The Cowboys aren’t likely to make any coaching staff changes until the regular season ends, but fans are already putting together wish lists at defensive coordinator. We previously highlighted nine coaches
who would signify a meaningful upgrade, but with one more week to go until Black Monday, here are nine more names to know.
Steve Wilks
The only one on this list who’s officially available, Steve Wilks began the season as the Jets defensive coordinator but was fired after a Week 14 loss to the Jaguars. Wilks’ defense had not been performing well this season, but it was also the first year of a rebuild and he watched his two best players – Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner – get dealt at the deadline. It’s hard to know what exactly Jets leadership expected from Wilks.
Jets fiasco aside, Wilks has a strong track record in the NFL, and his scheme – which we broke down earlier this year – is an ideal fit for the Cowboys’ personnel.
Wilks built his reputation as one of the architects of the Panthers defense in the Ron Rivera years, coaching up a secondary that routinely overachieved. He later became the Panthers interim head coach following Matt Rhule’s firing, and Carolina finished 6-6 under his leadership and came dangerously close to making the playoffs. When he was passed over for Frank Reich, who didn’t even last one full season as head coach, Wilks joined the 49ers to run their defense.
There, Wilks maintained San Francisco’s defensive dominance, as they finished fourth in defensive DVOA and ninth in EPA/play. Yet Wilks was fired the day after losing in the Super Bowl, with Kyle Shanahan citing a desire for someone more familiar with their players. He replaced Wilks with Nick Sorensen, who obviously didn’t work out since he’s now coaching special teams in Dallas; the 49ers dropped all the way to 18th in defensive DVOA and 26th in EPA/play without Wilks.
Wilks has been renowned for his leadership skills over the years and his scheme is built on aggression, preferring to blitz early and often and pair it with heavily disguised coverages leaning towards press techniques. In other words, he does all the things Eberflus refuses to do.
Wink Martindale
Not too long ago, Don “Wink” Martindale was the bell of the coaching ball. His ascension to defensive coordinator with the Ravens ushered in a new era of defensive dominance for Baltimore, perfectly pairing with the explosive emergence of Lamar Jackson on offense.
The gruff, aggressive mastermind eventually left for the Giants, partially due to disagreements with head coach John Harbaugh. There, he crafted a defense that routinely punched above its weight in his first year on Brian Daboll’s staff, during which the Giants surprised everyone with a playoff run.
But the personalities of Daboll and Martindale were like oil and water. The rocky relationship came to a head when Daboll fired Martindale’s top defensive assistants without informing him first, which led to Martindale cursing him out and resigning on the spot.
That led Martindale back to school, running the defense at Michigan following Jim Harbaugh’s departure for the NFL. The Wolverines finished both years inside the top 25 in the nation in both scoring and yards allowed. But with a new head coach coming to Ann Arbor, and reportedly bringing in a new defensive coordinator, Martindale appears to be available.
Martindale was known for being one of the most blitz-happy coaches in the league, routinely finishing at or near the top in blitz rate every year. While the approach didn’t always work against certain quarterbacks, his defenses were always a challenge for whoever they faced that week.
Dennard Wilson
Currently Dennard Wilson serves as the defensive coordinator for the Titans, but they’ve already fired their head coach and Tennessee’s defense hasn’t exactly been elite the last two years. It seems likely Wilson will be available, so why would the Cowboys want him?
For starters, Wilson checks a lot of boxes. He’s been a rising star for some time, and was nearly promoted to coordinator for the Eagles after Jonathan Gannon left for the Cardinals job. When he was passed over for an external candidate (who ended up being fired a year later) Wilson left for the Ravens. He spent a year mentoring under now-Seahawks head coach Mike MacDonald before taking the Titans gig.
Wilson cut his teeth under Gregg Williams and Todd Bowles, two defensive coaches known for their heavy aggression. Notice a theme with this list? Williams was the master of the Cover 0 all-out blitz, while Bowles built his name on exotic blitz packages that keep any quarterback guessing; think back to that Super Bowl where Bowles limited Patrick Mahomes to just nine points.
When he took the Titans defensive coordinator job, Wilson described his defensive scheme as “attacking” and aspiring to be “violent in our approach.” That’s almost verbatim to how Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams described his own offensive philosophy when coming to Dallas.
