After spending a week feverishly working behind the scenes, Mike McCarthy has revealed most of his coaching staff (still needs a strength and conditioning coach and a few more assistants).

After Jason Garrett experimented with a young coaching staff during his final years, McCarthy has decided to go in the completely opposite direction, building a staff that collectively has a ton of experience.

Most members of the staff had a previous working relationship with the Cowboys’ new head coach, but McCarthy deserves credit for moving out of his comfort zone to get the best men for the job even if he didn’t have a prior relationship with them, which is what happened with special teams coach John Fassel, tight ends coach Lunda Wells and defensive backs coach Maurice Linguist.

With that in mind, let’s dive into McCarthy’s defensive coaching staff in an effort to grade each hire. See grades for the defensive coaching staff here.

Offensive coordinator: Kellen Moore

While conspiracy theories abound about Jerry Jones forcing Mike McCarthy to retain Kellen Moore as offensive coordinator and allow him to call plays, the fact of the matter is that it was the best move for the team.

Moreover, McCarthy’s selfless move to keep the offensive language the same, putting the onus on himself to learn the terminology rather than forcing all the players to do so, shows humility and adaptability from a coach who was often viewed as stubborn.

Kellen Moore’s familiarity with Dak Prescott makes him the perfect offensive coordinator to foster his development during a crucial portion of the process. Moore had a great first year as a play-caller in 2019, as the Cowboys finished second in Offense DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) after limping to a 24th place finish the year prior. It will be interesting to see how Moore’s play-calling evolves under McCarthy compared with his time under Garrett.

A melding of Moore’s motion-heavy, aggressive passing offense and McCarthy’s West Coast short passing game attacks could be a major boon the offense’s effectiveness and productivity.

Keeping Moore was not only Dak friendly, but it was also franchise friendly, as the Cowboys were able to retain one of the best young coaching minds in all of football.

A true win-win.

GRADE: A

Quarterbacks coach: Doug Nussmeier

One of the more interesting moves McCarthy made when putting together his staff was retaining Doug Nussmeier as QB coach after he spent last year coaching the tight ends.

Dive into Nussmeier’s background, however, and it’s easy to see that last year’s stint as TE coach was more of an abnormality than this year at QB coach. Nussmeier has coached QBs in college and the pros, though his most notable work came in the college ranks.

While Nussmeier has the title of QB coach, McCarthy is extremely hands-on in the development of his QBs so in actuality, Nussmeier won’t have to pressure to develop Prescott by himself.

Even though Prescott saw career-best numbers under Jon Kitna’s tutelage last year, Nussmeier’s experience probably gave him the nod.

The downside of this move is that it gives Prescott his fourth QB coach in the last five years. Continuity is usually key for a QB’s early development. Still, the fact that Nussmeier was already a part of the coaching staff makes him a much more familiar hire than bringing in a QB coach from elsewhere.

GRADE: B

Running backs coach: Skip Peete

He wasn’t the Cowboys’ first choice, as that appeared to be Texas’ Stan Drayton, but that doesn’t mean Skip Peete is a bad choice as the Cowboys’ RB coach. He has a wealth of experience both playing and coaching the position.

Cowboys fans should remember Peete from his previous stint in Dallas as the RB coach from 2007-2012, where he coached under Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett.

Most recently (2016-19), Peete was with the Los Angeles Rams as RB coach, where he helped develop Todd Gurley into one of the league’s most prolific backs.

Prior to that (2013-14), Peete coached the RBs in Chicago, where he helped Matt Forte develop into one of the most well-rounded backs in the NFL.

Wherever Peete has gone, production has followed at the running back position. Notably, Peete has earned a reputation for developing very well-rounded backs who make big impacts as a rusher and receiver.

Under Peete’s tutelage, Todd Gurley led the NFL in scrimmage yards (2,093) in 2017 while finishing second in both rushing yards (1,305) and receiving yards (788) by running backs. Moreover, in Forte’s two seasons with Peete, he ranked first in yards from scrimmage (3,779), fourth in rushing yards (2,377) and 10th in total touchdowns (22). Moreover, Forte finished first among RBs (eighth among all positions) in total receptions (176) while setting the NFL single-season record for receptions by a running back (102) in 2014.

