It may have went under the radar a bit this past weekend, with training camps in full swing, but the NFL made a subtle adjustment to their rulebook which could help some teams streamline a critical piece of their sideline processes. The league will allow each team to designate an assistant coach as the official challenge flag guy, taking the responsibility off of the head coach for those crucial decisions.
On Thursday’s episode of the Shan and RJ Show on 105.3 The Fan, the morning crew brought up the rule change and as usual, Dallas Cowboys Insider Bobby Belt had interesting intel over why the Cowboys and Brian Schottenheimer might actually take the league up on the opportunity.
Shan and RJ did not believe that many coaches, if any at all, would give up that level of control, but Belt brought up the relationship Schottenheimer has with game management coordinator Ryan Feeder.
If there’s one team who might do this, it might be this one. It might be the Cowboys. They put so much game management stuff on Ryan Feeder. Schotty mentions him in our interviews I feel like every other week. [Ryan Feeder] is basically in charge of all their game management, he does all of their research. He’s in Schotty’s headset… he’s the two-point, he’s the fourth-down guy. So I could see them saying ‘alright, Ryan Feeder’s gonna do that.
Schotty puts a lot of faith on Ryan Feeder to lean on and execute a lot of their game management stuff.
According to Pro Football Reference, Schottenheimer only threw the challenge flag twice in 2025, losing both challenges. The same stat site says Mike McCarthy was just 5-for-15 during his tenure, leaving a lot to be desired over the last six seasons.
Perhaps taking things out of the head coach’s hands would be an improvement for Dallas.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Challenge! Will Cowboys be trendsetters in the War of Red Laundry?
Reporting by K.D. Drummond, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By K.D. Drummond, Cowboys Wire | USA TODAY Network
