Aikman’s thoughts on if Kellen Moore is Cowboys HC-in-waiting
Dallas Cowboys’ legend Troy Aikman appeared on the Yahoo Sports NFL Podcast this week to talk all things football leading up to Super Bowl LV contest between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Aikman detailed the difficulties of winning consecutive championships and touched on the value that a young franchise quarterback like Deshaun Watson holds. However it wasn’t long before hosts of the podcast, Charles Robinson and Terez Paylor, turned the topic to Aikman’s only former team and their current and future situations. Aikman gave his best answer regarding the future of an important Cowboys coach, Kellen Moore.
(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
The Cowboys offensive coordinator has been a popular talking point this offseason. The 32-year old offensive expertise reportedly turned down the head coaching vacancy at his alma-mater, Boise State, and then interviewed with the Philadelphia Eagles for their head coaching position.
Moore signed an extension with Dallas that keeps him with the club for three more seasons. Some believe the Cowboys made sure to keep Moore in-house because they want to groom him to be the head coach after Mike McCarthy, similar to the way the Cowboys primed Jason Garrett when they brought him onto the staff over a decade ago.
When asked about the notion the Cowboys are preparing Moore for an eventual takeover, Aikman responded thoroughly, saying,
“It’s a good question. I do think this situation is different than the one that Jason Garrett found himself in. There was a real history there with Garrett and the Jones family, from his playing days of course. The familiarity, the respect that they had for Jason as a player, and then when he went into coaching. My guess is that when Jason was brought in as the offensive coordinator, he was viewed as a future candidate to be the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. I don’t know that Kellen Moore was thought of that way when he went from the playing field to the coaching staff.”
While the two situations unquestionably do have their similarities, Aikman is right to point out the history that closely connected Garrett to the Jones family.
Aikman would elaborate on his answer, and acknowledge that he does believe Moore would be a real candidate to replace McCarthy, should that become necessary.
“But my guess is, and I feel confident saying this, Jerry Jones is hopeful that Mike McCarthy will be the head coach for the next 10 years, because that means a lot of good things are happening. If that’s not the case, yeah I think Kellen Moore would certainly be a candidate. Whether or not they view him as , “We’ve got our next head coach in the building,” I’m not so sure that that is an accurate statement.”
It was clear this offseason that retaining the services of Moore was important to the Cowboys, though that doesn’t mean they ready to give him the keys of the castle.
Moore’s return to Dallas should help the Cowboys offense continue to establish continuity and chemistry, as they try to become a more consistently dominant unit, all while letting Moore gain invaluable experience that will help him in whatever role he lands next.
If the Cowboys talented offensive continues to be one of the league’s best under Moore in the coming years the Cowboys will have no choice but to promote Moore, or watch him be poached away by one of the inevitable teams looking for the next state of the art offensive coaching hire. A good problem for the Cowboys to have, but a potential storyline to watch as next season unfolds.
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