The cherry on top is that Peete not only has experience with the language of Dallas’ offense from his time under Garrett and Scott Linehan, but he also has a wealth of experience in the West Coast Offense from his time under Marc Trestman and Sean McVay.

Therefore, Peete could help serve as a pseudo-translator for McCarthy as he tailors the Cowboys around the West Coast Offense (WCO) while maintaining the offensive language from the previous regime.

It’s difficult to poke holes in the Peete hiring; however, the only reason this hire isn’t an ‘A’ is that Peete wasn’t their first choice.

GRADE: B+

Wide receivers coach: Adam Henry

Adam Henry has gained a bit of acclaim for his efforts in developing Odell Beckham Jr. since college, as he has coached the talented wide receiver at three different stops (LSU, New York Giants and Cleveland Browns).

While there’s not much public information on Henry’s coaching style, he has shown an ability to develop young receivers at almost every stop. Other than Beckham, he has also developed Jarvis Landry into a great talent at LSU. When he was with the Giants, he helped turn Sterling Shepard into one of the best rookie receivers in 2016.

Given that he’s coached Beckham all but one year (2015) since 2012, it will be interesting to see how Henry adjusts to a group led by Amari Cooper, who is almost the polar opposite of Beckham in terms of personality and temperament.

GRADE: B-

Tight ends coach: Lunda Wells

Even though there was a ton of speculation about McCarthy potentially sliding Jason Witten into the TE coach role, much like how Moore was made QB coach shortly after retiring, McCarthy made the right decision in hiring someone with more coaching experience in former Giants TE coach Lunda Wells for the same position in Dallas.

Lunda Wells was promoted to TE coach with the Giants in 2018, where he oversaw the development of Evan Engram, who went for 11 catches, 116 yards and a TD against the Cowboys in Week 1 of the 2019 season.

As an offensive lineman by trade, there’s likely a hope that Wells can boost the blocking ability of Dallas’ collective TE unit, as they were routinely hampered by poor blocking at the tight end position throughout last season.

Even if he doesn’t improve the group’s receiving or route-running abilities, better blocking from the tight end position, and Blake Jarwin in particular, would be a huge boon for the Cowboys offense. Through Wells’ background, it’s easy to surmise that McCarthy has identified the TE group’s blocking as an area that needs to improve.

GRADE: B-

Offensive line coach: Joe Philbin

While many thought McCarthy would retain Marc Colombo to continue coaching the Cowboys offensive line, McCarthy instead decided to hire someone he’s more familiar with – Joe Philbin, who spent a long time on McCarthy’s staff in Green Bay (2003-11 and 2018).

Philbin brings a wealth of experience (30+ years) as an offensive line coach and offensive coordinator through his time both in the NFL and the college ranks.

Here's Philbin talking about why the eyes are more important than the feet in run blocking. Don't expect to see the DAL OL do a ton of footwork drills. #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/uYrX2hAWUx — John Owning (@JohnOwning) January 9, 2020

Philbin is an offensive line coach who cares intimately more about aiming points and hand placement than he does about footwork. He wants his offensive line to ‘run off the ball’ in an attempt to generate momentum and create displacement on contact.

While he doesn’t harp much on the minutiae of footwork, he does care deeply about his offensive line driving their backside knee at the point-of-contact, as it puts a player in an anatomically strong position.

While many offensive line coaches focus on turning and shielding defenders to create running lanes, Philbin believes more in creating movement upfront to foster running lanes for the ball carrier.

Here are the critical elements of run blocking according to new #Cowboys OL coach Joe Philbin: pic.twitter.com/92yZNpXzqy — John Owning (@JohnOwning) January 9, 2020

For all of his ability as an offensive line coach, Philbin will also likely have a huge hand in game plans for the running game, which may be the area where Philbin thrives most. Philbin is great at designing an effective zone running game, which fits well with Ezekiel Elliott and the offensive line’s skill sets.

Overall, Philbin has big shoes to fill, as the offensive line displayed a good bit of growth under Colombo’s tutelage. The jury’s out on whether Philbin will be an upgrade over Colombo, his familiarity and experience with McCarthy will help the head coach instill his philosophies as the team transitions between regimes.

GRADE: B