LIVE: Brian Schottenheimer Press Conference | 8/02/25 | Dallas Cowboys 2025

LIVE: Brian Schottenheimer Press Conference | 8/02/25 | Dallas Cowboys 2025

[Music] Go cowboys. [Music] [Music] Go Cowboys. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Go cowboys. [Music] Go Cowboys. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Come on, kill boys. [Music] Go Cowboys. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Hey. [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music] Go kill boys. [Music] [Music] Go Cowboys. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Go cowboys. [Music] [Music] Go Cowboys. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Go cowboys. [Music] Go Cowboys. [Music] Come on. Come. [Music] [Music] Go cowboys. [Music] [Music] Go Cowboys. [Music] [Music] Everything [Music] everywhere. [Music] [Music] Go Cowboys. [Music] Go Cowboys. [Music] [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] [Music] Go cattle boys. [Music] Go Cowboys. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] filter. Who broke it? Well, we had to point it down for picking chest. Oh, really? Yeah. Well, that’s loud, too. Mike, you guys, can we turn me down a little bit? What’s up everybody? Yeah. Yeah, we got family beach day today. So, let’s go. Absolutely. How you doing? Have you talked to Micah Parsons about his trade requests? Uh, I’ve talked to Micah. Uh, I talked to all of our guys and uh great conversations. Um, not going to share with you guys what he and I talked about, but uh, again, I’ll just you I know you guys are going to ask it. I get that. I’m not going to continue to talk about Micah’s contract situation. A lot of great things going on. I get it. Seriously, you guys have a tough job to do and uh, you’re going to get bored with this press conference if we keep asking it. But, um, again, had great conversations with him. You know, you guys know me. I’m transparent. I talk to all of our guys. Always have, always will. And, uh, good conversations. feel like it’ll be a distraction in any sort of way because of obviously we’re reporting about it and he’s a high-profile player. Yeah, I I don’t think so. I think, you know, look, our guys are focused on what we’re trying to build. They’re trying they’re focused on what we’re trying to build on the field and the meeting rooms. Um, you know, the as we get closer to a game week, it’s kind of exciting, you know, and got the Rams coming in here next week. So, there’s plenty of things for us to focus on. We’re almost through the install. So, you know, I don’t think so. I can’t I mean, you know, look, it’s going to be talked about. We’ve talked about it. anytime you’re um sitting in this chair with this organization, there’s going to be things that are are hot topics amongst uh the masses, but our guys have a very singular focus and that’s getting better and getting ready to have a hell of a practice today. Clarence Hill, DLLS Cowboy, just from administrative standpoint, do you expect him to be at practice as he was the past few weeks? I mean, are there any expectations on how he’s going to move out here going forward? I would hope so. I would expect to see him out there today and um again uh we’ll see about that. But uh like I said, you know, um the conversations and stuff that he and I have had, you know, we talked about a lot of different things and uh all very positive. As you were thinking about becoming a head coach, I know the distractions were part of that whole how do I manage those type of things? I guess the honeymoon’s over, so to speak. you know, you got all this other stuff. Did you envision handling off the field stuff and and how do you go forward trying to manage expectations and limit distractions and focus on? Yeah, I think you know, Clarence, when you look at the situation being around the game so long, I mean, I’ve always I’ve always had to deal with the issues, you know, I haven’t had to always step to a mic every day and talk about them and address it. But like I said, I’ve been very open about I think over the past five or six years, the transparency and the authenticity that I carry myself with is um never going to change. And so um when you’re a coordinator, there’s different distractions and there’s things that you can’t control. And when you’re the head coach, you can control those things. And that’s not just how you practice and the practice schedules and the way you travel and things like that, but uh distractions are are uh part of the game. We limit them. We address the ones we feel like we have to. And um but I’m the same person every day and I’m not surprised by things that you have to deal with. I wake up every morning and know there’s going to be things that I wasn’t anticipating happening and um you know I actually I relish those things. Your teammates have changed things on social media to show a support for Micah. Do you support that? Is that part of the brotherhood? You know, does that get into their head about what’s going on with Micah and how that affects them on the field? No, I think it’s good that our guys are loving and supporting one another. I mean, that’s part of being a team. Um, but again, I don’t get caught