INDIANAPOLIS — Despite their having a new coaching staff, several aspects of NFL combine week were similar for the Dallas Cowboys. One notable difference is that owner and general manager Jerry Jones didn’t speak with local reporters.Jones arrived in Indianapolis on Friday afternoon to attend meetings and the team’s annual combine dinner with front-office staff members, coaches and scouts at St. Elmo Steak House. Jones usually sits down with reporters aboard his luxury bus before those other obligations. However, Jones canceled that annual interview session.Jones, dressed in a black jacket, black hat and sunglasses like a famous actor leaving Nobu Malibu, also declined to talk while leaving the team’s hotel Saturday morning, adding he would speak with reporters when he gets back to Dallas.Why would Jones uncharacteristically turn down interviews? Is a notable free-agency deal in the works? Maybe a trade? Is a contract extension with Micah Parsons or Osa Odighizuwa being finalized? Perhaps he didn’t want to tip his hand on something he had planned. Or, he just didn’t feel like talking, which is strange.Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones spoke with local reporters Monday in Indianapolis. He said their free-agency plan is to be “selectively aggressive.” It would have been interesting to hear what Jerry Jones’ thoughts are on selective aggressiveness or whether he had his own term.Even without the owner and general manager’s speaking with reporters, there was plenty of Cowboys information gathered. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from combine week.Not rebuildingDallas does not view the 2025 season as a rebuilding year. They have too many key players, most notably Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Parsons, to be rebuilding. Although many on the outside might disagree, the Cowboys view injuries as their biggest reason for a disappointing 2024. They do not view themselves as being far off from their NFC East rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Commanders, who just played in the NFC Championship Game.Ashton JeantyHe did not have a formal interview with the Cowboys at the combine. Each team gets 45 formal interviews that last around 20 minutes. Dallas will have plenty of time to sit down with this year’s top back between now and the draft. With Jeanty’s being a local prospect (Frisco Lone Star High), he is eligible for the team’s annual Dallas Day workout.“Just the fact that I grew up there, played high school football there, had games in their practice stadium (The Star), it would be dope,” Jeanty said Friday of possibly being the Cowboys’ first-round pick.Though running back is one of Dallas’ biggest needs, it doesn’t sound like they view it as their top priority at No. 12. Jeanty could be the pick, but it’s sounding more likely they will go in a different direction. This is considered a strong running backs class. Targeting one in the second or third round seems like a better bet than Jeanty at No. 12.
Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty acknowledges that he’d love to play for the Dallas Cowboys but he has not met with the team at the combine pic.twitter.com/n9kMruGc6D
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) February 28, 2025What are they looking for at running back?There is still legitimate interest in re-signing Rico Dowdle, who rushed for a career-high 1,079 yards last season. But the idea is to pair him with someone they draft. “You want a guy that’s got vision,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Thursday. “You want a guy that has contact balance. The fronts that we’re seeing, the fronts that we’re facing, require guys to be able to make hidden yards, whether there’s a free safety in the hole or there’s a linebacker or defensive lineman coming off of the point of attack, you’ve got to have a guy that’s willing to run through arm tackles.“I do believe that you have to have the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. Why do I say that? If a team wants to commit to stopping the run, there’s ways that they can try to do that, and we don’t want that to take an elite runner, or a position like that, out of the game. If a team is doing a nice job stopping the running game, you want to be able to get him involved throwing it to him. That doesn’t mean they have to play like a receiver, but they have to be able to run routes coming out of the backfield, have the ability to separate, run after catches is important.”GO DEEPERHow Brian Schottenheimer built his Cowboys staff and why he brought them all to combine weekWhat is more likely than RB at No. 12?Wide receiver, defensive line, cornerback. Playmakers are needed, at running back but also wide receiver. The majority of experts believe the best in this class is Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan, who had a formal interview with the Cowboys in Indianapolis. The 6-4, 219-pound McMillan caught 84 passes for 