Sources: Cowboys will hire Skip Peete as running backs coach

The Dallas Cowboys are pulling a little “back to the future” action as they bring back a familiar face for the coaching staff. Earlier today, the news broke that the Cowboys had spoken to Skip Peete about becoming the Cowboys running backs coach. This was after Stan Drayton, the running backs coach at the University of Texas, apparently interviewed with the team and decided to return to his college club. It’s unclear if the Cowboys decided not to offer him a job or if he just wanted to stay where he was already coaching.

In any case, it’s being reported now from various sources, both from the Cowboys side and the Los Angeles Rams side, the Skip Peete will be the new running backs coach after holding the same position with the Rams.

Peete was the Cowboys running backs coach from 2007 through 2012. He then spent a couple of years with the Bears (‘13-’14) before ending up with the Rams from 2016-2019.

So the question may arise as to why Mike McCarthy is reaching back into the Cowboys past for a coach. The answer is that he’s actually reaching back to his own past as Peete and McCarthy were on staff together at the University of Pittsburgh in the early 90s.

Peete was let go by the Rams this offseason, but there are reports that he was being used as a scapegoat for the Rams fall off in running the ball this past season. Considering the health of Todd Gurley, there could be some truth to that.

It was a combination of limited opportunities and poor execution, but neither are the fault of running backs coach Skip Peete. He was let go on Monday, being one of the last remaining holdovers from Jeff Fisher’s staff.

Gurley urged the Rams to keep Peete in 2017 when the new regime came in, but three seasons later, Peete is out. It was a shocking move by the Rams, to say the least, given Peete’s success in Los Angeles.

For a couple of years the Rams running game was among the best in football, and Cowboys fans all remember how Gurley and C.J. Anderson decimated the Cowboys rush defense in the playoff game a couple of years ago.

We’ll see how he does in Dallas for his second stint.