Wilson has struggled in Tennessee, but he hasn’t been flush with talent either. Outside of Jeffery Simmons, the Titans lack any real defensive playmakers – Wilson was also burdened with Kenneth Murray last year – but his approach to defense is philosophically in line with what the Cowboys are already doing on offense. Wilson may not be the biggest home run on this list, but he would at least bring a complementary mindset to the team.
Daronte Jones
Cowboys fans have begun clamoring for Brian Flores, whose contract as the Vikings defensive coordinator is up after this year, but it seems unlikely to materialize. Flores is expected to be a top head coaching candidate this offseason, and it would be surprising to see him leave Minnesota for a lateral move.
That said, Dallas could pursue one of Flores’ top assistants. We highlighted current Vikings assistant Mike Pettine in the last list, and defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator Daronte Jones joins the list this time around.
Primarily a college coach, Jones is well-traveled. He’s coached defensive backs for six different college programs – at the FBS, FCS, and Division II level – as well as three high schools and even one CFL team. He first broke into the NFL with the Dolphins, where he assisted defensive backs coach Lou Anarumo and served under defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, now with the Broncos. When Anarumo was hired in Cincinnati, he brought Jones with him to coach cornerbacks.
Jones later spent one season coaching the entire secondary for Mike Zimmer’s Vikings before getting hired as the defensive coordinator at LSU. That turned out to last just one year, as head coach Ed Orgeron stepped down after the season and Jones was not retained by Brian Kelly. Jones returned to Minnesota for the first year of the Kevin O’Connell era, and he was promptly promoted to pass game coordinator when Flores came to town.
That provides Jones with a laundry list of impressive defensive minds he’s worked under: Joseph, Anarumo, Zimmer, and now Flores. In his current stint with the Vikings, he’s been a key piece of coordinating a secondary that routinely has to perform miracles with the convoluted coverage schemes Flores pairs behind his aggressive blitz packages.
There’s no guarantee that Jones would run the exact same scheme as Flores – in fact, it’s probably likely he wouldn’t – but if Jones can piece together elements from all the coaches he’s served under, he could create a unique scheme in Dallas that could completely reinvigorate this defense.
Matt House
One of the best defensive minds in football right now is Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, and he’s been an integral part of turning them into a dynasty. One of Spagnuolo’s top lieutenant’s is Matt House, who’s had some mixed results as a coordinator of his own in the past.
House’s first run as a defensive coach in the league came as a quality control coach for the Rams when Spagnuolo was the head coach. Later, when Spagnuolo came to Kansas City, House followed as the linebackers coach. He left after several years to run the LSU defense, but is now back with the Chiefs as Spagnuolo’s senior defensive assistant.
House has also had four different stints as a defensive coordinator, all at the college level.
The first stint came with Pittsburgh under head coach Paul Chryst, who left for Wisconsin after two years. When Chryst left, House spent a season running Florida International’s defense before getting poached by Kentucky. His second season there saw the Wildcats win 10 games for just the third time in program history, and he left the next year to reunite with Spagnuolo in Kansas City.
His LSU tenure didn’t see anywhere close to that success, though. Brought in by Brian Kelly, House’s defense hemorrhaged yards in a manner very similar to Eberflus, and it played a part in Jayden Daniels winning the Heisman because of how much he had to save the day. He was fired after two years and plenty of discontent among the fan base.
At all of his stops in college, House used more of a hybrid scheme that’s common at that level as a counter to the spread systems, but his main NFL influence has been Spagnuolo, whose complex blitz schemes have stymied plenty of NFL quarterbacks.
Clint Hurtt
If Schottenheimer decides he wants to pursue a recreation of the Legion of Boom, Clint Hurtt would be one way to go. We highlighted Ken Norton Jr. in the last list of candidates, and Hurtt brings a similar profile. Currently the defensive line coach for the Eagles, Hurtt spent seven seasons with the Seahawks, overlapping with Schottenheimer’s run there.
Hurtt came to Seattle as the defensive line coach in 2017 after serving under Vic Fangio with the Bears. When Seattle moved on from the aforementioned Norton, and as Pete Carroll sought to integrate some of the two-high safety schemes of Fangio, Hurtt was promoted to coordinator for the first time in his career.