up in all that stuff. I mean, again, we got what, 91 guys here and um, again, I just, you know, I I get I get fueled off of the energy and stuff that I feel in the meetings and on the practice field. That’s what fuels me. ESPN, do you feel caught in the middle in this situation between management? No, because I’m in communication with everybody. I mean, I’m talking to the players all the time. I’m talking to ownership all the time. Stephen and Jerry and I talk all the time, Will Mcclelay. Um, you know, again, the business side is the business side. And, you know, we’re not the only team in the league that’s going through this. you know, I mean, it it’s it’s what happens in big business and with with elite players and uh but no, I think um I’m certainly someone that uh has the ability to have, you know, conversations and and take in a lot of information and um I’m able to look at things from from all sides and then communicately directly with with the people that it affects. Then what have been your impressions of the pass rushers not named Micah so far in camp? Really, some guys have jumped out. Sam Williams having a hell of a camp. Um you nobody’s but surprised by that just because of the the we know the type of athlete he is, the speed, the power. Uh you know, Donovan Esaku is showing up for sure. We’ve talked about him a little bit. Just his first step quickness is really incredible. Uh the ability to run games and the suddenness of the games. Dante Fowler’s having a great camp. Um you know, Maron’s doing some good things. So really most of those guys have showed up. Uh they’re giving our tackles um you know great work and from the inside you know OSA’s always going to do his thing. Solomon’s been great. Mazy’s been pushing the pocket. Um but uh again I love I love the competition. You guys saw a little bit yesterday or two days ago I guess we did the one-on- ones. That was fun film to watch. you know, watch the not just the receivers, DBs, and tight ends and safeties and backs, linebackers, but I always default to watching the big guys and uh watch them go, you know, bat a little bit because uh when you have pads on, that’s the stuff that gets you excited. But I will think that, you know, again, we can create problems with people because of the the way we play initially with the attack front, but also with the depth that we have on the defensive line. John with the what did you guys like about Collins? How do you think defensive. He looks amazing. You know, I was here when LC came back um a year or two ago, whenever it was. And um when I saw him yesterday, I was like, “Wow, he’s he’s really um he’s he’s he’s thin in a good way. He he looks like he’s been busting his ass.” And obviously the experience, we feel great about that. And it was good to see him. The guys were excited to see him, but you know, just trying to add some veteran, you know, uh presence in the offensive line were beat up a little bit over there, but it was good to see him and he looks great. Do you expect to have Tyler Smith out there today? Uh, yeah, I do. Yep, I do. Nick Harris, for Telegram, uh, other than being on the sideline and on the field or in meetings or whatever, what value has Mike Spar following up? I see him teaching the young guys, man. I see him, you know, leaning into, you know, Donovan, you know, teaching guys, you know, hey, attack the the offensive tackle this way. Hey, maybe counter with this or, hey, what were you what did you see there? you know, I mean, almost doing some some some coaching. Uh, I think that that’s really really good. And, um, you know, he he does a really good job of, you know, he his football instincts are really impressive. I mean, he’s very very smart and he understands the game and, um, but I love the fact that he’s trying to lead into those guys, lean into them and get them kind of caught up. And, um, you know, they listen because of obviously what he’s done and how he’s produced. And um it’s been uh it’s been fun for me to kind of look across the way and see him after maybe the ones leave and he’s got a couple of those guys he’s talking to about different things, hand placement and stuff like that. You guys a lot of different options with the first team. What have you liked about that competition? Love it. Um that’s what we want. You know, again, we’re moving some pieces around the secondary as you guys have known and asked. You know, we’re moving the pieces around a little bit. Um you know, Don being back now has been good for him to get those reps. again. Uh Kan Hall has made some really good plays for us. Uh he’s an excellent blitzer coming off the edge. That’s something that jumps off the film at you. Um Zion has done a nice job for a young player. I think you see some of the skills that we saw coming out of Kentucky that we really liked. But um we’ll keep trying different, you know, groups and units and the biggest thing from the nickel is the ability to communicate and talk. And I think offensively we’re throwing a lot of things at them from in terms of tempo, shifts, motions, things like that that they’re having to adjust to. And um I I will say that the communication um has been very very good from