As the Summer Showcase gets closer the news keeps ramping up. Earlier we reported on an addition in New York, now we turn our focus to Dallas. We are now learning that Jim Jeffcoat will be joining the team as their Defensive Line Coach. Jeffcoat himself, has even updated his LinkedIn to display his new role.
Jeffcoat is a former defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills. Most recently, he was the Defensive Line Coach for the Orlando Apollos of the Alliance of American Football, which held the best record in the league before it folded in week 8.
He was selected in the first round (23rd overall) of the 1983 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. The next year, he replaced Harvey Martin at the right defensive end position, registering 82 tackles to go along with 11.5 sacks, ranking second on the team and in the top 15 among sack league leaders.
Jeffcoat maintained a high level of play through the Cowboys difficult years of the late ’80s. His best season came in 1989, when he finished with a career-high 100 tackles, a career-high 42 quarterback pressures, 11.5 sacks (led team and top 12 among league leaders) and a career-high three fumble recoveries.
In 1995, he was signed as a free agent by the Buffalo Bills. He had a streak of 224 consecutive games played, before being sidelined on September 21 and eventually being placed on the injured reserve list.
Jeffcoat retired after playing 15 seasons, with 102.5 sacks, 745 tackles, 194 quarterback pressures, 2 interceptions, 11 fumble recoveries and 2 touchdowns. At the time he ranked among the NFL’s top-15 career leaders in sacks and his 227 games, placed him among the top 30 players in NFL history in games played. He was nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2008 although he was never selected to a Pro Bowl.
After his retirement in 1997, he spent seven seasons (1998–2005) as the Cowboys’ defensive ends assistant coach. Jeffcoat spent his last five seasons in the organization as the defensive ends coach after two years as the club’s assistant defensive line coach.
On January 28, 2008, Jeffcoat was hired by the University of Houston as defensive line coach.
From 2011 to 2012, Jeffcoat coached the San Jose State defensive line. In January 2013, he joined the University of Colorado Buffaloes as defensive line coach under recently-hired head coach Mike MacIntyre.
In November 2018, Jeffcoat was hired by Steve Spurrier as defensive line coach for the Orlando Apollos of the now defunct AAF.
