Cowboys' Brian Schottenheimer reveals his new approach to NFL Draft

Brian Schottenheimer's first year in charge of the Dallas Cowboys was a bit of a mixed bag.

The offense was among the best in the game, and the players seemed to respond and bond with him, but the defense was historically bad, giving up the most points in franchise history (511).

Now, with more time to prepare, his coaching staff all set and a better understanding of what it means to be the head coach, he's taking a different approach to the NFL Draft.

In an interview with ESPN's Todd Archer, the coach admitted he's much better prepared for the process than he was in his first year.

Brian Schottenheimer is getting more involved in the draft process

"Way better," Schottenheimer admitted. "I know most of the names. Probably if you said to me the top 150 names or so on our board, I know the names, but I've probably seen at least a game or two on most of them, certainly probably the top 75."

While Schottenheimer still attended several pro days last offseason, he was simultaneously trying to put together a coaching staff and meeting with his players to prepare for his first head-coaching season. That's not going to be the case this time:

"A big part of it is that I missed some time last year and I'm not going to do that [this year], especially with the firepower that we have [with two picks] in the first round," Schottenheimer said.

Barring a trade, the Cowboys will be on the clock with picks Nos. 12 and 20. They could try to package those to move up into the top 10, but even if that doesn't happen, they will be in a position to revamp their defense with those two selections.

Team owner/GM Jerry Jones will still have the final say in who they pick, but having the head coach more involved in the process is clearly a positive change.