{"id":698515,"date":"2026-01-23T09:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T09:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/698515\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T09:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T09:08:11","slug":"cowboys-bold-dc-hire-is-the-right-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/698515\/","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys’ bold DC hire is the right move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan. 23, 2026, 3:01 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

It’s already been a busy offseason for the NFC East. All four teams are searching for at least one coordinator, while the New York Giants<\/a> hired a new coaching staff. The Washington Commanders<\/a> needed two coordinators and have already promoted David Blough<\/a> to replace Kliff Kingsbury as offensive coordinator. Their search for a defensive coordinator<\/a> remains ongoing.<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> are still searching for an offensive coordinator, while the Dallas Cowboys have found their defensive coordinator. On Thursday, Dallas hired Philadelphia passing game coordinator\/defensive backs coach Christian Parker. It was a bold move by Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer.<\/p>\n

Why? Parker is 34 and has no ties to Schottenheimer. Parker is viewed as a rising star in coaching circles, having spent the past two seasons working for Vic Fangio and overseeing the development of Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.<\/p>\n

What does Dallas’ hiring of Parker tell everyone? That they ran an honest search and picked the best guy. That’s what every team should do when searching for a new coach or coordinator, but, far too often, we hear about relationships.<\/p>\n

Which leads us back to the Commanders<\/a>. The Cowboys made a bold move in hiring Parker to his first defensive coordinator job, with Schottenheimer knowing he needs to win in 2026. Washington coach Dan Quinn should do the same.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Commanders have interviewed the following candidates for defensive coordinator:<\/p>\n

Vikings DC Brian Flores (returning to Minnesota if he doesn’t land head coaching job)Chiefs DL coach Joe CullenFormer Titans DC Dennard WilsonRaiders DC Patrick GrahamSeahawks passing game coordinator\/defensive backs coach Karl ScottBears passing game coordinator\/defensive backs coach Al HarrisFormer Cardinals<\/a> head coach Jonathan Gannon<\/p>\n

Who is “Washington’s Parker” amongst this group? That would be Scott. Some of the other guys may be considered safer hires with limited ceilings. Have you watched Seattle’s defense in 2025? What about the Seahawks’ secondary? There’s a reason Mike Macdonald retained Scott when he took over as coach in 2024.<\/p>\n

Quinn doesn’t have any previous ties to Scott. Does it matter? If Quinn is concerned about Scott’s lack of experience as a defensive play-caller, that’s understandable. That’s where Quinn comes in. He’s a veteran defensive coordinator who could help ease Scott into the role. Scott has more experience than Blough, so it’s not like Quinn would need to babysit him.<\/p>\n

The Commanders already made one bold him by promoting Blough. Hiring Scott wouldn’t be as bold, as Scott has more than earned the opportunity. He fits what Washington needs to a tee. All Quinn needs to do now is just take a chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 23, 2026, 3:01 a.m. ET It’s already been a busy offseason for the NFC East. All four…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[95878,230,229,257,2461,7,6,95993,95994,95882,95890,97124,95891,97021,95895,95899,96191,97291,95884,95883,96006,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-698515","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-cowboys","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-cowboys","12":"tag-dallascowboys","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflcommanders","16":"tag-sstsncommanders","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagarizona-cardinals","19":"tag-tagcooper-dejean","20":"tag-tagnew-york-giants","21":"tag-tagnfc-east","22":"tag-tagnfl-hub","23":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","24":"tag-tagphiladelphia-eagles","25":"tag-tagquinyon-mitchell","26":"tag-tagsports-coaching-training","27":"tag-tagsports-news","28":"tag-tagwashington-commanders","29":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115943630688880630","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}