Cowboys’ new offensive coordinator played at Boise State. A Bronco star could join him
There is something about the Dallas Cowboys and former Boise State Broncos.
The Cowboys announced the hiring of Klayton Adams as the team’s offensive coordinator late last week for new head coach Brian Schottenheimer. Adams started at center for Boise State for two years, helping the Broncos win the 2003 Fort Worth Bowl and earning Western Athletic Conference second-team honors in 2004.
Adams became the offensive coordinator in Dallas three years after Boise State legend Kellen Moore left the position. Moore had been with the Cowboys for eight years as a player and coach. Now the offensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles, he will be trying to win a Super Bowl this weekend against Kansas City.
Other Boise State stars, including Pro Bowl linebacker Leighton Vander Esch and four-time Pro Bowl defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, have made their mark in Dallas in recent years.
It’s been an active couple of decades for Adams since leaving Boise State.
After spending two seasons as a graduate assistant with the Broncos, he spent 13 years coaching in college, including stops at San Jose State and Colorado. He broke into the NFL in 2019 as the Indianapolis Colts’ assistant offensive line coach. He was most recently the offensive line coach for the Arizona Cardinals.
The Cardinals’ offense averaged the second-best yards per carry (5.3) by a team in 2024, and its line allowed the fifth-fewest sacks (30).
There could be another reason the Cowboys went after Adams — in fact, they weren’t even shy about it. It involves a certain running back who was runner-up in the Heisman Trophy voting. Dallas posted this on its website after announcing Adams as the new OC:
“The hope is that Adams can do for the Cowboys what he did for the Cardinals, though Dallas will now have to figure out their running back situation after releasing Ezekiel Elliott and as Rico Dowdle approaches free agency, but it should be noted he hails from Boise State, where a certain record-setting running back prospect hails from as well ahead of this year’s NFL Draft; and that the Cowboys have a longstanding pipeline to the school even prior to the arrival of Adams.”
The “certain record-setting running back prospect” is, of course, Ashton Jeanty, who set college football ablaze with his 2024 season.
Jeanty declared for the draft last month and previously said the Cowboys would be his ideal landing spot. He was born in Florida and traveled extensively in his youth as part of a military family, including a stint in Naples, Italy. His family moved to Frisco, Texas, ahead of Jeanty’s freshman year of high school so he could gain more exposure as a football player. Frisco is about 30 miles north of downtown Dallas.
The Cowboys have the 12th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, and some mock draft boards predict they will draft Jeanty, who led the nation in rushing last season (2,601 yards) and nearly broke Barry Sanders’ single-season record.
