The Dallas Cowboys have made an interview request for a candidate everyone say coming on Thursday: Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, per NFL Media. According to ESPN, Moore will interview virtually with Dallas on Friday prior to the Eagles' NFC divisional round home game vs. the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, per ESPN.
Moore, 35, has coordinated the Eagles to the NFL's No. 7 scoring offense (27.2 points per game ) and No. 8 total offense (367.2 total yards per game) in 2024, his first season in Philadelphia following one year as the Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator in 2023. Outside of Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones interviewing Jason Garrett again, no candidate for the current Dallas head coaching vacancy has more familiarity with working for Jones than Moore.
He first joined the Cowboys in 2015 as a backup quarterback after spending his first three NFL seasons (2012-2014) with the Detroit Lions after going undrafted following a record-setting college career at Boise State. Moore than went from being both Tony Romo's and Dak Prescott's backup to being Prescott's quarterbacks coach upon his NFL playing career retirement in 2018. Garrett promoted Moore to be his offensive coordinator in his final season as the Cowboys head coach, and Moore remained on the Dallas coaching staff as the offensive coordinator upon the hiring of Mike McCarthy to be the team's head coach in 2020.
McCarthy famously allowed Moore to retain offensive play-calling duties despite McCarthy himself doing that throughout his head coaching career with the Green Bay Packers. Moore's Cowboys scoring offenses were top 10 in the NFL in three of his four seasons in Dallas, with the lone exception being 2020 when Prescott fractured his ankle five games into that year. Once McCarthy decided to take play-calling duties back for the 2023 season, Moore departed for the Chargers offensive coordinator gig. Prescott threw a career-high 37 touchdown passes in the 2021 season, a year Dallas led the NFL in scoring offense (31.2 points per game) with Moore calling the plays.
Team PPG ranks in NFL
With Kellen Moore as OC
| Season | Team | PPG | NFL Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
2024 | PHI | 27.2 | 7th |
2023 | LAC | 20.4 | 21st |
2022 | 31.2 | 27.5 | 4th |
2021 | DAL | 31.2 | 1st |
2020 | DAL | 24.7 | 17th* |
2019 | DAL | 27.1 | 6th |
* Dak Prescott only played in first five games (Dallas avgeraged 32.6 PPG, third in the NFL in span)
The chief complaints in Dallas near the tail end of Moore's time as offensive coordinator were a predictable route tree, particularly when it came to the usage of hitches and comeback routes, and a lack of coordination with the receivers' route development and offensive line's blocking scheme not being in synch with Prescott's footwork. Both All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and Prescott praised the shift from Moore's offense to McCarthy's "Texas Coast" offense in which they said there was greater detail and a better connection between Prescott's footwork and the blocking scheme.
Should the Cowboys hire Moore, he would essentially be Jones' new Jason Garrett -- someone ownership has a high familiarity with from developing Moore as a player, assistant coach, offensive coordinator and head coach.
