When you, as an NFL team, book a 7-9-1 record, and you miss your second straight postseason with a defense that is the NFL’s worst, and couldn’t bust a grape in a winery… well, it’s pretty clear what change needs to be made. For the fourth straight season, the Dallas Cowboys have a new defensive coordinator — this time, it’s former Philadelphia Eagles passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach Christian Parker, who follows Dan Quinn, Mike Zimmer, and Matt Eberflus, and will try to fill a void
that has been evident since Quinn’s departure to the nation’s capital after the 2023 season.
Since Dallas’ offense ranked eighth in DVOA, while the defense ranked dead last (in that category and just about every other), draft talk will obviously focus on that side of the ball, especially as Parker will need the right kinds of players to make his stuff work.
“I think it all starts with the players,” Parker said in late February. “Evaluating our roster, free agency, the draft, they’re all in cohesion with each other, but being able to find the best fits at different spots. A lot of them are already here, some of them are already here. We’re not saying that we’re about to bring a whole new 11, but there’s definitely some positions that we need some better schematic fit.
“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 talking 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.”
The Cowboys made some moves in free agency to bolster that defense, led by the Rashan Gary trade and the signings of cornerback Cobie Durant and safety Jalen Thompson, but when looking at the overall roster and thinking of the playbooks he’s bringing and modifying from his previous iterations, one would expect defensive players — and very specific kinds of defensive players — to be the focus of the draft.
Based on my own tape and metric study, and what kinds of additions I think the Cowboys would be wise to make, here’s one possible seven-round scenario that would certainly help a defense that went splat all too often in 2025.
Round 1, Pick 12 (12): Jermod McCoy, CB, Tennessee
Here’s where need meets hope to a great degree. With Shavon Revel Jr. and the newly-signed Cobie Durant as their projected outside cornerbacks and DaRon Bland (ideally) as a primary slot defender, there’s still some additions to be made. The good news is that Matt Eberflus and his mid-1990s spot-drop bullcrap is gone, replaced by Christian Parker’s newer, presumably more Fangio-esque concepts, so the players on the roster will actually be put in positions to succeed.
Now, let’s get the Cowboys an alpha cornerback. In the case of Jermod McCoy, the 70-point story is the torn ACL that cost him the entire 2025 season. The other big story is the tape from 2024 that showed a plug-and-play NFL defender. Then, McCoy allowed 31 catches on 62 targets for 386 yards, 128 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, four interceptions, six pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 53.6. At his physical peak, McCoy can challenge and erase receivers in press coverage, off coverage, inside and outside… the skill set is complete, if it’s still there.
McCoy said at the scouting combine that he’ll be ready to do a full workout at Tennessee’s pro day on March 31, and if that goes well, McCoy could be a top 10 pick. If that Jermod McCoy lasts until 12, this should be an automatic pick.
(From Green Bay Packers) Round 1, Pick 20 (20): Makai Lemon, WR, USC
The Cowboys are set up top at receiver with CeeDee Lamb under contract through 2028, and George Pickens with the franchise tag. Maybe Dallas gets Pickens locked up longer-term and everything is fine; maybe the plan is to give Pickens an expensive prove-it deal when he’s already proven it. If the idea is anything but Lamb and Pickens as the main guys beyond the upcoming season, maybe the next wave starts with the 2oth pick.
And if that’s the case, you can’t do much better in this class than Makai Lemon. In 2025, the 5’11”, 192-pound Lemon caught 79 passes on 109 targets for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns. He was great to all areas of the field, and he was particularly effective as a deep target — 16 of his catches on 25 targets for 522 yards and five touchdowns came on passes of 20 or more air yards. Some may blanch at the idea of a first-round pick on a guy who played in the slot on 65% of his snaps last season, but if you study modern NFL offenses with all their condensed formations, it’s not only more common to blur the lines between outside and slot, but it’s a schematic and tactical advantage to do so.
Short-term, Lemon adds all kinds of juice to the receiver room… longer-term, he could be No. 1 with a bullet.
(From San Francisco 49ers) Round 3, Pick 28 (92): Jaishawn Barnam, EDGE, Michigan
Acquiring Rashan Gary via trade, and adding him to a formidable front with Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark, allows Parker to do some really interesting things with his heavy front packages. Ideally, the Cowboys can use Gary at times as they used the now-departed Osa Odighizuwa as a middleman in their five-man fronts, and as a bigger EDGE in their four-on-the-floor packages.
That still leaves holes for someone to fill as the speed edge-rushers; obviously that hole has been there since another trade with the Packers happened. So, let’s get some smaller, speedier guys in there to accentuate what’s already there. In 2025, the 6’3”, 243-pound Barnham had three sacks and 21 total pressures in 162 pass-rushing snaps, adding 25 solo tackles, 24 stops, and five tackles for loss to his resume.
