FRISCO, Texas – Multiplicity seems to be the word describing the Cowboys defensive scheme this year with their fourth defensive coordinator in four seasons.
Hmm, whatever it takes to greatly improve on last year's defensive performance costingthe team no better than a 7-9-1 record. Like, how do you average nearly 28 points a game, yet win just seven? Like, how do you score at least 26 points 10 times and only win six? Or how about scoring 40 points among those 10 games three times and only winning two of those, and at that, one of them in overtime to do so?
Blame this glaring shortcoming on scheme?
Blame this on personnel?
How about both?
So the next new defensive coordinator, Christian Parker, says for the first time in umpteen years the Cowboys will be playing a 3-4 base defense – three down linemen and four linebackers, two of those inside and two on the edges – instead of the 4-3 Rod Marinelliimplemented when taking over the defense in 2014.
But here is the deal since those outside linebackers must be capable of setting the edges to stop the run, yet skilled enough to not only rush the quarterback but flexible enough to drop into pass coverage. Used to confound me back in the 3-4 days head coach Bill Parcells eventually implemented when seeing DeMarcus Ware at times dropping into coverage. Me, didn't want D-Ware going backwards. Come on, man, full steam ahead. Always.
Again, and so many seem to be making a big deal over this change to a 3-4 scheme, but as Parkers said, they will be dropping into a 4-2-5 nickel scheme and at times a 5-1-5 dime scheme.
Thus, from a personnel standpoint, we are talking a delicate balance at outside linebacker/defensive end since you will be asking those guys to do both. Size matters. Speed matters.
Here's the dilemma, and we will use now unrestricted free agent Jadeveon Clowney as an example. Clowney is a pure 4-3 defensive end. Always has been. Showed that once again this past season, his 8½ sacks leading the Cowboys despite no offseason and preseason preparation. But might question if he is consistently capable of setting the edge against the run or droppinginto coverage, to me, a waste of his talent.
So do you want to re-sign him? Do you even want a guy such as Dante Fowler back on the team? True pass-rushing ends? And guess what, you sure wouldn't have wanted Miach Parsons as one of those outside 'backers playing the run in a 3-4 base defense since all he cared about was chasing sacks, which he was darn good at.
The other day at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said when asked about the switch to the 3-4 defense that "the 3-4 is the best thing for us."
Then he prefaced:
"We want to be multiple. We got the 3-4, but we're going to play a bunch of nickel. We're going to play a lot of shell defense. Need guys who can run to the ball, that can tackle. Need guys that are great communicators because when you are going to be multiple and you have the rules and the scheme, the flexibility that we're going to have, you need guys that can adjust on the run."
Now, here is the rub.
While a 3-4 might be the base defense, think about the high percentage of downs offenses are playing three wide receivers. That means defenses are playing nickel, and when defenses are in nickel, they usually are playing some combination of four defensive linemen, maybe two linebackers or an extra standup defensive end or linebacker to pass rush and five defensive backs.
And get this: One statistical site has the Cowboys in 2025 playing nickel formations just less than 70 percent. And another estimated the league defenses were in nickel formation 66 percent of the time this past season.
That means you need pure, pass-rushing defensive ends, too, and for sure the Cowboys are in dire need of such personnel since NextGen Stats had opposing quarterbacks in 2025 completing 75.9 percent of passes when facing no pressure.
Let's also remember this previously has been pointed out. Going into the final game of the 2025 season, Clowney and James Houston were tied for the team lead with but 5½ sacks. If not for Clowney's three sacks against the Giants, this would have been the first time in franchise history since sacks became an official NFL stat in 1982 the Cowboys' sack leader would have finished with less than six sacks.
As a team, the Cowboys finished with 35 sacks, their fewest in the past five years, and in nine of the past 10. Only six teams this past season had fewer sacks than Dallas.
No wonder the Cowboys have made yet another addition to the defensive coaching staff, hiring BT Jordan as a pass rush consultant, the 35-year-old in the same capacity the past two seasons with Denver when the Broncos, coincidence or not, set the franchise single-season record in 2024 with 63 sacks and then reset the mark in 2025 with 68 sacks, adding eight more in their two playoff games.
That's 131regular season sacks in the past two years for the Broncos. That's some serious pressure, along with 433 QB pressures and 173 QB hits in 2025.
The Cowboys appear to have at least one uniquely skilled player capable of playing outside in a 3-4 formation, along with a true defensive end in the 4-2-5 nickel setup, that being Donovan Ezeiruaku. And while the rookie finished with just two sacks, Ezie was third on the team with 42 QB pressures and seventh with 45 tackles while playing 54.6 percent of the snaps.
So the Cowboys will need to prioritize what skill set they most need, not only when evaluating these potential draft candidates during this week's combine but also when combing through the veteran free agent field.
And read one interesting assessment of Philadelphia defensive coordinator Vic Fangio's philosophy Parker experienced the past two seasons while with the Eagles: Fangio plays a low blitz volume, high rush efficiency defense. His idea is to force offenses to run the football, and when they do pass, it is more predictable and easily matched up with a nickel or dime defense.
And maybe that is why Schottenheimer has been emphasizing defenses needing to win on first and second downs. He also schooled there's been a philosophical change from old-school 3-4 defenses to what is taking place more so these days.
"Again, the 3-4 is not the old two-gap (up front) where you sit there and you're reading blocks," he said. "We will be getting vertical (up field,) and we will be using our hands and shredding."
Then there is this from an offensive coordinator's standpoint of having to face a 3-4 front.
"But again, why do you like the 3-4?" Schotty asked, knowing the problems this causes for an offensive coach like him. "Because you are forcing the offense's hand in a pass-protection world, making them a five-zero thing and forcing them to block one-on-one. And then you give us (the defense) those one-on-one opportunities, and that is going to be pretty good for us with the talent we have inside there."
Inside, sure, with the likes of Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark, Osa Odighizuwa and Solomon Thomas. But outside, the Cowboys will need some help. And if looking for one with either of those two first-round draft choices (12 and 20) then the need being some sort of Ware knockoff, a skill set capable of standing up on the edge playing the run, but savvy enough to pressure the quarterback as a true defensive end in nickel formations.
But as for a priority of one over another, this from our Tommy Yarrish on what Parker said of defensive personnel vs. scheme:
"Sometimes we talk too much about scheme, and I'm talking about as coaches and players, and less about the play style. What do we want that to look like? What are our principles of play? How are we taking on blocks, how are we tackling, how are we leveraging routes on the back end, and how are we taking the ball away? How are we situationally aware?
"I think that's where it starts from a Football 101 education standpoint. As we kind of put all that together, then you kind of get into the scheme."
Another reason no sense getting too overwhelmed for now whether this is a 3-4 or 4-3 or 4-2-5 nickel or 5-1-5 dime. Players, you know, still do matter.
• Mick Shots: Know this about running back Javonte Williams' three-year, $24 million deal with a $6 million signing bonus and $16 million guaranteed. The total package includes two more voidable years to further prorate that signing bonus to $1.2 million a year over five. Most importantly, Williams' 2026 cap hit is just $3.89 million with $8 million of the package in a non-guaranteed third year … And with the 2026 official team salary cap max now set at $301.2 million, that lowers George Pickens' projected franchise tag of $28 million to $27.298 million …Hey, in this day and cap age, every $100,000 matters.
