FRISCO, Texas – The Cowboys have cast their huge net into this NFL and college ocean of defensive coaches, hoping to snag the team's fourth defensive coordinator in four seasons and really the sixth in the last eight years if we go all the way back to Rod Marinelli's final season with the Cowboys in 2019.
This is a massive fishing expedition if factoring in nine NFL teams are now searching for a new head coach with two of those, Baltimore and Pittsburgh, moving on from head coaches who had been with them for 18 years and 19 years, respectively. This turnover is so huge the NFL should just sponsor a job fair in two weeks during the Senior Bowl (Jan. 27-31) in Mobile, Alabama.
Why, there are defensive coordinators on staffs interviewing for head coaching jobs, and if finding no luck might be looking for a coordinator job if not retained by their respective teams. There are all these defensive pass game coordinators also in limbo, likely hoping to be promoted by their current team to a DC position by the new head coach. And there are nine head coaches trying to decide if they need a year off, if they even want to continue coaching or if they are willing to step back down into a coordinator position with another team.
As I continue to say, it's complicated, with coaches unwilling to jump into a new position too soon with so many opportunities for advancement floating out there. Got to hold your cards tight.
And that brings us to the Cowboys. At least they know who their head coach is, Brian Schottenheimer, who also doubles as the offensive leader, with the aid of this year's highly proven coordinator Klayton Adams. But they need that defensive coordinator, certainly a challenging position considering the Cowboys this past season gave up the most points in franchise history (511) and the most in the NFL in 2025, certainly not the stat you want to lead the league with. Also, there is this: The defense gave up either touchdowns (59) or field goals (32) on 91 out of 195 opponent possessions, a frightening 47 percent on the season. Come on, that's like six short of 50 percent, meaning nearly giving up points on one of every two possessions.
In the immortal words of, at the time, elderly East Texas radio voice Ray Stone, whoopened former head coach Dave Campo's postgame press conference after a loss one year, not with a question but instead stating to Camps, "Dave, bad, bad, bad.'' This season was equally defensively "bad."
So the Cowboys early Zoom interviews will rise to seven on Thursday when scheduled to speak with Eagles defensive pass game coordinator Christian Parker, holding down the Philly spot and doubling as the defensive backs assistant the past two seasons after serving as the Broncos defensive backs coach from 2021-23.
But have seen the Cowboys conduct a wide search like this previously, especially at times for a head coach. Not that they are blindly searching but actually picking candidates' brains on a wide range of analytical opinions – on what went wrong from a scheme standpoint to their ideas of how to fix this problem – while also gaining a variety of personnel evaluations free of charge.
So, as you can see, there is no rush. Once several of these head coaching vacancies start filling up, then teams like the Cowboys can begin hooking their coordinators.
• Class Of 2024: Six quarterbacks were drafted among the top-12 picks in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Check it out. The No.1 selection Caleb Williams has the Bears advancing into the division round of the NFC playoffs. The No. 2 guy Jayden Daniels had the Commanders in the NFC Championship Game last year, injuries derailing his second season. No. 3 Drake Maye led the Patriots to a 14-3 record this season, earning the No. 2 AFC seed and advancing to a divisional round playoff game. No. 8 Michael Pennix earned the Falcons' starting job this season, as did No. 12 J.J. McCarthy after an injury sidelined him all last year. And at No. 12 Bo Nix led the Broncos to the top seed in the AFC and a first-round bye with a 14-3 record. A pretty good start for the Class of 2024, threatening that 1983 QB first-round class for always stated supremacy of those six first-round picks of No. 1 John Elway, No. 7 Todd Blackledge, No. 14Jim Kelly, No. 15 Tony Eason, No. 24 Ken O'Brien and, of course, No. 27 Dan Marino.
• Tag, You're It: In case you are wondering, since the Cowboys last week outlined their top-three unrestricted free agency priorities being re-signing running back Javonte Williams, wide receiver George Pickens and defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, if they can only come to terms with two, let's see the projected 2026 cost of using their one franchise tag on the other guy. Most expensive on the one-year guaranteed contract is, you guessed it, wide receiver, coming in at $28.04 million. Next, defensive end at $26.59 million. And least expensive then is running back, costing $14.15 million for the tag.
• Next Priority: Kicker Brandon Aubrey, though a restricted free agent, will not come cheap. First of all, the Cowboys will likely want to sign him to at least a three-year deal, and for sure Aubrey would prioritize receiving a signing bonus on that type of multi-year contract, more so than accepting a one-year, restricted free agent offer sheet. But that's not cheap either. Would imagine the Cowboys would have to protect his rights at the first-round level, thus costing a minimum $7.89 million on the one-year deal. Can't really gamble on some team signing him to an offer sheet the Cowboys can't match and giving up a first-round draft choice to do so. But then these days, who knows? The second-round offer sheet still is $5.6 million for a kicker, and for Aubrey, I'd certainly do that if having excess cap space. And for just a right of first refusal, since Aubrey was not a draft choice, that comes in a $3.45 million with no draft choice compensation needed.
