Blogging The Boys
The Cowboys are looking for a new defensive coordinator – one that can teach and communicate clearly – after moving on from Matt Eberflus. We already outlined 15 candidates that should be on their radar, but here are five names that should be crossed out right away.
The Cowboys love a former head coach at defensive coordinator – you have to go back to 2012 with Rob Ryan to find the last one without head coaching experience – so, naturally, many have pointed to Jonathan Gannon, who was just fired as the Cardinals head coach.
Gannon went 15-36 in three seasons and ended this year with a nine-game losing streak. It would’ve been a 14-game losing streak if not for the Cowboys losing to them in Dallas. As bad as Gannon’s head coaching run was – this season set a franchise record for losses – he ran the Eagles defense before getting the top job out in the desert.
The Eagles reached the postseason both years, and narrowly lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl right before Gannon’s departure. So why shouldn’t the Cowboys be interested?
The reality is Gannon’s defenses were never that great. His first season saw them finish 17th in EPA/play and, while they improved to sixth the next year, Philadelphia had to win several shootouts during the regular season. He was often criticized by local media for a lack of in-game adjustments, which came to a head in the Super Bowl when Andy Reid schemed up consecutive touchdowns with the same play, both times freeing up a wide open receiver in the endzone.
Gannon is also very young, just 43 years old, and has never been a coordinator anywhere other than Philadelphia. Prior to that, he coached defensive backs for Matt Eberflus in Indianapolis and, before that, assisted with defensive backs on Mike Zimmer’s Vikings staff. Does it really make sense to bring in a coach whose strongest coaching influences are the Cowboys’ last two coordinators – neither of whom lasted more than a year – and Nick Sirianni?
Back when Dan Quinn first departed for the Commanders, there was a belief that the Cowboys viewed pass game coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. as the heir apparent. After all, he had been a close confidant of Quinn’s in Atlanta before Dallas and even called some preseason games, usually an indicator of being groomed for the role.
But Dallas pivoted to Mike Zimmer, and Whitt left to run the defense and call plays in Washington. There were some rumors at the time that Mike McCarthy wanted to promote Whitt, but was overruled by others in the building. Whether or not that’s true is irrelevant now, especially with Whitt available again after being let go by Quinn.
It’s easy to make the argument for Whitt’s candidacy – he’s the closest you can get to bringing back the Quinn days – but the last two years have irreparably damaged Whitt’s stock. In...
