INDIANAPOLIS —Sanjay Lal, who spent the 2017 season as the Indianapolis Colts' wide receivers coach, is expected to be hired to the same position with the Dallas Cowboys, team writer Rob Phillips wrote on Wednesday.
Lal is expected to replace Derek Dooley, who had been with the Cowboys since 2013 but recently took a job as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach with the University of Missouri.
In Lal's one season with the Colts, he helped oversee a unit that included top target T.Y. Hilton, who was named to his fourth straight Pro Bowl after catching 57 passes for 966 yards (16.9 yards per reception) and four touchdowns.
In all, six Colts receivers caught at least one pass in 2017, combining for 125 receptions for 1,814 yards and seven touchdowns.
Lal came to the Colts after two seasons as the wide receivers coach with the Buffalo Bills; he has also coached receivers for the New York Jets (2012-14) and the Oakland Raiders (2007-2011).
Lal looks to help improve a Dallas receiving corps that finished 27th in the league with 3,326 yards between their wide receivers, running backs and tight ends in 2017. The Cowboys, who finished the season with a 9-7 record and did not qualify for the playoffs, caught 22 touchdowns in 2017, tied with the Carolina Panthers for the 18th most in the league.
Lal will be the fourth coach from the Colts' 2017 staff to formally join another team's staff for 2018. Former quarterbacks coach Brian Schottenheimer on Tuesday was named the Seattle Seahawks' offensive coordinator, while former special teams coordinator Tom McMahon and defensive backs coach Greg Williams were hired to those same positions by the Denver Broncos last week.
The Colts, meanwhile, are yet to hire a new head coach after their decision to part ways with Chuck Pagano after six seasons. General manager Chris Ballard said after the season that the team's new head coach will have input into the members of his staff in Indy.