the Nickels. Tommy Arscowboys.com. 34 days after Miles Garrick put in a trade request. He got a deal done. Yesterday was 34 days until you guys open against Philly. Do you feel like Mike will be on the field with you? So you’re just going to keep asking those questions when I told you that. I’m just going to keep saying I’m not talking about Micah’s contract situation. Um, Mike is a competitor and uh I hope to see Mike out there soon and when the business gets worked out, it gets worked out. And then we saw some of the tight ends working with the tackles in practice the other day. How important is it for them to kind of be on the same page when they’re in line together? Oh, it’s huge. I would say actually looking back on last year, that was one of the areas that we weren’t very good at, Tommy. You know, getting the tackles and tight ends to communicate and talk. And so we do different things, but those group periods where those guys work together is critical because you’re teaching these guys how to communicate, how to talk, how to share information. If you think about it, when you look at the way the game’s played, the center gets up there, he addresses the ball, he makes a point, he has the communication, and then it’s got to get passed up and down the line. One of the things that the music does other than just, you know, create energy is it makes our guys have to truly talk because it’s a little loud at times, especially when we’re on the far end down by the speakers and those guys have really done a nice job. It’s a credit to Connor and Clayton and then of course LDub that those guys are doing a much better job. But without those periods where they’re working together and they’re communicating, we’re changing the looks on them from the front whether it’s a you know tackle bubble tackle covered look. uh without making them do that in a group period, it’s never going to be as good as it should be in the team period. So that’s why you do those drills. Joe White Dallas, you’ve talked a lot about your coaching inspirations throughout your time being an assistant and obviously your dad in terms of handling tough situations kind of like we got right now. Who inspired you and and what lessons did you learn? I think I took a little bit from everybody, you know, Joe. Um my dad was always very uh forthright, very upfront. I think that’s where I get my ability to have, you know, real authentic, sometimes hard conversations. Um, but again, I think, you know, at the end of the day, I’m who I am. And when I bring a player in, whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, whether it’s a hard topic, whether it’s a great exciting topic, whatever it is, you know, I’m going to always be authentic. I’m always going to be true to who I am. And uh I don’t shy away from having real conversations with these guys, just like I don’t shy away from having real conversations with the coaches and my family. And that’s just the type of person I am. I would rather get everything out on the table and have us at least understand where we’re coming from on both sides of it. And at the end of the day, I can I can deal with that. And sometimes people like what I say, sometimes they don’t. But at the end of the day, it’s coming from a place of that I care and I’m committed to doing what’s best for this team to win a championship. Sanders last practice. You expect him to be out there today? Yeah, I think, you know, I’ll find out when I go in there a little bit today, but it could be a couple days for him, but uh again, nothing that we’re worried about. Jeff Gold with Fox 4, forgive me for one more question on Micah, but you know, you’ve talked about, you know, from the start when you took this role, just how important relationships are to you. You spoke specifically with Mike about how you’ve been building that relationship going back years, even being on the offensive side of the ball. How grateful are you for that and how much can that serve you in this situation? I think that’s a benefit, Jeff. I mean, I think the fact that I’ve been around and I know a lot of the players and I’m not just whatever got the job late January. I’m not seven months into this thing where I’m still getting these guys have have seen me from afar on defense and on offense really from the time I was a consultant. But then being here the last couple years, I think they know me. I think they know what I’m about. Um, but again, you know, you you you do as a as a head coach when you first take over and you’ve been on the offensive side of the ball. I mean, I’ve worked extremely hard uh at developing those relationships with the defensive guys that maybe I didn’t know as well as the offensive players strictly because I spent so much time with the offense. Um, and that’s why somebody asked the other day like, why do you have the offensive coaches go and spend time with the defensive coaches during stretch and vice versa? It’s not just to talk trash. It is to get to know them a little bit and to have some fun. Uh, because I know how important that is. And uh, you know, I think it’s um I’m a relationship guy, man. And I’m never going to apologize for that. And uh some people think, oh, hey, maybe, you