NEW ORLEANS – As the Kansas City Chiefs try to become the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls, former Cowboys head coach and current Fox Sports announcer Jimmy Johnson had an opportunity to accomplish the feat 30 years ago after he won the 1992 and 1993 Super Bowls with Dallas.
Instead, Johnson and the Cowboys split ways before the 1994 season after various disagreements between the two. Johnson didn't speak in the hypothetical but thought that the Cowboys roster that season was special.
"It's hard to speculate about what might have been, I know we had an extremely talented team, we had the youngest team in the NFL," Johnson said. "A young team like that is going to only get better, and one thing I've always prided myself in is acquiring talent, and in my opinion, I would have brought in some players."
The Cowboys aren't the youngest team in the NFL now, but leaned heavily on their young talent in the 2024 season due to injury and will likely continue to do so going forward. They'll also be looking to a new head coach in Brian Schottenheimer, who Johnson has already reached out to.
"I wish Brian all the luck in the world," Johnson said. "I texted him the other day and said if there's anything I can ever do, just give me a call."
Johnson credited Schottenheimer, who was the offensive coordinator under Mike McCarthy but did not call plays, for his storied past as a coach in the NFL and what he was able to do with constructing strategy each week helped him ultimately land the head coaching job.
"I think he's an outstanding football coach, he's got a great history as far as being in the league," Johnson said. "The other thing is I think Brian was a big part of putting together the gameplans with Mike McCarthy, and so I think that had a lot to do with him getting the head coaching job."
Schottenheimer also had a lot of support from players on the team, including quarterback Dak Prescott. Johnson believes that Prescott can mesh into Schottenheimer's scheme well, but the most important aspect for him is staying on the field.
"Number one thing, Dak's got to stay healthy," Johnson said. "If he stays healthy, he'll have an opportunity to be an outstanding quarterback, but he's had injuries in the past."
From a roster construction standpoint, the Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles have been compared a lot recently in terms of how they've gone about building their respective teams. Both are in different situations in terms of cap and positional need but share common ground in keeping their best players around.
"I think every team has got unique problems as far as paying their players, whether or not it be star players or trying to build a roster," Johnson said. "Both of them have approached it the right way as far as keeping their great players."
When it comes to acquiring the players that Johnson prided himself on, a big box to check during the evaluation process was how much knowledge each prospect had on the game.
"I wanted smart football players," Johnson said. "You look at the very first draft I had at the Dallas Cowboys, we had four academic All Americans. Troy Aikman, Mark Stepnoski, Darryl Johnston, Tony Tolbert.
"Smart players is one thing, and then obviously they've got to be talented, but playmakers, gym rats, people that love the game, that's what I look for."
As the Cowboys look to bounce back from a 7-10 season in 2024, Johnson believes that they'll need to get bigger and better in the trenches if they want to get back to their winning ways.
"They got to rebuild that offensive line, they had some problems there, but also on the defensive line," Johnson said. "That's where a lot of games are won and lost, being able to win in the trenches."
