Dalton Schultz Compares Jerry Jones' Cowboys Culture to a Zoo: 'That's the Brand'

When tight end Dalton Schultz departed the Dallas Cowboys to sign with the Houston Texans, he experienced a bit of a culture shock.

During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday (h/t RJ Ochoa of SB Nation), Schultz opened up about the differences between the two teams, saying the circus around the Cowboys was a bit much.

"There's people literally going on tours while you're lifting in the weight room. And they've got like a, they've got a one-way mirror for people to like look at, it's literally, it's a zoo, dude," Schultz said. "There's people tapping on the glass trying to get people's attention as they're doing power cleans or what not. It's just… it's different. That's the brand that they've built. That's what Jerry Jones likes."

Schultz went on to add that he's not necessarily criticizing the Cowboys, saying, "That's the way that they run things and there's nothing wrong with that. It's just you don't realize how many eyeballs and how much that can maybe distract from stuff just in a locker room, being in the facility until you go somewhere else and you're like… holy crap dude there's none of that."

Schultz, who played the 2023 season on a one-year deal, re-signed with the Texans on a three-year, $36 million contract with $23.5 million fully guaranteed earlier this week. He had spent five seasons in Dallas before moving across the state to Houston, where he felt it was easier to focus on what's most important.

"That was one of the first things that kind of stuck out to me is like… it feels like much more… I don't want to say college because it's not," he said. "But the focus is just football, you know what I mean? Going back and telling some people how kind of being around the Cowboys like practice facility and you know gameday… describing some of the interactions and stuff that you see on a day-to-day basis like surprised a lot of people. They're like holy crap, that actually happens at a practice facility? You think it's normal and then you come to a place like this."

Following their disappointing loss to the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Wild Card Round, the Cowboys were left searching for answers to what went wrong after such a promising season. Star receiver CeeDee Lamb and edge rusher Micah Parsons even admitted that there were some problems within the team culture.

The picture that Schultz painted surely won't help matters, but Dallas is expected to be motivated to put forth a better showing next season.