FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Wednesday he called Tyler Guyton and Terence Steele after Dallas traded for Broderick Jones because players see roster moves on their phones before anyone in the building reaches them.
“I just try to be authentic. I just try to be real. I try to use common sense,” Schottenheimer said. “Everyone has a phone. Everyone has Twitter. They see that there’s a trade that happens. It’d be nice for the head coach to reach out and explain what was going on. I’m sure not every coach feels that way, but I have the type of relationships with these guys that it matters to me that they trust me. Not that they like the decision. They don’t have to like the decision, but that they can trust me, that I’m going to shoot them straight and be honest.”
The trade came Aug. 29, two days before the roster cut to 53. Schottenheimer told reporters on Aug. 31 that he wanted Guyton to understand the move had nothing to do with him, and he set the right tackle job as a competition between Steele and Jones.
Brian Schottenheimer On Steve Spurrier And Playing Time
Schottenheimer traced the approach to his own playing career. He spent 1992 at Kansas, where his father Marty was coaching the Chiefs, then played quarterback at Florida from 1993 to 1996 under Steve Spurrier and was part of the 1996 national championship team.
“And that’s how I’ve enjoyed growing up in my playing career. It was pretty easy for Coach Spurrier to not put me in the game because I wasn’t very good,” Schottenheimer continued. “But at the same time, I always appreciated the guys that communicated with me about why, what I could do better, what’s going on, what’s the rotation look like, because we all tend to let our minds wander. Human nature is, why is this happening? What’s going on? What did I not do? So why not get in front of it and over-communicate?”
Schottenheimer began coaching in 1997 with the Rams and has worked at Syracuse, USC, Washington, San Diego, the Jets, the Rams, Georgia, Indianapolis, Seattle, and Jacksonville. He was the Jets offensive coordinator from 2006 to 2011 and the Seattle offensive coordinator from 2018 to 2020. He joined Dallas as a coaching analyst in 2022, spent two seasons as offensive coordinator, and replaced Mike McCarthy as head coach in January 2025.
The same communication practice runs through the cut process. Schottenheimer said last week that Dallas sends released players out of the building with specific coaching notes, down to which position coach they should work with at their next stop.
What Brian Schottenheimer Says Has Changed In The League
Twenty years in the league have changed the conversations, and Schottenheimer said the players and the sport itself have both moved.
“Yeah, I have. I think 15, 20 years ago it was a very different game. Very different game,” Schottenheimer explained. “Personalities were different. The pay was different. The way the game looked was different. You had 270-pound Mike linebackers. Now they’re all 210. The game’s different. Does it have anything to do with society? I don’t think so. And everybody’s different. There’s been guys that I’ve worked for that didn’t have those communication and conversations with players. But it’s what I believe is the best way to do it, and that’s what I’m always going to do.”
Dallas went 7-9-1 in his first season and ranked seventh in scoring offense and second in total offense at 391.9 yards per game. Players voted Dak Prescott, Brandon Aubrey, Quinnen Williams, and Kenny Clark team captains for 2026. ESPN’s survey of league executives and scouts picked Schottenheimer for Coach of the Year.
The Cowboys open Sunday at MetLife Stadium at 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC.
