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Dallas Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith.

The Dallas Cowboys weren’t a great team in 2025, going 7-9-1 and missing the playoffs for the second-straight year. However, many expected the team to be even worse.

After the team moved on from Mike McCarthy, they decided to go with an outside-of-the-box hire by promoting offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to the head coaching job.

That was thought of as a lackluster hire, and it was predicted to fail. Schottenheimer ended up surprising a lot of people with how good the offense looked, including Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith, who was impressed with the coach.

“I thought he had an excellent year. He surprised me, too. The Cowboys’ problem was not offensively,” Smith told Heavy Sports. “We know that the Cowboys had significant issues defensively. And I think they addressed that this offseason by bringing in the Philadelphia Eagles defense coordinator (Christian Parker ). That’s important to know.

“And I think we addressed some of our defensive issues throughout the draft. That’s important to see. And I think the key, though, is maintaining quality health throughout the entire season for the whole entire team. Having your players available. I’ve always said the best ability is availability. If you’re not available, then we cannot be at our best.”

How Cowboys Can Get Back to Super Bowl

The Cowboys have the biggest brand in the NFL, but they haven’t played in the Super Bowl since 1995. Smith doesn’t think they’re too far away, but does think they have to get better in some key areas before they can compete.

“Balance was what helped our team win three Super Bowls in 10 years,” Smith told Heavy Sports. “And I think balance is gonna be the thing that helps the Cowboys get back and get to the level of competitiveness that we need to have on the football field. And that includes having a solid running game, which we had a thousand-yard rusher last year.

“Solid passing game, which we had two wide receivers that showed up and showed out. George Pickens stepped on the scene last year and showed everybody he could be that guy. And CeeDee Lamb had some injuries that held him back a little bit, but we know what he’s capable of doing. So, and Dak Prescott, people don’t wanna give him as much credit, don’t wanna give him a lot of credit. But without Dak Prescott, none of this will be possible. Trust me, none of this will be possible.”

Smith Talks Pickens

As Smith noted, Pickens was a revelation for the Cowboys last season. He’s set to play this season on the franchise tag, but could still get a long-term payday. Smith thinks the Cowboys should wait to see how this season goes before paying him.

“I think we need to get through this year with Lamb and Pickens at the wide receiver spot,” Smith told Heavy Sports. “And I hope that George Pickens has a heck of a season to where he positions himself to go out and be a free agent and maybe go out there and get a larger contract. I think Lamb and Pickens together makes it very tough for defenses to key on one or play man-to-man straight across the board.

“They’re going to have to roll to one of them to take one away and allow the other one to win. They cannot do it to both. If they do, those guys could have a field day.”