Times are changing in Dallas, and the players don’t have a say in at least one matter.
As the Cowboys returned for offseason work, one of the first noticeable changes was found in the locker room.
First-year Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer decided to switch up the dynamics of his team and among the moves, he placed linebacker Micah Parsons next to quarterback Dak Prescott in a way to seemingly establish the team leaders.
Schottenheimer said the players have no “say” in the locker room shakeup, and it was completely decided by him and his staff.
“We moved some guys around,” Schottenheimer said, per ProFootballTalk. “This year, I did, along with the help of the staff. They don’t really get a say in that, but there’s a method to the madness. I think when the guys went into the team room for the first time, I made them all stand up after they sat down, I let them sit down and I had them stand up and move seats. Why? It’s a new year. It’s 2025. We’ll do that in 2026, we’ll do that in 2027 and beyond. When you start a new year, do something different. Change something up. It’s something that’s talked about, thought about, but there’s a method to the madness at times.”
Prior to both Schottenheimer and Mike McCarthy, who was fired after the Cowboys went 7-10 last season, Jimmy Johnson arrived as the head coach in 1989 and one of his first moves was to change the way his legendary predecessor Tom Landry had set up the locker room.
Johnson put each position group’s members together in the locker room, facing inward toward one another.
For many years, Jason Garrett, and McCarthy seemingly have carried on Johnson’s ways. That is, until seemingly this season.
Schottenheimer has been with the Cowboys for three years as an assistant before taking the helm.