know, he’s soft. I can promise you I’m not soft. Uh you guys saw that a couple days ago. Uh but relationships are important to me because that’s what makes the journey fun. Mike Ker had a terrific camp so far. There was a lot of conjecture in the offseason that hey, maybe this is a guy that needed a fresh start. When I talked to him the other day, he said it was more so, hey, there’s a coaching staff here that believes. How have you seen your interaction with him, your coaching staff’s interaction with him, and how have you seen that support maybe lead to the results we’re seeing? Well, first of all, I love that because I think that’s so important. You know, part of our job as coaches is to build confidence to make these guys know that we believe in them. And it doesn’t matter if the first guy on the on the big board or the 91st guy. Like, all these guys can play. All these guys can help us win. And it’s our job to do that. I mean, we talk about Tyler Gayton, you know, Tyler Gayton knows that we think he can be elite elite all proleton about that or you talk to Kiger about what a great camp he’s having. Oh, man. You know, you’re seeing things so well. you’re you’re reinforcing to him the things that he’s already feeling by his performance on the field, but you’re letting him know that we as coaches and we as the experts per se that spend all the time watching the film and evaluating, we see it as well. And so, doesn’t mean you don’t coach them hard. It doesn’t mean you don’t correct them, but every chance we get to really talk to these guys about how what their ceiling is and man, we just see it, man. And you you should be confident. You are playing great. Uh we’d be missing an opportunity if we didn’t take advantage of that. Nicole Hutcherson, Dallas Cowboys TV. Troy Pride’s been also a guy that’s been making plays for you throughout camp. Just how pleased have you been with his consistency so far? Yeah, great word, consistency. Uh love the athlete, man. Love the change of direction. Love the quickness that he’s shown. Um and then you talk about just a competitive guy. You know, he plays till the whistle’s over and uh he’s one of those guys that he uh it gets a little chippy in there with him. Uh but uh again, you guys know me, I love guys that have a chip on their shoulder and I think, you know, TP plays with a chip on his shoulder and uh it’s uh very evident when you watch him play and uh he’ll be that way a little bit today because we’re in pads and it’ll be good with our guys kind of thudding around a little bit today. Bill, Bill Jones, CBS Texas. Uh you talk about uh positive coaching, instilling confidence in your players. Is there someone from your past who did that for you either growing up or college or anything that you know Pete was that way I mean Pete Carol coach Spurer wasn’t as much that he was uh dependent on during the week he was kind of that way and on game day it was Jacqueline Hyde and I love him to death you guys know that I’ve told a lot of stories about him I’ve learned some swear words from coach Spur on game day that I didn’t and you guys know I do swear too much but um I’d say the two guys that jump out at me in terms of that type of deal would be Pete Carol and Dan Quinn. Um, two guys I’m very close with, two guys that um, you know, we’ve we’ve spent a lot of time together. And, um, but it it’s not even that. I think, you know, I’ve shared with you guys four, five, six years ago, I was kind of a little bit down and dejected. I think when I was leaving Seattle about like, you know, man, I’ve missed my opportunity maybe to be a head coach. And I did a really deep dive into myself and what really mattered to me. And I look back and I said, “What I remember about winning the national championship Florida was more of the people. I don’t remember the exact score of the game when we beat Florida State. I don’t remember the the score of the game, the first game of the year, but I remember times in locker room hanging out with my teammates, James Bates, Lawrence Wright, uh Sammy Mccoral, you know, Ike Hillyard. I mean, I remember that.” And so, it’s the people side of it. And I think sometimes in today’s day and age, you get caught up in the madness of the business and everything and you realize that, you know, what matters and what you’re going to remember is the people side of it. And I think that’s why I and I I have not had a chance to really look at it, but why I love Hall of Fame weekend so much is because I think you see these incredible athletes and they finally get the the call to go to into the Hall of Fame and it’s like they realize as they’re looking out over not only their families and the fans and the people that helped them get there, but they’re looking at again their peers and the ones that that they played with and alongside and that’s what matters, man. It really is what matters. And so, um, yeah, that’s kind of the way I’m wired. Scrugs, NBC. Um, you mentioned the Rams coming in here. What do you use that practice time for your running backs to get your evaluations about how you where you going to stop these guys going into the season? Yeah, you get you do you get a ton out of