5 Coaches the Cowboys Should Have Pursued Instead of Hiring Brian Schottenheimer

The Dallas Cowboys hired Brian Schottenheimer as their new head coach. He's the franchise's 10th lead skipper and succeeds his former boss, Mike McCarthy.

As they did in the transition between Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett during the 2010 campaign, the Cowboys will promote an in-house offensive coordinator to lead the team.

Among the candidates available, those interviewed for the Cowboys job and a franchise icon who took a call from owner Jerry Jones, this is an uninspiring hire.

Schottenheimer helped Russell Wilson perform at a Pro Bowl level and led top-nine scoring offenses in his last three seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, from 2018 to 2020. This is a positive sign for quarterback Dak Prescott and the Cowboys.

However, Schottenheimer had only interviewed for this head coaching position. There were six other openings this offseason, and no other team saw him as a viable candidate, indicating that Dallas could have considered better options.

For this proud franchise, a decent hire isn't good enough. Let's explore alternative candidates the Cowboys should have pursued more aggressively.

Among the top alternatives to Schottenheimer, Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady would have been an outside hire who wasn't previously linked to the Cowboys job.

Brady interviewed with the Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints and New York Jets. Because the Cowboys decided to part ways with former head coach Mike McCarthy in the second week of January, they missed the first round of (virtual) interviews with coaches employed by teams in the playoffs.

However, the Bears, Jets and Jaguars have filled their head-coaching vacancies, leaving one team with an opening interested in Brady. Dallas could've been patient with a chance to interview him for its position.

In Buffalo, Brady is working with MVP candidate Josh Allen, and he's turned the Bills offense into one of the league's most productive units on the ground. Yes, Allen contributes to the run game, but running back James Cook has emerged as a premier ball-carrier, tying Derrick Henry and Jahmyr Gibbs for a league-leading 16 rushing touchdowns.

Prescott cannot provide what Allen can do on the ground, nor would you want him to, given his recent history of injuries. Still, Brady's ability to design a supporting ground attack can help the Cowboys revert to a run-heavy identity from their recent perennial playoff years.

Last season, the Cowboys lacked offensive balance, ranking third in pass attempts and 24th in total carries. With Brady and the addition of another ball carrier—as Rico Dowdle heads toward free agency—they could have bounced back from their lackluster 2024 offensive showing.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport expected the Cowboys to take their time with the head coaching search and submit a request to interview Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury.

Having head coaching experience, Kingsbury fits into the retread mold the Cowboys have followed in recent years, though he's much younger than Mike McCarthy, Wade Phillips and Bill Parcells when they coached the team.

In the NFC East, Dallas had a front-row seat to Kingsbury's work with Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, even though the defense fared well against the rookie signal-caller, allowing three passing touchdowns but picking him off three times in two matchups.

Nonetheless, the Cowboys need a play-caller who can get the most out of Prescott, who signed a four-year, $240 million extension last offseason.

Under Kingsbury, Kyler Murray performed at a Pro Bowl level for two seasons, and Daniels made the 2024 Pro Bowl roster. In Arizona, Kingsbury's teams improved each year until the bottom fell out in his fourth term there.

At the very least, Kingsbury would have helped Prescott play at a Pro Bowl level again, giving the Cowboys a chance to get back in playoff contention.

Kellen Moore was the best candidate for the Cowboys job if they wanted someone with an impressive resume as a coordinator and ties to the organization.

The Athletic's Jon Machota believed Moore was the front-runner for the job at the beginning of the week.

Former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett hired Moore as his quarterbacks coach in 2018 and promoted him to offensive coordinator the following year. After Dallas dismissed Garrett in 2020, Mike McCarthy retained Moore as his offensive coordinator but fired him after the 2022 season.

McCarthy criticized Moore for wanting to "light up the scoreboard" while he preferred a stronger commitment to the run game.

Without McCarthy, the Cowboys could have reunited with Moore and allowed him to set the vision for the offense. In three of the last four years, the 35-year-old has led a top-seven scoring unit.

While skeptics may not be convinced that Moore has the leadership skills to be a head coach at his young age, he at least knows the Cowboys' personnel and team culture well enough to give himself a shot at success.

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Robert Saleh was the Cowboys' first candidate request. He may have been high on the team's target list because of his experience and defensive expertise.

Like Dan Quinn, who was also an assistant under Pete Carroll in Seattle, Saleh can re-energize the defense, which struggled to stay healthy and stop the run this past season.

After the New York Jets fired Saleh, their defense regressed as the season went on under interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich. In the first five weeks with Saleh, Gang Green allowed 17 points per game, an average that spiked to 26.6 after his dismissal.

Saleh's defensive background would have boded well for a unit featuring Micah Parsons, DaRon Bland and Trevon Diggs.

Shortly after news broke about the Cowboys hiring Schottenheimer, the San Francisco 49ers agreed to bring back Saleh to be their defensive coordinator, per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.

Deion Sanders would have brought the most buzz to a franchise that typically soaks in the spotlight.

After the Cowboys' negotiations with Mike McCarthy fell apart, owner Jerry Jones contacted Sanders, though the team never set up an interview with him.

According to NFL insider Ed Werder of the Doomsday Podcast, Sanders would have "almost certainly" accepted the job offer.

Shifting from a potential splashy hire with Sanders' cachet to Schottenheimer, it feels like owner Jerry Jones used a sharp pin to let the air out of a balloon.

Though Sanders is an unproven NFL coach, he immediately elevated Jackson State in the Southwestern Athletic Conference and is doing the same with Colorado in the Big 12.

At Jackson State, Sanders went 27-6. Before he arrived in Colorado, the Buffaloes went 1-11. Since hiring him, they have gone 4-8 and 9-4 over the last two terms.

As a Pro Football Hall of Famer and former high-profile Cowboy player with a budding collegiate coaching career, Sanders would have injected immediate excitement into the franchise and brought hope for its future.

Maurice Moton covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @MoeMoton.