IRVING, Texas – The Cowboys are continuing to weigh options for their vacancy at the assistant offensive line coaching position as the offseason continues.
That process appears to have kicked into high gear this week, as the coaching staff is presently hosting longtime offensive line coach Steve Loney at the team's Valley Ranch facility.
Loney is a longtime offensive line coach, as the vast majority of his 30-plus years in coaching have involved coaching the line. His most recent NFL stints were as the offensive line coach in St. Louis from 2008-11 and in Tampa Bay in 2012 and 2013.
This past season, he served as a consultant on Bret Bielema's coaching staff at Arkansas.
If hired, Loney would work in tandem with Frank Pollack, who was promoted to the offensive line coach position last month when Bill Callahan took a job with the Redskins following the season.
Loney has some connections on this coaching staff thanks to offensive coordinator Scott Linehan. The two worked together on Minnesota's coaching staff from 2002-04, with Linehan working as the Vikings' wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator, while Loney coached offensive line.
When Linehan left Minnesota for the Dolphins' offensive coordinator position in 2005, Loney took over as the Vikings' offensive coordinator.
None of this precludes Marc Colombo's involvement with the coaching staff. Colombo, who worked in the personnel department this past year, was tabbed as the favorite for the vacancy immediately after the season. Cowboys coach Jason Garrett brought him to Arizona to work with the coaching staff during the Pro Bowl, and owner/general manager Jerry Jones tabbed him as the "leader in the clubhouse for the job."
After he signed his five-year extension in January, Garrett said he'd find a way to make use of Colombo's talents – regardless of which position he filled for the team.
"You want Colombo on your side. We'll figure out what to do with him, y'know? He's fantastic," Garrett said on Jan. 15. "He really embraced his role in personnel and helped our team. We'll work through a lot of different discussions regarding the assistant O-Line position."