it. Number one, I mean, I have a ton of respect for Shawn and his staff, and they were so easy to work with last year when we when we had the the scrimmage against them, you know, but in terms of the running backs, right? You know, you’re looking at different fronts. You’re looking at different matchups. You’re looking at different linebackers. Like, you know, our guys are kind of getting a feel. There’s a scouting report out on each other, right? Like, if you’re Javvante and all of a sudden Sandborn’s going to blitz, like you kind of have an idea because they’ve been going against each other for so long. Okay, he’s going to take me on with his near pad or hey, he’s going to fake left and go right. So, I think it’s just going up against a different jersey, going up against some different looks, some different fronts. And, uh, Sean and his staff have been great to work with. And, um, you know, they’re they’re a damn good football team. They’re physical. You know, we’ll be smart with who we play in the preseason. You know, so it’s a chance for you to get a lot of really really good work with maybe some guys that aren’t going to play in the preseason. And, um, again, just he and I talked two days ago and we’ve kind of finalized the practice schedule and it should be a hell of a competition. Nick, you’re halfway through these 16 practices of camp. Anything you really like, anything you don’t like that you want to change up going into the second half of camp? I think we’re taking care of the football better. I like that. You know, I think, uh, early on we were turning over a little bit too much. I think offensively, uh, the big plays are starting to show up. We’re starting to connect on those. You guys asked me about that the other day. That normally takes time. I love the energy. I love the physicality. I’ve talked about how we’re trying to create calluses and things like that. Um, and I love all the reps we’re getting. I mean really like you know we’re going to mix in a little bit of seven on seven and n on seven at some point but I mean we’re getting upwards of 65 to 68 70 plays of 11 on 11 and um it’s it’s it’s been really really good and we’re getting a lot of guys rolling through and the evaluation process is ongoing and um again that doesn’t slow down as you get you know into these gameweek preps. you know, preseason’s not about pulling back, you know, it’s about pressing ahead and um that’s kind of what we’ll do. For a guy like John Stevens, he’s had a couple of bad drops, but he’s come off of such a rigorous last couple years. What’s the message? Yeah. Hey, you’re growing. You’re getting back. You know, you’re just you’re you’re it’s it’s it’s almost like going through a version of rehabilitation. You know, you’ve you’ve done the rehab to get your body to where you can be out on the field and now you’re running and your body’s going so fast and you’re like, “Oh man, I’m open. I’m going to catch this.” and then you want to catch it and you want to turn up field and so you drop it. There’s zero concerns about his ball skills. He’s got elite ball skills, but um you know, you point out the great things he’s doing. You know, um guys with guys like that, you always point out the things that they’re doing really well and how amazing is that you’re back already. You didn’t start on PUB and man, what a testament to you and hey, you’re going to kick the rust off and don’t worry about that. And uh that goes a long way with these guys. It’s an easy one. Micah. No. Oh, yeah. Here we go. Next. You had a stay day yesterday. I I believe why you continue that. What do you What do you like? Yeah. I I’ve told, you know, these guys that if they give me everything that we want as a coaching staff in terms of the energy and the running and the chasing and the pursuit and all that stuff that, you know, we will take care of, you know, them and give them days like that where we’re going to meet. we’re gonna give you a chance to catch up on film. That’s the other thing that the the meetings get longer and so you’re able to kind of uh you know stay up to, you know, par and get caught up on some of the film, but let’s take care of these guys. And you got 91 guys, whatever. And so the resources um they they do get spread thin at times. And so it’s about the focus of okay, we’re not practicing today, but you are competing every day to get your body back to where it is so we can throw a hell of a practice today. Say again. been big on having a vet day for No, I mean again, there’s different versions of what is a vet day. Do you just not go out there with any stuff on? There’s different versions of that. You know, some guys you want to be smart with. It’s a physical physical game, but no, we’re we’re a team and we’re a family and therefore we’re going to try to act that way all the time or there are certain things that do change it from time to time, of course. U but uh but no, uh we like having everybody out there working and watching and uh uh leaning into one another. Good. Thank you guys. All shot up quick. They’re all trying to get me. What if I go this way? I can’t get out. [Music] Go Cowboys. [Music]

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