Latest news with #KlaytonAdams
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Jaydon Blue Is Better Than Tony Pollard?
The Dallas Cowboys selected running back Jaydon Blue with the 149th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. ... amid high hopes. How high? Read on ... The explosive Blue had a fairly productive year with the Texas Longhorns last season, putting up 730 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground while adding 368 yards and six touchdowns through the air. Advertisement Blue's skillset from the running back position compares favorably to former Cowboys running back Tony Pollard in the eyes of one expert. In fact ... Former NFL scout Bryan Broaddus believes Blue projects as a better player than Pollard. 'Better player, I think. Better player,' Broaddus said on the G-Bag Nation show on 105.3 The Fan. Blue adds immediate value as a third-down back, and new offensive coordinator Klayton Adams should design plays and packages that will allow Blue to utilize his blazing speed in space. Blue ran a 4.38 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine and it figures that he will thrive as the change-of-pace back in Dallas. Advertisement But what about more? Could Blue eventually take on a full workload and become the full-time starter? Sure, but sharing reps early in the season with the likes of veteran newcomers Miles Sanders and Javonte Williams would give Blue time to acquaint to the NFL game. As someone who struggled with ball security and injuries during his time at Texas, let's not put too much on the plate of a potential home run talent like Blue too early. Maybe it's not far-fetched to suggest Blue will be a better player than Pollard but it cannot be ignored that Blue is 5-9, 196 pounds while Pollard - who cashed in with the Cowboys and moved to Tennessee via free agency - stands 6-0, 215 pounds. Advertisement Time will tell if Blue can be a true workhorse at that size and if he develops to be a Pro Bowl level talent; let's get him on the roster first. Related: Cowboys George Pickens Vows To 'Grow Up' After Blockbuster Trade Related: Cowboys Build Perfect 'Thunder and Lightning' Backfield With Blue and Mafah
USA Today
19-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
'Create violence': New Cowboys coach vows 'controlled energy' to boost struggling unit
For Klayton Adams, it all starts, by his own admission, on the offensive line. The newly-named offensive coordinator of the Cowboys, Adams was himself a walk-on O-lineman at Boise State in the early 2000s. Early in his coaching career, he was the run game coordinator and offensive line coach at D-II's Western Washington. He's since worked with the front five at Sacramento State and Colorado, and then at the pro level in both Indianapolis and Arizona. But just because Adams is now an OC for the first time- and for one of the most stored franchises in the sport, no less, with all-world talents like Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb now under his jurisdiction- don't expect him to stray too far from the big boys up front. 'I definitely won't stay away from that,' Adams laughed Tuesday, when he spoke with the Dallas media for the first time since his Jan. 31 hire. 'I want to have a great relationship with all these guys, and I really want to build genuine relationships so that they know that I'm here to help them play the best football of their careers and they know that we're going to have a very clear and communicated standard for what we expect from them. 'For me, that's going to start in the offensive line room, and I'm very excited about developing a relationship with those guys. But I need to have that same relationship with Dak. I need to have that same relationship with CeeDee, so my time's going to be spread a little bit more in that way, but it's going to start on the offensive line.' And Cowboys fans who may have felt like something has been missing in recent years will absolutely love what Adams says he's looking for from his linemen… and the rest of the unit at large. 'The same thing that I want from every player on offense,' he says, 'and that is to create violence in the game. Be aggressive. Run. Hit. I think that every decision that we make schematically needs to lean that direction. So if there's gray area, what is going to allow these guys to play more free and run and hit and be violent?' Adams will be creating the plays that hopefully check those boxes for the offense, but it will be first-time head coach Brian Schotteneheimer actually calling the shots on Sundays. So for now, the Sacramento-born Adams will be the intermediary: ascertaining what his offensive players are best at and cooking up plays to fit… but also putting them together on a menu that works for Schottenheimer on gameday. 'Just trying to mesh what the vision of what he wants,' Adams explained. 'I think it would be dumb on my part to try to force a lot of things on that call sheet that he doesn't want to call or he doesn't feel comfortable calling. 'I'm going to see some things differently, he's going to see some things differently. It's going to be a growing process.' But much of the job will also come down to the same basic principle that has been at the heart of football since the game's very beginning: lining up in such a way that the other side can't tell what's coming. 'Our job,' according to Adams, 'when we're putting things on the call sheet, is to be problem solvers. So we're trying to figure out: what do we do good? And how do we make that look multiple? How do we make that look different? That's the part that I'm really looking forward to focusing on.' [affiliatewidget_smgtolocal] The Dallas offense struggled mightily last year. But the fact that Adams takes over an offense whose core contributors have finished in the NFL's top three in points and the top five in yards in three of the past five years means it won't have to be a total rebuild from scratch. And having five offensive players with a combined 19 Pro Bowl nods (Zack Martin included, for now) has to be considered a massive bonus for Adams as he gets to work. 'I'm really excited about the opportunity to let it unfold and look at it and say, 'How do we put these guys in an advantageous position as many times as we can within a game?'' he told reporters. 'That's the challenge to me, and when you have good players, that's a little bit easier.' But don't mistake Adams's easygoing nature in front of the media for a passive approach on the sideline. The just-turned-41-year-old still has some of that hard-nosed, no-nonsense, O-lineman mentality deep in his DNA. He's the first to admit it's ready to come out when it needs to. 'How I communicate with the players- on the field, in the meeting room- [it's] controlled energy,' Adams said. 'So I'm not going to have a lot of blowups, but it's going to be very focused beams of 'Here's the problem; here's the solution, here's where we're going to try to get that done.' I'm not really a big blowup scream guy. But, you know, they've got to feel the intensity.' And hopefully under Adams, the Cowboys offense will be showing plenty of intensity, too.
