoring the likes of Will McDonald and Jermaine Johnson during a period that featured a few upper-echelon New York defenses. Foster has spent one season with the Saints; he coached the Chargers’ RBs from 2021-23, with that period overlapping with Austin Ekeler leading the NFL in touchdowns in back-to-back seasons.

Saints To Hire Rick Dennison

February 16th, 2024 at 1:58pm CST by Sam Robinson

New Saints OC Klint Kubiak is bringing a familiar staffer with him to New Orleans. Rick Dennison will return to coaching, re-emerging after two seasons out of the league.

The Saints are hiring Dennison as their run-game coordinator on offense, Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz tweets. Dennison has an extensive past with Gary Kubiak and Mike Shanahan, who played the lead roles in shaping the offense that has caught on thanks to the rises of Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay.

Dennison, 65, will head to New Orleans as a four-time offensive coordinator. While Dennison’s OC days are probably over, his commitment to join Klint Kubiak with the NFC South team provides a fairly strong indication into the type of offense the new OC plans to implement. Dennison worked with both Kubiaks in Minnesota, being the Vikings’ O-line coach and run-game coordinator from 2019-20. He was on as a senior offensive assistant in 2021.

Mike Shanahan employed Dennison as an assistant throughout his 14-year stay as Broncos HC. The former Broncos linebacker was not in place as offensive line coach when a dominant Denver O-line helped Terrell Davis to the Hall of Fame, though he was in that role as the back half of the team’s assembly line of 1,000-yard rushers formed under Shanahan. The Broncos promoted Dennison to OC in 2006, and he rejoined Gary Kubiak in Houston in 2010. Dennison’s stay as Texans OC overlapped with Arian Foster‘s ascent, which included a rushing title, with the Texans.

Dennison carries three Super Bowl rings from his Broncos days, picking up No. 3 as Gary Kubiak’s non-play-calling OC in 2015. The Bills employed Dennison as a play-calling OC in Sean McDermott‘s first season (2017) but fired him after one season, leading to the Brian Daboll hire. The Bills ranked 22nd offensively under Dennison but sixth on the ground, as LeSean McCoy motored to another Pro Bowl in Buffalo. Dennison came under fire in 2021, refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Vikings were believed to have kept Dennison on staff but moved him out of his role as O-line coach as a result, as coaches needed to be vaccinated to work directly with players that year.

The Saints are also hiring former Chargers assistant Derrick Foster as their running backs coach, 247Sports.com’s Matt Zenitz tweets. They recently interviewed Keith Williams for their wide receivers coach position as well, NewOrleans.football’s Nick Underhill adds. Williams worked as the Ravens’ assistant wideouts coach last season, being hired during Greg Roman‘s OC tenure but moved to that job under Todd Monken. Williams was also on Pat Hill’s Fresno State staff from 2009-11, a period that overlapped with Derek Carr‘s years with the program.