1,319 yards last season. He had 26 touchdown catches over the last three seasons. He’d be a perfect complement to Lamb. But there’s also a good chance he’s gone by Pick 12.The next two mentioned most from this WR class are Missouri’s Luther Burden III, who declined to share the teams he’s met with in Indianapolis, and Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka, who said he had an “awesome” informal meeting with Cowboys WR coach Junior Adams.The defensive line is an obvious area with all the potential holes at defensive tackle and edge rusher. With DeMarcus Lawrence a free agent and Sam Williams coming back from a season-ending knee injury, help is needed behind Parsons. Even though new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus might not have a track record of moving pass rushers around, Parsons is going to continue to be used in a variety of ways.Trevon Diggs is working his way back from a significant knee injury and Jourdan Lewis is a free agent, making cornerback another area to watch. The Cowboys need four to five cornerbacks they can count on. If playing today, the only one they absolutely can say that about is DaRon Bland.Offensive lineIt sounds like Cooper Beebe will be staying at center. The team seems good with Terence Steele at right tackle and Tyler Guyton at left tackle. They have been impressed with the work Guyton has been putting in during the offseason. Two-time Pro Bowler Tyler Smith has left guard secured. Zack Martin’s retirement leaves right guard undecided. If the Cowboys had a game today, Brock Hoffman would likely start at that spot.But they need to be better on the offensive line, so don’t rule out a relatively early pick spent on that position group. “We’re always going to play the best five,” Schottenheimer said. “It’d be hard to move a guy (Beebe) that had that much experience playing center this year at a high level, but anything is on the table in playing the best five.”Dak PrescottAs expected, he and Schottenheimer continue to build on a quality relationship. Things remain on track with his rehab from a season-ending hamstring injury. The plan is to continue building on what he’s accomplished over the last nine seasons but also make tweaks.“He and I are very close,” Schottenheimer said Thursday on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “We see the game the same way. We’re definitely going to make some adjustments. There are things he’s really going to like. I really do think this is a guy that there’s no question can win a championship. He can lead us to a championship. I think he’s going to lead us to a championship. That’s the goal.”
Brian Schottenheimer on Cowboys QB Dak Prescott pic.twitter.com/MXlUyq3lku
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) February 27, 2025Tight endThe team feels good about the position group, so don’t look for major changes. Dallas will continue to build on what it has with Jake Ferguson, Luke Schoonmaker, Brevyn Spann-Ford, Princeton Fant and John Stephens Jr.LinebackerSome notable work still needs to be done here. DeMarvion Overshown has a long way to go in his recovery from another season-ending knee injury. Eric Kendricks is a free agent. That basically leaves Marist Liufau and Damone Clark. It sounds like the free-agent market at the position is a little pricier than they were hoping. So, don’t look for Dallas to be parting ways with Clark. This is unlikely to be an early-round target area in the draft, but help is needed.GO DEEPERIf Cowboys take an aggressive approach to free agency, which Tier 1 players could fit?Klayton Adams’ roleThe new offensive coordinator position will be somewhat similar to what Schottenheimer did the last two seasons, but Adams will have more emphasis on the offensive line. “Klayton is going to be very impactful for me in putting together the game plan,” Schottenheimer said. “I think as the head coach, you think you’re going to be in all of the different meetings and things like that. And I’ll be in most of them, but you’re going to get pulled away. There are going to be things that come about where you’re like, ‘OK, I wasn’t in there for that.’“This guy is just incredible in terms of his foundation of teaching fundamentals. He’s been kind of a fast riser, if you will. … He’s a guy that I kind of have been tracking and saying, ‘Hey, if ever given the opportunity to be a head coach and being the play caller, a guy like this would complement me in some areas that I quite honestly need to be complemented.’ … I think we’ll work very, very well together.”
Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones: “Apathy is what you don’t want. We want our fans to love our team and we also want them to have emotion when we don’t deliver great results, which 7-10 is not acceptable.” pic.twitter.com/AZQjO9QDKs
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) February 24, 2025(Photo of Ashton Jeanty and Woody Marks: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)
.