Cowboys running back Tony Pollard clearly doesn’t keep up with the offseason scuttlebutt.
Pollard appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Wednesday, and a question to him was prefaced with the fact that the team’s defensive coordinator, Dan Quinn, left the job last week to become head coach of the Commanders.
“You know what’s crazy? See, I hadn’t been on social media. I got rid of Instagram midway through the season,” Pollard said.
He was asked, “Did you just find out you lost your defensive coordinator?”
“I just found out right now,” Pollard confirmed.
Quinn, 53, had been the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator for the last three seasons after a stint in which he was head coach of the Falcons.
At his introductory press conference with the Commanders, Quinn explained why he tabbed former Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury as the team’s offensive coordinator.
“Kliff has always been somebody that I’ve kept up with,” Quinn said.
“Years ago, we both coached in college, and we first met each other at an award show, and just kind of hit it off that time and then competed against each other. I certainly followed his career through his time at [Texas] Tech and then at Arizona competing. And so, in the same way I wanted to hire Kyle [Shanahan] years ago, like he was hard to go against.
“He would stretch the field horizontally and vertically and going against Kliff: those same feelings you had, this is going to be tough, matchups, formations, speed, shots down the field, aggressiveness, boldness to go. And so, as a coach, you were writing down some names if this is something in your future that said, ‘If I get that shot, this is somebody I would want to talk to.’”
There has been some speculation that Kingsbury, who was the offensive coordinator for presumptive No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams at USC, could be part of a plan to make Williams more comfortable with the Commanders than the Bears, who hold the top pick.
As for the Cowboys, veteran NFL reporter Josina Anderson broke the news earlier Wednesday that former Jets and Bills head coach Rex Ryan has interviewed for their vacant defensive coordinator job.