Dan Reeves lands some office space at Valley Ranch

The Dallas Cowboys haven't announced anything yet but by all appearances Dan Reeves will be doing something with the team in 2009. If they give you an office in the building then it's a pretty good bet that you'll be sticking around. The Star-T reports Reeves has an office and gives us an interesting look into office politics by office location.

Those within the building say Reeves even has an office. He is supposedly occupying defensive line coach Todd Grantham's old digs. Grantham, meanwhile, has apparently moved into former defensive coordinator Brian Stewart's old office. Connect the dots if you want.

Todd Grantham in Stewart's old office? The same Grantham who has experience as a 3-4 coordinator in this league? Should we be able to read something into the location of Grantham's new office? If you've noticed, the Cowboys front-office has been noticeably tight-lipped since the season ended. Jerry's not talking much and we all know how rare that is. Wade Phillips has gone mute, we haven't heard much talk about the defensive coordinator position, and very little discussion on free agents, etc. I applaud their attempts to work outside of the media view, but it means we're reduced to divining intention from office locations! So who thinks this could be significant in terms of Grantham as the DC?

Make the jump for more discussion of Dan Reeves and his role with the Cowboys.

Back to Dan Reeves. The official website via Nick Eatman says the Cowboys will announce something on Reeves as early as this week. All the speculation is around what his duties will be as a consultant. Reeves has a lot of offensive background and  head coaching experience, so you could see him maybe working with Jason Garrett on the offensive side of the ball. Maybe working with Tony Romo, too.

But one report cited by DC.com suggested his role would be more like Big Bother.

One of the changes Phillips said could occur this season involved his leniency with the players. One report that surfaced last week was that Reeves' primary role with the Cowboys would be to instill more discipline within the team, making the players more accountable for their actions, both on and off the field.

We could certainly use some of that. If his experience in the league as a player and coach can connect with the Cowboys current players, if they give him some respect based on what he's accomplished over the years, maybe he can help get these guys on track. Wade's friendly, aw-shucks style will be hard-pressed to make a radical change this year; is this the Cowboys attempt to play good cop-bad cop on the players? That strategy has its own risks. First, the players have to respect Reeves and they need to know what his authority is in the organization. Next, Jerry Jones has to be consistent, if he's going to give Reeves some power in dealing with players, he can't undercut him as he's known to do. Also, having kind of a split-structure for authority can have its own issues.

But overall, I would welcome this move. I've always thought of Reeves as a no-nonsense guy. But he's also a guy who has accomplished a lot in the NFL. If his role is as Big Brother, I like the idea but it really rests on the players respecting him and his authority. And Jerry Jones not screwing it up by sabotaging his efforts.

Bill Parcells weighs-in with advice for Jerry here.

Meanwhile, the DMN Blog has these quotes from Reeves earlier this month.

On distractions from players:

"They had an awful lot of distractions - things that you don't need to have with a football team, the T.O.s, the Pacman Jones instances," Reeves said. "You say, well, that doesn't really bother us. But it really does, because that's the focus. Everybody has to answer those questions, and it takes away from the time that you could spend doing something that's productive."

On character:

"People with great character, I think, do that. As much as you look for the physical things, they're easy to find. The key is trying to look inside and see what makes a young man tick. Is he a team player? Can you build chemistry around people?

"Yeah, they won't be a problem when you're winning, but as soon as things turn south, you've got a problem on your hands. You want people to be there through the thick and the thin and not be frontrunners."

 

Addendum -- Lots of good Dan Reeves info her, but I still want somebody in the Metroplex press to ask this question: who called Reeves? Who proposed hiring him and how was the final decision to hire him reached? With all the stories of this faction wanting T.O. in and that faction wanting T.O. out and Wade being in and Wade being demoted to make room for a big name, who decided to bring in Reeves?

Because if Dan is reprising his Texans' advisory role from '06, the grim reaper has just taken his office. Reeves joined Houston in December 2006 and two months later Dom Capers was gone. A few months later Charlie Casserley had also left the organization. Is Reeves there to arbitrate disagreements? Is he there to assess the talent and organizational structure? And if he his, who receives his reports?

Who hired him? Just ask the question. -- Rafael