In case you missed it, the Cowboys are hiring for a defensive coordinator. Matt Eberflus is out after one disappointing year, and candidates have started to emerge. Many fans have publicly pined for Brian
Flores, currently the Vikings defensive coordinator, and there were reports last month that Flores was on the team’s radar.
Flores’ contract with Minnesota officially expires Wednesday, meaning he would be free to interview anywhere regardless of whether or not it’s a lateral move. That said, Flores does not seem likely to make a lateral move, especially to Dallas, for several reasons we previously outlined.
But the Cowboys don’t need Flores. They have another name, whom they’ve already interviewed, that would be just as good: Jim Leonhard.
Let’s start with why Cowboys fans want Flores: he’s great at defense. Over the last three years under his watch, the Vikings are third in the league in EPA/play allowed. While Flores didn’t call plays as the head coach for the Dolphins, he was heavily involved in the game planning, and Miami was sixth in EPA/play over the last two seasons there. The Patriots also ranked sixth in EPA/play in 2018, when Flores called plays en route to a Super Bowl win.
Not only does defensive success follow Flores, but he’s proven to be adaptable. In Miami, he ran a defensive scheme more similar to what he ran under Bill Belichick in New England. That is to say he ran a hybrid front that emphasized unexpected blitzes and lots of press man coverage.
Since going to Minnesota, though, Flores reinvented himself. His one season spent with the Steelers helped him collaborate with University of Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi to change up the way he blitzes, pairing a frequent six-man front with exotic zone coverages that allow him to blitz in all sorts of ways.
That’s what makes Flores so special: his ability to adapt and change over time to keep things fresh.
That’s also what makes Leonhard so special. An underrated aspect of coaching in college – the way Leonhard and Narduzzi both have – is that schematic adaptability is a must. Between the short lifespans that student athletes have before graduating (or transferring) and the myriad of different schemes a defense can face from week to week, coaches have to be able to do what works rather than focus on doing things “their way.”
That’s a mindset Leonhard spends nearly 15 minutes explaining in this coaching clinic he hosted back in 2021, early into his tenure as the Badgers defensive coordinator. It’s also a mindset Leonhard frequently put on display at Wisconsin, as he utilized a wide variety of unique formations to confuse quarterbacks and take advantage of his varying personnel over the years.
Since getting to the NFL, this has continued. In much the same way that Flores was exposed to Narduzzi’s scheme, Leonhard has now been exposed to Vance Joseph, currently the Broncos’ defensive coordinator. Joseph is well-traveled, but much of his scheme comes from Wade Phillips, a legendary defensive mind.
For those who don’t recall when Phillips was in Dallas, that means an attacking hybrid 3-4 scheme that uses traditional 4-3 techniques upfront. In other words, Phillips and Joseph use typical 3-4 personnel to one-gap and free up blitzers, often using hidden blitzes to wreak havoc in the backfield.
Like Phillips, Joseph has often leaned on press man and Cover 3 with press bail techniques. Leonhard comes from a similar background – both in his time playing for Rex Ryan and coaching at Wisconsin – but he’s helped to implement more match coverage techniques into the Broncos system. That effectively creates plays where Denver is technically playing zone but acts as if they’re playing man.
All in all, Leonhard’s background is all about adaptability. It’s a core tenet of who he is as a coach and how he runs a defense, even in his role as pass game coordinator. Much like Flores, Leonhard is the kind of cerebral defensive wizard who relishes chances to pull one over on opposing quarterbacks, and it’s why he can be the Cowboys’ own version of Flores.
