Cowboys’ Stephen Jones Opens Up About Team’s Biggest Commitment This Offseason

The Dallas Cowboys have had quite the offseason for themselves.

After parting ways with head coach Mike McCarthy in late January, they promoted long-time NFL assistant—and most recently their own offensive coordinator—Brian Schottenheimer as their next man in charge. They've since been busy retooling the offensive side of the football, with key moves including restructuring star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb's contract, trading for George Pickens, and drafting Alabama offensive lineman Tyler Booker with the No. 12 overall pick in the NFL draft.

Speaking with Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, Cowboys COO Stephen Jones explained how said moves are all a part of the team's biggest commitment this offseason: the running game.

"My biggest thing that I’m hearing is a bigger commitment from the get-go to the running game," said Jones. "And what we did in drafting [Tyler] Booker, obviously we are—and we’ve been putting our money into it, too—putting our resources, first-round, into the offensive line. And then paying CeeDee [Lamb] and getting George [Pickens]. It’s a big commitment there, but the biggest thing is, I see us really wanting to come out and establish a strong running game from the start."

While they've long been known for having a high-end bell cow in their backfield (see: Emmitt Smith, DeMarco Murray, Ezekiel Elliott), Dallas has struggled in the rushing department over the last few seasons. Their lead backs have just barely eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark since 2019, and the offense has instead opted to lean on quarterback Dak Prescott to carry the load— to relatively no avail.

On top of their other offseason acquisitions, the Cowboys added veterans Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders to the backfield in free agency and also drafted Texas's Jaydon Blue in the fifth round of the draft. Their commitment to the ground game is evidenced in their actions. Our first look at seeing if it pays off will be the '25 season opener against the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.