Dallas Cowboys coaching candidate profile: Kellen Moore

Here is what the Cowboys could be getting in Kellen Moore.

The Dallas Cowboys continue to move forward in their head coaching search, putting together interviews and building out a list of candidates. Thursday morning brought the news everyone was waiting for, though: Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore has been requested to interview in Dallas.

Obviously, fans remember not that long ago when Moore was in Dallas, spending eight seasons with the Cowboys as both a player and a coach. At 36 years old, Moore would be the youngest head coach in the NFL, though not technically the youngest first time head coach, as Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald was a few months younger than Moore is now when he was hired in Seattle.

Regardless of age, though, there are a lot of reasons why Moore makes sense in Dallas, and some reasons why he may not work. Let’s break down his candidacy for the Cowboys.

History in Dallas, for better or worse

Any discussion of Moore as a candidate in Dallas starts with his history here. The former Boise State star quarterback followed Scott Linehan to the Cowboys from the Lions, backing up Tony Romo and later Dak Prescott. Following the 2017 season, he retired for the sole purpose of being named quarterbacks coach, largely at Prescott’s request.

After just one season, Moore was promoted to coordinator to replace Linehan, to much scrutiny from the fan base. His debut season calling plays was a massive success, and the Cowboys finished second in offensive DVOA and top three in a handful of categories despite the team disappointing at 8-8.

Jason Garrett was out, Mike McCarthy was in, and Moore remained in his position. It’s still unclear whether that was McCarthy’s decision or Jerry Jones’ decision, but Moore still ran the offense. The 2020 season was a far cry from Moore’s first year, but injuries offered a great excuse, notably the loss of Prescott.

The 2021 season was a return to form for Moore and his offense, and his deep relationship with Prescott was a major reason for the success. The Cowboys won 12 games and the division, but the offense was stymied by the 49ers in the playoffs. The next year, the offense took a step back in just about every category, even when accounting for another Prescott injury.

That led to Moore parting ways from the organization and taking the vacant coordinator job with the Chargers. Moore arrived in Los Angeles with outsized expectations, but largely failed to live up to them, and the entire Chargers staff was fired after the year. Now, he’s in Philadelphia leading the Eagles offense through the playoffs, though many have questioned the offense’s effectiveness outside of Saquon Barkley.

One way or the other, though, Moore knows the Cowboys well. His relationship with Prescott and the Jones family gives him a leg up on other candidates, but his time in Dallas didn’t exactly end on a high note. How that impacts his fit with the team is, at the very least, a question mark.

Coaching prodigy

Shortly after Moore was promoted to offensive coordinator in Dallas, and the outrage over giving the offense’s keys to such an inexperienced coach was blazing, we were treated to all sorts of stories about Moore being a coaching prodigy.

The son of a Washington high school head coach legend, Moore grew up drawing up plays for his Pee Wee football teams and whatnot. At Boise State, he was an active participant in offensive game planning, and later incorporated a lot of the Broncos offense into his own schemes. Even in his lone year as quarterbacks coach for the Cowboys, Moore devised several plays that ended up making it into games.

Sure enough, Moore’s coaching career has reflected this, as his offenses are considered cerebral and creative. The downside, though, is the common complaint from Cowboys, Chargers, and Eagles fans that he gets too cute at times and has a tendency to overthink things. After all, being a genius ain’t easy.

Moore’s football IQ is undeniable, and it’s why he’s fielded head coaching interviews every year since he became a coordinator. In hiring Moore, the Cowboys would be landing one of the brightest offensive minds in the league, unquestionably.

Potential staff connections

Moore is young, but he’s not without connections. His time away from Dallas has done him well in that regard, and Moore’s multiple trips through the head coach interview process – including coming very close to taking the Boise State job twice – has already prepared him for building out a coaching staff.

The overwhelming expectation is that Moore would continue to call plays as a head coach, likely bringing Doug Nussmeier – his current quarterbacks coach who’s been on every staff Moore’s worked – as his offensive coordinator.

On the defensive side of things, Moore has been rumored to prefer a coordinator with prior head coaching experience. In that regard, there are two obvious fits: Matt Eberflus and Brandon Staley. Eberflus was in Dallas for Moore’s playing days and is available after being fired by the Bears, while Staley was the Chargers head coach when Moore coached there. Neither coach saw success as a head coach, but they’ve been well-regarded for their defensive prowess. Staley, specifically, is a disciple of current Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.

Moore may also look to reunite with several familiar names from the Garrett staff that he remains close with, such as offensive line coach Marc Colombo, linebackers coach Ben Bloom, safeties coach Greg Jackson (who once worked for Fangio in San Francisco), and offensive assistants Stephen Brown and Kyle Valero. It’s worth noting Valero, who once assisted with receivers in Dallas, holds the same role in Philadelphia now.

It’s also entirely possible that Moore would look to bring Linehan, one of his mentors, back into the fold in some capacity. Linehan has been coaching in the college ranks since he left the Cowboys, working with LSU and Missouri (where Moore’s brother, Kirby, is the offensive coordinator) before joining FCS Montana this year.

Offensive scheme questions

Moore’s calling card is his offensive scheme, and there’s no denying that, by and large, his scheme is brilliant. Moore leans into concepts over specific plays, embracing multiplicity and being able to run anything he wants rather than having one specific identity.

As well as this has worked at times, critics of Moore also point to the lack of a central identity as an issue when facing elite defenses, like the 49ers. Until this year in Philadelphia, with Barkley, Moore’s offenses have never featured a strong ground game and his offenses have often struggled when the passing game isn’t firing on all cylinders.

More specifically to the Cowboys, a handful of current players – notably the receivers – spoke so glowingly of McCarthy’s system, which tied routes to the quarterback’s drop, that it was hard to not interpret them as a reflection of Moore’s complex system. Prescott himself, who publicly lobbied for McCarthy to return as head coach, had some eye-popping comments about the offensive changes post-Moore:

“Do I blame those receivers, no. Mike (McCarthy) does an amazing job (with the receivers). They know where the hell to be, why to be and when they’re getting looked at. That’s going to be a big jump, I think. We won’t have those tipped interceptions this year.”

By all accounts, Moore and Prescott still have a very good relationship. However, it’s fair to wonder if reverting to Moore’s offense that was so recently described by several current players as too complex is a red flag.

Jason Garrett 2.0?

Many have referred to Moore as the prodigal son of Dallas, and in many ways he can be viewed as Jason Garrett 2.0, the comparison going all the way back to when Moore was first named quarterbacks coach.

Both were backup quarterbacks for the Cowboys who started their coaching career with a lot of fanfare. Garrett became the Cowboys offensive coordinator after two seasons coaching quarterbacks under Nick Saban, and it was widely presumed he would one day take over for the seasoned Wade Phillips. That did happen, though not in the way most predicted.

What followed was a decade of the Cowboys continually showing solid football traits but also too often looking like a team that was unprepared, itself a reflection on the relatively inexperienced head coach. That perception was seen as one of the driving factors behind pursuing McCarthy as Garrett’s replacement.

Moore now has just as many years of coaching experience as Garrett did when he was named the interim head coach. Like Garrett at the time, Moore is a trendy, young offensive mind who’s had head coaching interest from several teams but hasn’t secured a promotion just yet. If Moore is, indeed, the hire in Dallas, there will be legitimate questions as to what differentiates him from Garrett.