{"id":700942,"date":"2026-01-24T07:26:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T07:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/700942\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T07:26:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T07:26:28","slug":"three-things-cowboys-new-dc-must-address-in-dallas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/700942\/","title":{"rendered":"Three things Cowboys\u2019 new DC must address in Dallas"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRISCO \u2014 Congratulations, Christian Parker<\/a>. You\u2019re officially the new defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys<\/a>. You should be excited. Being a first-time defensive coordinator at 34 is a huge compliment and a signal that your fast-rising career<\/a> has the potential to go even further. <\/p>\n

But there\u2019s no question about it: the road ahead in Dallas is not easy. <\/p>\n

Parker is inheriting the worst defense in franchise history<\/a> and one of the worst the league has seen in the last handful of years. Change, from a player standpoint, is inevitable<\/a> \u2014 whether it\u2019s because players are free agents or because there\u2019s a clear need for upgrades. <\/p>\n

Parker is now leading that change. Here are three ways he could have success doing so. <\/p>\n

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Who stays? Who goes?<\/p>\n

Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer<\/a> gathered his assistants for a meeting when he told them that Matt Eberflus, after one season, wouldn\u2019t be returning as the team\u2019s defensive coordinator. He told the assistants that he\u2019s been in Eberflus\u2019 shoes before. He then told the assistants he has been in theirs, as well, and if they had any questions they could ask him. <\/p>\n

The defensive assistants on staff, including multiple that came with Eberflus from Chicago, would seemingly have an obvious question for Schottenheimer: Will they still have a job when the new defensive coordinator is chosen? <\/p>\n

Parker can now help answer that. <\/p>\n

In all likelihood, there won\u2019t be many returnees from this most recent staff. That\u2019s usually what happens when a new coordinator comes to town. Considering how poorly Dallas played last year and how aligned multiple assistants have been with Eberflus, it makes a lot of retention even less likely. For perspective: half of Dallas\u2019 defensive assistants were with Eberflus in Chicago before coming to the Cowboys. <\/p>\n

One interesting assistant is Cowboys defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton<\/a>. There\u2019s been a familiar question posed within the Cowboys organization, stemming from players and coaches and front office members alike. People have wondered how impactful Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark and Osa Odighizuwa could be if they had a full offseason to work together. Keeping Whitecotton could help in that continuity. <\/p>\n

Whitecotton, serving as the defensive coordinator for the East Team at the Shrine Bowl in Frisco, has interest elsewhere, however. The Tennessee Titians reportedly requested to interview Whitecotton for their open defensive coordinator job. Whitecotton worked with new Titans head coach Robert Saleh when they were with the New York Jets. <\/p>\n

One of the essential parts of a coordinator interview is a plan for a staff. Parker surely presented the Cowboys that plan. Who will it include? <\/p>\n

Answering that is step one. <\/p>\n

Raiding the enemy? <\/p>\n

Parker is the Cowboys\u2019 fourth defensive coordinator in four years<\/a>. Those four coordinators have also had four different schemes. It\u2019s not easy to inject a new scheme to an entire defense of guys who are new to it. That\u2019s why Mike Zimmer brought in Eric Kendricks<\/a> to play linebacker. That\u2019s why Eberflus brought in Jack Sanborn<\/a> from Chicago. <\/p>\n

Could it be a reason that Parker brings in a familiar face, as well? Or maybe two? <\/p>\n

The Cowboys can restructure contracts and create a lot of cap space this offseason. It would be enough to retain wide receiver George Pickens and running back Javonte Williams, both of whom are priorities for Dallas<\/a>. It would also be enough for a few free agent additions on defense. <\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

How about some free agents from Philadelphia? Linebacker Nakobe Dean is expected to be pricier than what Dallas would normally pay for a free agent. His market value, according to Spotrac, is an average of $15.5 million per year. The value could be worth it, however. Eagles safety Reed Blankenship, valued at $7.2 million per year according to Spotrac, would also make sense in Dallas. <\/p>\n

A potentially cheaper option could be Denver linebacker Alex Singleton. The Cowboys saw firsthand how impactful he can be. He had 11 tackles and a forced fumble against the Cowboys this year. His market value, according to Spotrac, is $4.7 million per year. He and Parker worked together in Denver before Parker went to Philadelphia. <\/p>\n

The Cowboys need a lot of personnel additions on defense. Getting people who are familiar with Parker would make sense. <\/p>\n

Corner(stone) needed<\/p>\n

Parker was in Denver when the Broncos drafted Pat Surtain II, an eventual Defensive Player of the Year Award winner after Parker left for Philadelphia. The Eagles, in Parker\u2019s first season in Philadelphia, used their first two picks to select corners. Both Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean played impactful roles on the Eagles\u2019 Super Bowl team last year. <\/p>\n

DeJean said this week that Parker also played a role in his development, saying he wouldn\u2019t be the player he is without Parker\u2019s guidance. <\/p>\n

The Cowboys already had multiple needs in the secondary. With Parker on board, it\u2019s even more clear they should fill that with at least one of their first round picks. Parker\u2019s secondary could use a young and talented cornerstone. Dallas will have that chance in April. <\/p>\n

Here are three early corner prospects that could make sense for the Cowboys at either pick No. 12 or No. 20:<\/p>\n

LSU CB Mansoor DelaneClemson CB Avieon TerrellTennessee CB Jermod McCoy<\/p>\n

Pairing one of these guys and developing last year\u2019s third-round pick, Shavon Revel, could give the Cowboys some optimism at the position heading into Parker\u2019s first season. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of work to be done for Parker. Figuring out where he stands on these three things should be chief among them. <\/p>\n

\"Minnesota<\/a>Dallas Cowboys to interview Vikings defensive assistant Marcus Dixon, per report<\/a><\/p>\n

With Cowboys DL coach Aaron Whitecotton drawing interest from around the league, Dallas is bringing in a possible replacement.<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/a>Former Cowboys QB Troy Aikman explains how his \u2018Eight\u2019 beer wound up on TV\u2019s \u2018Landman\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

The Hall of Fame QB\u2019s beer brand was on the menu at the fictional Patch Cafe in Taylor Sheridan\u2019s hit show.<\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRISCO \u2014 Congratulations, Christian Parker. You\u2019re officially the new defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. You should be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[2886,96665,230,229,257,2461,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-700942","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-brian-schottenheimer","9":"tag-christian-parker","10":"tag-cowboys","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-dallas-cowboys","13":"tag-dallascowboys","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115948893191780768","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700942","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=700942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}