Hurtt inherited a defense that had lost pretty much all of the key players from the Legion of Boom and they were in the midst of a rebuild on the fly. Hurtt didn’t lead a turnaround, and the Seahawks were actually 31st in EPA/play over the two years he led the defense, but Seattle was short on defensive talent as well.
When Carroll stepped down after the 2023 season, Hurtt went to Philadelphia to reunite with Fangio, where he’s helped maintain the franchise’s run of elite defensive linemen. Hiring Hurtt would be risky, for sure, but he would also offer some familiarity for Schottenheimer as well as bringing over the Fangio style scheme that’s taken the league by storm.
Christian Parker
If the Cowboys want to break off a branch of that Fangio coaching tree but don’t fully believe in Hurtt, they could go for another Eagles assistant in Christian Parker. Currently the defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator for Philadelphia, the 34-year old Parker is viewed by many as the next coaching star.
A quality control coach in Green Bay, Parker was a key assistant for defensive coordinator Mike Pettine in breaking down game film and preparing game plans each week. He then got hired in Denver in what proved to be Fangio’s last year as head coach. Parker was so impressive, though, that he was retained by each of the Broncos’ next two head coaches. He only left once Fangio took the job in Philadelphia.
In Denver, Parker oversaw the rapid development of Patrick Surtain II. In Philadelphia, he’s helped both Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean get acclimated to the NFL quickly, too. And as a staunch Fangio disciple, he brings a deep understanding of that defense.
Many around the league believe it’s only a matter of time until Parker is a defensive coordinator in his own right, and another strong season with the Eagles may mean this is the year for him.
Jonathan Cooley
Sticking with the Fangio theme for a moment, there is another Fangio disciple who’s having a big year. Ejiro Evero has finally broken through in Carolina, leading a finally-healthy Panthers defense to a great season and possibly the playoffs. Evero is a longtime Fangio disciple, and was the Broncos defensive coordinator who retained Parker after Fangio’s firing.
Evero is likely going to get head coaching consideration this offseason, but one of his top lieutenants in Carolina should also be on the Cowboys’ radar. Jonathan Cooley is the Panthers’ pass game coordinator, having coached the secondary for the last two years under Evero.
Prior to that, Cooley spent three years with the Rams, during which time he directly assisted Evero with the secondary as part of defensive coordinator Brandon Staley’s staff, another Fangio disciple. Cooley is a very young coach, like Parker, but he’s come up under the Fangio school of defense and earned increased responsibilities at a breakneck pace everywhere he’s been. He’ll be a coordinator before long.
James Bettcher
The biggest surprise team this year was the Colts, largely because of the Daniel Jones renaissance, but their strides on the defensive side were also a big part of the equation. New defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo proved it wasn’t a him problem in Cincinnati, reinvigorating Indianapolis defensively. And he couldn’t have done it without his right hand man, James Bettcher.
Currently the Colts linebackers coach, Bettcher was once a rising star in the coaching ranks. He caught on with Bruce Arians, first in Indianapolis and then following him to the Cardinals, where he was promoted to defensive coordinator when Todd Bowles took the Jets head coaching job. Arizona’s defenses only got better under his guidance, and Bettcher was once labeled the defensive version of Sean McVay.
When Arians retired (and was replaced by Steve Wilks), Bettcher became the defensive coordinator for the Giants under Pat Shurmur, but he was out of a job in two years, along with the rest of the staff. He spent a season as a senior assistant in San Francisco, aiding DeMeco Ryans, and then found his way to Cincinnati.
At the time, it was speculated that Bettcher was being brought in as an heir apparent for the popular Anarumo if the Bengals defensive coordinator ever got a head coaching gig. But Cincinnati quickly prioritized offense in contract negotiations, and their neglect of the defense led to things declining over time. And when Anarumo was pushed out, Bettcher followed him.
It’s easy to see why Anarumo likes Bettcher, too. Both coaches hang their hats on being truly multiple in their schemes, and Bettcher would often run completely different schemes week to week when he coached with the Cardinals. He often showed a penchant for blitzing with man coverage, but Bettcher ultimately prioritizes tailoring his scheme to his players and doing whatever they’re best at. Which sounds like exactly what the doctor ordered in Dallas.