USA Today
13-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Cardinals announce coaching additions, promotions
The Arizona Cardinals have had some coaching staff turnover this offseason. Six coaches do not return from last season's staff. Offensive line coach Klayton Adams became the offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys and linebackers coach Sam Siefkes became the defensive coordinator for Virginia Tech. Passing game specialist Spencer Whipple is now the quarterbacks coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Defensive line coach Derrick LeBlanc was not retained and has since landed as the assistant defensive line coach for the Jaguars, while outside linebackers coach Rob Rodriguez and defensive quality control coach Ronald Booker do not return. The Cardinals announced five new additions to the staff this week and two promotions. Cardinals coaching staff promotions Connor Senger, pass game specialist Senger, previously the Cardinals' offensive quality control coach, was promoted to be pass game specialist, replacing Spencer Whipple, who became quarterbacks coach for Jacksonville. Blaine Gauthier, offensive quality control coach Gauthier was promoted to offensive quality control coach. He spent the last two seasons on the staff as part of the Bill Bidwill Coaching Fellowship. Cardinals coaching staff additions The Cardinals added five staff members. Justin Frye, offensive line coach Frye's addition was previously reported, replacing Adams. He spent the last three seasons as Ohio State's O-line coach and coached Cardinals left tackle Paris Johnson, the team's 2023 first-round pick, during his final season at Ohio State. He was a graduate assistant from 2007-2010 for Indiana and Florida, each school for two years. After that, he was the offensive line coach for Temple in 2011-2012, Boston College from 2013-2017 before going to UCLA in 2018 working for head coach Chip Kelly. He was the O-line coach in 2018 and from 2019-2021 was offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, before going to Ohio State. Winston DeLattiboudere III, defensive line coach Replacing LeBlanc, his addition was also previously reported. He is 27 years old and spent the last two seasons at the University of Minnesota, where he was defensive line coach and then promoted to assistant head coach in January 2024. He has a little experience in the NFL. In 2022, as part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship, he helped coach the Jacksonville Jaguars' defensive line during training camp and then, in 2023 under the same fellowship, spent the offseason program with the Green Bay Packers. He started his coaching career in 2020 as a graduate assistant at Charlotte, working with defensive linemen, and then in 2021 as a graduate assistant at Oregon. In 2022, he was Akron's defensive line coach before going to Minnesota, where he played collegiately. Cristian Garcia, linebackers coach His addition, replacing Siefkes, was also previously reported. He has been in the NFL coaching ranks for four years, most recently last season as assistant defensive backs coach for the Dallas Cowboys under Mike McCarthy and defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, with whom Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis both previously worked with. He was with the Washington Commanders from 2021-2023 as a defensive assistant and defensive quality control coach. He finished the 2023 season as the interim assistant defensive backs coach. He played linebacker collegiately and coached three years in the college ranks, 2018-2019 at UNLV and 2020 at Georgia Tech. Matt Feeney, outside linebackers coach Feeney replaces Rodriguez. He comes from the Las Vegas Raiders, where he was defensive quality control coach in 2022-2023 before being promoted to interim linebackers coach when Antonio Pierce was made interim head coach. In 2024, he was their assistant defensive backs coach. Prior to that, he coached eight years in college after playing linebacker collegiately for John Carroll University. As a coach, he spent three years at John Carroll from 2014-2016, two seasons at Tennessee-Chattanooga and three years at Akron. He was Akron's defensive coordinator from 2019-2021. Alec Osborne, defensive quality control coach Osborne replaces Booker. he comes from the college ranks, where he coached since 2017. He began in 2017 as a defensive graduate assistant for Northwestern State. In 2018, he was a defensive graduate assistant and coached defensive ends at McNeese. He was a defensive graduate assistant from 2019-2021 at LSU where he helped with outside linebackers, inside linebackers and nickelbacks. He then spent the next two seasons as defensive quality control coach for Baylor and then, in 2024 was inside linebackers coach at Louisiana-Monroe, where he played tight end collegiately. Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire's Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Reuters
31-01-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Report: Cards' Klayton Adams to interview for Cowboys OC
January 31 - Arizona Cardinals offensive line coach Klayton Adams will have an in-person interview with the Dallas Cowboys for their vacant offensive coordinator position, NFL Network reported on Friday. He had a remote interview earlier this week with the Cowboys, who are filling a vacancy left open when then-offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer was promoted to head coach. Schottenheimer, who did not hold play-calling responsibilities this past season under then-head coach Mike McCarthy, is expected to call plays for the Cowboys in 2025. Adams, 41, spent the past two seasons with the Cardinals after working four years with the Indianapolis Colts as an assistant offensive line coach (2019-20) and tight ends coach (2021-22). Under Adams' watch, the Cardinals ranked seventh in the league in 2024 in rushing yards and 11th in total offense. ESPN reported on Thursday that Ken Dorsey is also considered a candidate for the Cowboys' OC job. Dorsey, 43, was fired earlier this month after one season as the offensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns. --Field Level Media Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