• This Day In History: On Jan. 14, 1996, so 30 years ago, the Cowboys defeated Green Bay, 38-27, to last win the NFC Championship, going on to defeat Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XXX, 27-17, for their fifth and most recent Lombardi Trophy. Also, 10 seasons ago, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2017, the Cowboys, in Dak Prescott's 13-3 rookie season to claim the NFC No. 1 seed and a first-round bye, were beaten by the Packers, 34-31. That came on a walk-off field goal after Dak rallied the Cowboys from down 28-13 entering the fourth quarter against Aaron Rodgers and them to give Dan Bailey time to tie that game at 31 with just 35 seconds remaining. In a gut punch, that was 32 seconds too many for Rodgers, who on third-and-20 at his own 32 and under heavy pressure, scrambled out of the pocket to complete a 35-yard pass to tight end Jared Cook at the Cowboys 33 with three seconds remaining. The play was initially ruled incomplete – foot out of bounds – then complete, and the replay official upheld the completion call on the field, which allowed Matt Crosby to then kick the winner from 51 yards out. Yet another crucial and unusual punishment at the hands of Rodgers and the Packers, just two years after the Dez Bryant"Catch-No Catch" that would have been a catch today.
• Another Heartbreaker: On Jan 15, 1967, the Packers won the first merged NFL-AFL World Championship with a 35-10 beating of the Kansas City Chiefs, by the way, formerly the Dallas Texans for three seasons sharing the Cotton Bowl with the Cowboys before moving to KC. The Packers had advanced to the title game by defeating the Cowboys, 34-27, with a last-second goal- line stand on New year's Day. And for a little-known aside, the game was simulcast by the NFL's CBS and the AFL's NBC networks. The late Pat Summerall, serving as the CBS broadcast sideline reporter, told me how NBC was late coming back from the halftime commercial break and missed the second-half opening kickoff. The young first-time TV analyst was told to ask Packers head coach Vince Lombardi, of all things, if he wouldn't mind kicking off again. Summerall was like absolutely not, fearing Lombardi's response, but says someone else asked Vince if he would, and he agreed.
• Off The Chart Shots: Until Buffalo beat the Jaguars in Jacksonville on Sunday, the Bills had lost eight consecutive playoff road games, having to go back to 1992 when they defeated Miami, 29-10, in the AFC title game on their way to getting pasted by the Cowboys, 52-17, in Super Bowl XXVII … But you know what, until the Cowboys won that 2022 season first-round playoff game in Tampa, Florida, beating the Buccaneers, 31-14, in the last game of Tom Brady's career, they had lost eight straight road playoff games themselves, the unflattering streak beginning with the NFC Championship Game loss to the 49ers, 38-28, to conclude their 1994 season … Also on this day in history, Jan. 14, 2024, Dak set the Cowboys' single-game playoff record with 403 passing yards in a 48-32 loss to the Packers, topping Troy Aikman's 380 set in that 1994 season NFC title game loss to the 49ers at Candlestick, when turning the ball over their first three possession to fall behind, 21-0, in the first quarter.
Now for our last word this week, we will go to Schottenheimer, and he will go back to the top talking about casting a wide net looking for the new defensive coordinator. In Schotty's mind, what's the makeup he's looking for in the next DC?
"The best coaches, in my opinion, are flexible, so we're not going to pigeonhole ourselves and say, 'Hey, we have to be three-four, four-down, whatever it is,'" he begins. "I mean, I've been in the West Coast system, the digit system. Hell, I played for Steve Spurrier in the Fun and Gun. Good coaches take their players that they have, they've got an identity. They take their players and they fit their players into the model that fits what they do well.
"And that's why I go back to what I said earlier. You're looking for a teacher. You're looking for a guy that has the ability to instruct and get guys to believe and get guys to buy in. We're salesmen. When you're up there in front of the players, you're selling them on why what you're doing offensively, defensively, special teams, why it's going to work. And part of that's your personality, part of it's your ability to communicate.
"But when we cast this wide net to go find the right guy for this job, which we will find, no question about it, it's going to be the things that Jerry [Jones] was talking about, but also the flexibility of, 'Hey, we can do different things because those are the things that when I talk with Jerry and Stephen [Jones], those are the things that cause us problems, the flexibility and some of the unknowns and things like that.'"
There you go. The net is out. Got to sort out the big fish first, so to speak.
