Don’t forget Greg Roman as a possible candidate to be the Dallas Cowboys head coach

We are living in limbo when it comes to the Dallas Cowboys head coach so we don’t totally know what direction to look. Until Jerry Jones and son Stephen make an announcement the situation remains in flux, but it does seem fairly certain that they will be looking for a new head coach fairly soon. There are a lot of potential candidates as you can imagine.

Plenty of people have suggested different names from the college football world as possible options to succeed Jason Garrett; however, perhaps the hottest head coaching candidate out there right now is already at the NFL level. We’re talking about the Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator who helped his team earn the number one seed in the AFC and achieve more team rushing yards than any team in NFL history.

For what it’s worth, the Roman idea is more than just fodder between a couple of fans. Charles Robinson mentioned on the Yahoo Sports NFL Podcast that he spoke to someone in the Cowboys building and gave quite the detailed explanation on what Roman could mean for Dallas.

“All I have heard the last 10 days tied to Dallas, up until interestingly this morning, or I’m sorry actually last night. On Monday night. Up until Monday night all I had heard was college names: Lincoln Riley, Urban Meyer, Matt Rhule. Now what was interesting is I had a conversation on Monday night and I spoke to someone in the building and I said ‘Who am I missing? This can’t be it.’ Greg Roman’s name came up. And the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens… what I was told is that there are some people inside the Cowboys who like Greg Roman, who like what Greg Roman has done in Baltimore in terms of his run-scheme concepts. They like the physical nature of what the Ravens have become and although they don’t have the tight ends that Baltimore has, although they don’t necessarily have the same kind of quarterback, Dak is not Lamar Jackson, they’re not the same guy at all. He said to me ‘We think that what Greg can do… our roster can work very well with a guy like Greg.’ Now it doesn’t mean that he’s going to be their number one candidate or anything like that, but there is some thoughts being put to Greg Roman possibly being a good NFL fit.”

It would certainly be interesting to see Roman try and mimic in Dallas what he was able to do in Baltimore, albeit with the obvious understanding that pieces are different and that Lamar Jackson is extremely unique. Still, though, there is no doubt that a creative offensive mind could have success with the current Cowboys roster, we saw that in stretches over this past season.

Whether Roman is a legitimate candidate for a job that is expected to open remains to be seen. It is also assumed that if the Cowboys are coach hunting that they would consider someone like Oklahoma Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley. Robinson offered this when it comes to the young offensive wizard.

“I think there are some people inside the Cowboys who are extremely impressed by Lincoln Riley. The one caveat I will add to that is if there’s anything that leaves the Cowboys with some pause about Lincoln Riley it is the way that his defenses have functioned at Oklahoma and I would say that he would very much be, if he were hired by the Cowboys, it would be engineered so that he has a very, very good, seasoned defensive coordinator a la when McVay goes to the Rams Wade Phillips becomes his defensive coordinator to help smooth that transition. So I think like if Lincoln Riley is your guy, Terez, you’re hiring a really good defensive coordinator. And boy wouldn’t it be great if like… hey what if Mike Zimmer got fired? I think Mike Zimmer would want another head coaching job, but holy cow can you imagine Mike Zimmer as your defensive coordinator?”

This isn’t the only time that Mike Zimmer has been mentioned by an NFL insider in connection to the Cowboys. It’s happened enough that the Vikings had to come out and say they expect Zimmer to remain with the team through his 2020 contract. Of course, declarations like that are hardly ever the last word on things. If the Cowboys are serious about Zimmer, they could still make their play once the playoffs are over.

Getting back to Roman, he still has work to do with the Ravens. The farther that team goes in the playoffs, the better his credentials will look. He’s already a hot name, if his Ravens win a Super Bowl... watch out.