Cowboys Country

Kellen Moore FIRED: Ben McAdoo vs. Brian Schottenheimer as Cowboys Coach Replacement?

Are Mike McCarthy's Cowboys missing out on qualified offensive coordinators? The two-pronged answer: Brian Schottenheimer and Ben McAdoo. ... with Kellen Moore now fired.

Mike Fisher

In this story:

FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys' foot-dragging on their decision on the job future of Kellen Moore, the offensive coordinator, seems difficult to explain.

Other top coordinators around the NFL are flying off the shelves, including some guys like Nathaniel Hackett, a Mike McCarthy protege who moved from being the fired Broncos head coach to being the Jets coordinator.

If McCarthy was really going to replace Moore, wouldn't he have wanted Hackett as a candidate? Does the delay mean Moore is staying?

It does not. Kellen Moore has been fired.

And yet ... there is a reason why this took three days.

"I don't want to play this game today,'' head coach Mike McCarthy said at the end of last week in answer to a CowboysSI.com question about Moore. “Kellen Moore, just like the rest of the coaches, will be evaluated.”

McCarthy added that he planned on meeting with Moore on Friday.

As of Sunday morning, that meant Moore had been under "evaluation'' for three days.

And now the "evaluation'' is over. Kellen failed the test.

What allowed McCarthy to not "play this game'' at a rapid pace?

We've written in depth about one reason: He's already got on staff a special assistant in Brian Schottenheimer, another McCarthy protege. Common sense tells us that with Kellen dismissed, Schottenheimer can simply move up the chain.

But there is another name that's been overlooked.

Check out the Carolina Panthers website, where the 2022 hire for offensive coordinator was Ben McAdoo ... He's gone. Erased. Scrubbed. The new head coach there, Frank Reich (who beat out Moore for that job) is building a staff from scratch.

And right now, McAdoo isn't on it.

McAdoo is - you guessed it - yet another McCarthy protege. And in 2021, he worked in the role Schottenheimer worked in 2022, as a guy with coordinator-level talent staying in the game by working at a level that is beneath them.

Re-playing their dues, until ...

Another coordinator job comes open. Like the one that has come open in Dallas as McCarthy opts to move from Moore.

And that's why there was no hurry to complete the evaluation of Kellen Moore and no hurry to scramble for a replacement. Because Moore's replacement candidates are already available to the Cowboys.

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Mike Fisher
MIKE FISHER

Mike Fisher - as a newspaper beat writer and columnist and on radio and TV, where he is an Emmy winner - has covered the NFL since 1983 and the Dallas Cowboys since 1990, is the author of two best-selling books on the Cowboys.

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