FRISCO, Texas – Christian Parkers' inaugural staff as a defensive coordinator is coming together, as the Cowboys hired Derrick Ansley to be their DBs coach/defensive pass game coordinator and Ryan Smith to be their secondary coach.
Yesterday, the Cowboys and Smith, the former Arizona Cardinals cornerbacks coach, were working towards a deal and it was finalized on Saturday.
Ansley, the former Packers pass game coordinator, interviewed with the team earlier in the week and officially signed with the Cowboys on Saturday as well.
Both coaches have ties to the collegiate and professional ranks, as Ansley spent time coaching at Northwestern, Virginia Tech and James Madison. Ansley has spent a lot of his career in the SEC, coaching at Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee, where he was the Volunteers' defensive coordinator for two seasons in 2019-20.
Additionally, both coaches have learned under some of the best in the collegiate ranks. Ansley worked as a graduate assistant and defensive backs coach under Nick Saban at Alabama, and Smith was the safeties coach under now national champion Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti.
Ansley spent a year as the Raiders' DBs coach in 2018 before taking the Vols' DC job, and then returned to the NFL as the Chargers' defensive backs coach in 2021. In 2023, Ansley was promoted to be the defensive coordinator, a role he held for one season before joining the Packers in 2024.
In the last two seasons as the Packers' passing game coordinator, Green Bay has finished 13th and 11th in the NFL in passing yards allowed per game. In 2024, the Packers were third in the NFL with 17 interceptions on the season.
Now, both Ansley and Smith will be tasked with helping Parker, whose coaching history has centered around the secondary, rebuild Dallas' secondary, a unit that allowed the most passing yards per game in the NFL a season ago.
There are still vacant positions to fill on Dallas' defensive staff, including a linebackers coach and a defensive line coach. For the latest on their search to round out the staff, keep up with our 2026 Cowboys coaching tracker here.