What makes Barham interesting in this defense is his two-level ability as both an off-ball linebacker and as an edge-rusher, and also how well and stoutly he defends the run for his size. Parker saw first-hand in Philadelphia what such a player can do with Zack Baun, and while Barham’s skill set makes him a bit more of an edge defender and less proven in coverage, he would add some juice at at least one position of need.
Round 4, Pick 12 (112): Malik Muhammad, CB, Texas
Back to the cornerback position, since there’s a lot of unproven on the current roster. In 2025, the 6’0”, 182-pound Malik Muhammad allowed 21 catches on 35 targets for 167 yards, 87 yards after the catch, one touchdown, two interceptions, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 57.8.
Based on his history, I think it will be crucial for Parker to have cornerbacks who can succeed in both press and off coverage without wild swings in performance between the two. Jermod McCoy has proven to be a lockdown guy with both, and last season, while Muhammad played far more off coverage, he has the tools to press very well in the NFL. The Eagles had a guy like that when they took Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell with the 22nd pick in the 2024 draft — Mitchell barely played any press coverage in college, but his tools were perfect for it, and the Eagles saw that.
Well, we know who was the Eagles’ passing game coordinator & defensive backs coach was in 2024, don’t we?
Round 5, Pick 12 (152): Kaleb Elarms-Orr, LB, TCU
Zack Baun isn’t the only versatile two-level player in Philly’s defense, of course… there’s also Jihaad Campbell, who can also succeed off-ball and on the edge. That’s where TCU’s Kaleb Elarms-Orr could come in. Last season, the 6’2”, 234-pound Elarms-Orr had four sacks and 25 total pressures in 128 pass-rushing snaps, and 89 solo tackles, 53 stops, and seven tackles for loss overall. He also allowed 25 catches on 35 targets for 237 yards, 188 yards after the catch, one touchdown, no interceptions, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 99.3.
“I think it translates in a lot of ways,” Elarms-Orr told me at the combine when I asked him how his game transfers to the NFL level. “I’m smart, I’m fast, I’m physical, athletic… I’m an all-around player. I feel like I can do everything — blitzing, coverage, run game, leadership, I feel like I can do it all.”
Sounds like a guy you might want in the middle of your defense… and on the edge.
Round 5, Pick 37 (177): Red Murdock, LB, Buffalo
It is obviously easy to love the idea of DeMarvion Overshown in your defense, but the bridge between concept and reality has been complicated by Overshown’s injury history, as unfortunate as that is. To get that defense to at least a league-average level, it’s important to understand what the team has on a week-to-week basis, and what it may not. Overshown may need to be seen as a bonus player if healthy, and it’s all gravy from there.
One of my favorite players in this class from a playing-demeanor perspective is Buffalo’s Red Murdock, a guided-missile linebacker with bad intentions and the physical tools to make them real. In 2025, the 6’2”, 232-pound Murdock had six sacks, 20 total pressures, 93 solo tackles, 56 stops, seven tackles, six forced fumbles, and in coverage, he allowed 18 catches on 25 targets for 219 yards, 130 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, no interceptions, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 125.3.
It may not seem “sexy” to grab this many linebacker/edge hybrids in the middle of a draft, but the modern NFL tells us that if you have enough of the right players of this type, it ties the first two levels of your defense together.
Round 5, Pick 40: Demond Claiborne, RB, Wake Forest
Javonte Williams is obviously established as Dallas’ RB1, and for good reason. There’s an interesting depth group behind Williams, led by Malik Davis and Jaydon Blue, but it’s hardly definitive. So, maybe the third day is a good time to add some reinforcement in the person of Wake Forest’s Demond Claiborne. The 5’10”, 188-pound Claiborne ran the ball 179 times for 909 yards and 10 touchdowns last season, with 37 forced missed tackles and 12 runs of 15 or more yards. Claiborne also caught the ball 28 times for 130 yards last season, and when he ran a 4.37 40-yard dash at the combine, he further proved the theory of that on-field acceleration.
Claiborne doesn’t fit the profile of an every-down back per se, but as an accelerant satellite element, he could add a lot of fire to that depth chart.
(From Tennessee Titans) Round 7, Pick 2 (218): Jadon Canady, DB, Oregon
Since we’re going to be talking a lot about Fangio-style defenses when we talk about the Cowboys now, we should also bring up the potential value of the slot defender who can easily move to more of an overhang/safety role in certain packages. Jalen Thompson fills that role to a point, while Malik Hooker is more of the prototypical deep-third guy, but if I see Oregon’s Jadon Canady available in the seventh round, I’m jumping on that one to accentuate this defense.
Parker’s defense will be more about blurring positional lines than Eberflus’ ever was, and in Canady, the Cowboys would have a new defender who allowed 17 catches on 37 targets for 104 yards, 61 yards after the catch, one touchdown, two interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 39.4. Canady’s coverage distribution is well-stocked between slot and overhang, and you want him more in the deep third when it comes to tackling (not an alpha skill at this point in time), and he could thrive in Dallas’ new coverage concepts.
How does this mock draft look to you, dear readers? Sound off in the comments below!
