A FAMILY BUSINESS FOR BONES
FASSEL A PERFECT FIT FOR THE COWBOYS SPECIAL TEAMS
There may be no one more perfect person to be a special teams coach in the NFL than John Fassel.
He has the temperament, the creativeness and an eye for talent. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that he comes from a football family.
Now in his third season with Dallas, Bones, as he affectionately known around The Star, has developed the Cowboys into one of the best special teams squads in the league without the franchise spending any draft picks to acquire their core of four.
It took a lot of workouts, too many film sessions to remember and time spent looking in the nooks and crannies of professional football, and it’s exactly what Fassel is good at doing.
That is where he found punter Bryan Anger, kicker Brandon Aubrey, returner KaVontae Turpin and long snapper Trent Sieg, the main guys that make the Cowboys special teams unit really special.
“The USFL gave Turp an opportunity, because of that we got him here,” Fassel said. “The USFL gave Brandon Aubrey an opportunity and because of that we got him here. So, just any of those other leagues, opportunities for coaches and players to just play and get some film out there has given these guys great chances. So, thank you to the USFL.”
That appreciation runs deeper than just a couple guys the Cowboys signed from the professional league that was around from 1983-86 before a revamp in 2022 that continues today.
It kept his family in the football business.
“The USFL also gave my dad an opportunity,” Fassel said. “In 1984, he was on the Stanford University staff that got fired – a couple years after the Stanford-Cal ‘Band on the Field’ game. So, he was looking for a job and the New Orleans Breakers in the USFL in 1984, I believe, hired my dad. So, I go way back with USFL opportunities. … The USFL is part of my growing up. The New Orleans Breakers hired my dad in 1984 and gave him an opportunity to coach professional football for one year. Off that, he got hired as the head coach at the University of Utah, and without that I don’t know where I would be. I sure don’t know where he would have been.”
Where Bones ended up was as a player at Weber State, who graduated in 1999 and in 2000 took a job as the strength and conditioning coordinator and wide receivers coach of the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe. The same season his dad Jim won the Super Bowl as the head coach of the New York Giants.
Bones has also had stops with the Oakland Raiders from 2009-11 and the Los Angeles Rams from 2012-19, before joining Mike McCarthy’s staff with the Cowboys in 2020.
The Cowboys put their trust in Fassel, and he has delivered, taking this group under his tutelage and getting them ready for what lies ahead.
“I love it, it’s my favorite part of the job – get the young guys, give them a role and see where they go from there,” he said. “Is it special teams for their career, or most likely offense and defense later on.”
The Cowboys grabbed Anger off the street, after three seasons in Houston, earning an All-Pro selection in 2021 when he averaged 48.4 yards per punt with 24 downed inside the 20 and only 4 touchbacks.
This year he’s even better, averaging career bests in average yards per punt ( 49.8) and net yards per punt (44.8), with 10 being downed inside the 20 and just 1 touchback.
“He’s right on par or better this year than his pro bowl year,” Fassel said. “Our punt team has changed significantly with new pieces, growing pieces, so he’s been asked to do even more precise punting than he did two years ago. I think he’s doing a really good job of that. … I think he’s a notch better if anything.”
As for Aubrey, Fassel looks like a genius for bringing in what has turned out to be the best kicker in the NFL through 10 weeks, and he’s just a rookie. The former Birmingham Stallion of the USFL has missed just one of 46 kicks and is 4-for-4 in field goals over 50 yards, with a long of 58 this season.
Dallas signed Sieg off the street, after he played six seasons in Oakland and Las Vegas with the Raiders. This season he has been in for 72 plays and been charged with zero penalties and zero bad snaps. He has recorded one tackle.
Turpin has been the most talked about of the four. After his Pro Bowl selection last season for his 29 punt returns for 303 yards and 21 kickoff returns for 505 yards, Turpin has added wide receiver to his roles on the Cowboys this season.
“Freshmen in college should be on special teams and grow towards bigger roles on O and D,” Fassel said. “In the NFL, it doesn’t matter the draft pick, or the undrafted, special teams should be part of their fabric getting started. Then, they stay with that or else they grow into offense and defense. I just think it’s a great way to get started in the NFL, create a role for yourself, get your cleats on and play on gameday. Get dirty, get banged up a little bit and see where it goes from there.”
For Turpin, it has turned into a bigger role in the gameplan on gamedays.
Through eight games, he has 16 returns for 258 yards on special teams and seven catches for 69 yards and two touchdowns along with seven carries for 66 yards and one score on offense.
For Fassel, he could not be happier for the success his guys are having on the field, because he knows how they feel. He gets it.
“Growing up in football was the best,” Bones said. “You move from Weber State to Utah to Stanford to New Orleans back to Utah, then after (my dad) got fired at the University of Utah, a year later he got hired by the New York Giants as an assistant coach. So, the traveling kept going. Mom took care of business and dad took care of business. … Just a football life adventure, which has been real cool.”