FRISCO, Texas – For the fourth time in as many years, the Cowboys are looking for a new defensive coordinator.
On Tuesday, Dallas made the decision to move on from Matt Eberflus after just one season calling the defense, where they allowed a franchise-record 511 total points to opponents over the course of the season.
Now, it's back to the drawing board again. With plenty of movement already beginning around the NFL, some potential options have emerged that fit a mold the Cowboys have chosen in each of their last five defensive coordinator hires: Former NFL head coaches.
The first is Raheem Morris, who was let go by the Atlanta Falcons after their Week 18 victory over the New Orleans Saints. In two seasons as the Falcons head coach, Morris went 8-9 in both seasons. The Falcons improved from the 23rd ranked defense in yards allowed to 15th in 2025, and finished top 10 in takeaways with 23, tied for seventh in the league.
Morris is a two-time Super Bowl champion, his first of which came in 2002 as a defensive quality control coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under Jon Gruden. On that staff, Morris worked for two former Cowboys defensive coordinators in Monte Kiffin, who was the DC for Tampa Bay, and Rod Marinelli, the assistant head coach/DL coach.
His second Super Bowl title came as the defensive coordinator for the Rams in 2021, his first season with the team. Los Angeles was top 10 in run defense and takeaways under Morris that season with a unit headlined by All-Pros Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey.
The mutual connection between Morris and Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer is current Commanders head coach Dan Quinn. When Quinn was the head coach of the Falcons from 2015-2020, Morris was on his staff as assistant head coach, while also cycling through roles as offensive & defensive pass game coordinator, WRs coach and DBs coach over the first four years of their time together. In their final season in Atlanta in 2020, Morris became the defensive coordinator and ultimately the interim head coach when the Falcons decided to move on from Quinn.
Schottenheimer and Quinn worked together with the Cowboys in 2022 and 2023, when Schottenheimer worked as a coaching analyst and offensive coordinator while Quinn was Mike McCarthy's defensive coordinator. The two especially spent a lot of time together in 2022, as Schottenheimer's role saw him in the defensive meeting rooms often to give Quinn and the defense an offensive perspective on how he would attack certain looks.
The two still speak often, and part of Schottenheimer's annual offseason process is inquiring about coaches around the league from his many colleagues that he's made over the years as a coach in the NFL. Perhaps Morris is a name that pops up in a conversation between the two and makes sense for Dallas.
Here's an interesting wrinkle with Morris: Heading into the 2025 NFL Draft, the Falcons also had two first round picks (after trading up from the second round to acquire their second first-round selection), like the Cowboys do heading into the 2026 NFL Draft. In 2024, Atlanta's defense had the second-least sacks in the NFL with 31. Then, the Falcons selected two pass rushers with their two first round selections in Georgia's Jalon Walker and Tennessee's James Pearce Jr. In 2025, the Falcons were second in the NFL in sacks with 57, 16 of which came from their two rookies.
Another former head coach with connections on the Cowboys staff is Jonathan Gannon, who also was let go following Week 18 after three seasons as the head coach of the Cardinals. Gannon compiled a 15-36 overall record in his first head coaching job in the NFL.
Prior to being hired by the Cardinals, Gannon was the Eagles' defensive coordinator for two seasons in 2021 and 2022. In both of those seasons, Philadelphia finished as a top 10 defense in yards allowed. Gannon helped the Eagles win the NFC in 2022 and reach Super Bowl LVII, where they ultimately lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Earlier in his coaching career, Gannon spent three seasons with the St. Louis Rams as a college scout in 2009 and then a pro scout in 2010 and 2011 before moving back to the coaching side. His work in evaluating players and personnel could be an area of his resume that stands out.
Just this season, Gannon's defense held the Cowboys' offense to 17 points in Week 9, tied for their lowest offensive scoring output of the season. In that game, Arizona had five sacks, an interception and two fumble recoveries in a 27-17 Cardinals win at AT&T Stadium.
Gannon's connection to the Cowboys is with offensive coordinator Klayton Adams, who Gannon hired as his offensive line coach for the 2023-24 seasons. Prior to that, Gannon and Adams worked together with the Colts in 2019 and 2020, where Adams was the assistant offensive line coach and Gannon coached defensive backs.
Like Morris, Gannon has also worked alongside two former Cowboys defensive coordinators in Mike Zimmer and Matt Eberflus. When Zimmer was the head coach of the Vikings, Gannon was the assistant defensive backs coach from 2014-17. His next job was the defensive backs coach for the Colts from 2018-20 when Eberflus was Indianapolis' defensive coordinator.
Those are just two names that Brian Schottenheimer could call around about for the now vacant defensive coordinator position. There are also options that are currently under contract with their respective teams but have ties to the Cowboys and could be in consideration. With Morris and Gannon, they could also take head coaching interviews for one of the current vacancies around the league too. That could also be the case for other coordinators/defensive coaches under contract elsewhere that would be of interest for Dallas.
The Cowboys will have their fair share of options in a large pool of potential defensive coordinator options and will hope that whoever takes the position next can finally give them the continuity they've been looking for at the position. The Cowboys will be able to begin conducting interviews on Wednesday.
