The Dallas Cowboys may have dodged a major bullet, and it’s most likely thanks to Neo-like agility by the man in charge. Despite what seems like an opportunity to run his own shop and head out on the recruiting trail for his alma mater, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore is set to sign an extension with the Cowboys to remain in Texas.
According to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, Moore will not be the answer to Boise State’s recent opening for the head coaching position. The budding offensive play caller has only been a coach in the NFL for three seasons, all with the Cowboys. He was quarterbacks coach in 2018 and OC for the last two seasons. He’ll have at least one more with Dallas, and maybe a future long after that.
Kellen Moore will remain as the Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator in 2021, bypassing an opportunity to return to his alma mater at Boise St as HC, per league sources to @WerderEdESPN and me.
Cowboys expect to sign Moore to an extension, per sources.— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) January 3, 2021
The news that Moore was not heading to Boise was first reported by the Idaho Press.
Multiple sources tell @TheIdahoPress and @BlueTurfSports that Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore is unlikely to become Boise State’s head coach. These things can always change, but I’m told Boise State is expected to move in another direction.
— B.J. Rains (@BJRains) January 2, 2021
The team and Moore released the following statement.
The Cowboys’ offense ranks 16th in points scored in 2020, but that’s without Dak Prescott, and much of their offensive line for the entire season. Last year, Moore’s first as a play caller, he had Dallas sixth in points scored and first overall in yardage, along with having the league’s second-best offense by DVOA. Those were marked improvements over the 2018 version which ranked 22nd, 22nd and 24th, respectively.
Moore has shown growth as he’s gotten familiar with the responsibilities. One of the biggest downsides to his early games was his red-zone play calling. Through the first 12 games last year the club was converting under 55% of those opportunities into touchdowns, but over the next 9 games (to finish 2019 and through Prescott’s final game in 2020) that skyrocketed up to almost 68% conversions.
The team has also stabilized recently under Andy Dalton, scoring 30 points in each of the team’s three consecutive wins.
Moore is a Boise State alum and a favorite son of the fanbase, so when Bryan Harsin surprisingly left the Broncos for the Auburn lead gig, speculation rightfully focused on Moore. The 32-year old spoke of his desire to be a head coach sometime in his career, but remained very coy about the opportunity, wanting to focus on Dallas’ Week 17 game against the New York Giants on Sunday.
Jones is famous for being able to retain front office personnel from going elsewhere, even for bigger job titles. It seems he pulled it off again with Moore. Perhaps part of that reasoning is that with even with an injured offensive line, Prescott was on pace to shatter the NFL’s passing yardage mark. After four weeks, he was on pace to beat Peyton Manning’s record by around 1,600 yards.
If that kind of success returns in 2021 with a full arsenal at his disposal, Moore may have looked at a stop back to Boise as delaying him from becoming an NFL coach, as opposed to his dream job.
