As the Cowboys' front office evaluates the talent on the field at the Senior Bowl, they'll do so knowing the offensive side of the ball is somewhat uncertain.
That's because Kellen Moore, the team's offensive coordinator, has a second interview scheduled with the Dolphins this week for their head coaching position and is reportedly one of the finalists for the job.
Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones spoke on Moore's situation on Tuesday, trying to show support and be selfish at the same time.
"I think the world of Kellen and that's why we want him back," Jones said in between practices Tuesday in Mobile, Ala. "I'm not rooting against him to further his career. Hopefully it works out selfishly that we can keep him."
But Jones also made it clear that if Moore leaves, it helps knowing the background of his offensive-minded head coach Mike McCarthy.
"The great news is, Mike is an offensive football coach. He's called plays for Super Bowl teams and Championship teams," Jones said, comparing to what the Cowboys didn't have if Dan Quinn were to leave. "It gives you a little more safety net vs. where we were on the defensive side of the ball."
Last week, owner/GM Jerry Jones said on 105.3 "The Fan" that he expected Moore to eventually be back in Dallas running the offense again in 2022.
But either way, whether Moore is the offensive coordinator, or if McCarthy calls the plays or has to hire someone else, Stephen Jones said one thing is pretty certain.
"This whole thing revolves around No. 4. That's what this thing is all about," Jones said, referring to Dak Prescott. "It's a quarterback-driven league and we feel like we've got one of the best in the business, if not the best. It's all about him. We've got to continue to put the pieces around him. That's why I mentioned the running game and cleaning up the penalties – all of those things are going to put Dak in better situations to be successful to win football games for us. If we can do those things, we won't be putting him in tough situations that we put him in."
Jones went on to reiterate that those two areas are the ones that have to be fixed for the offense and its quarterback to be successful.
"We put Dak in tough situations with penalties and having some struggles in the running game," he said. "If you're running the ball well and knock some of the penalties out of a lot of these games, I think we give ourselves a much better opportunity to win the games."
