Blogging The Boys
After Sunday night’s loss to the Vikings, the Cowboys are all but eliminated from the playoffs. Dak Prescott even admitted as much. Understandably, all the ire has turned to Matt Eberflus yet again, and Jerry Jones even seemed to make room for the possibility of making a defensive coordinator change once the season wraps up.
That decision would be easy to justify, too. While Eberflus has produced really good defenses throughout his career, it hasn’t been good in Dallas. The Cowboys enjoyed a brief boost in efficiency after the trade deadline, but it quickly fell apart, and they’re back to being one of the worst defenses in the league.
So while Eberflus remains the coordinator, here are nine names off the top of my head that would make the defense considerably better next year, should they decide to make a change.
Let’s start with the whale: Jim Schwartz is currently wrecking quarterbacks’ Sundays as the Browns defensive coordinator. Getting him to Dallas would not exactly be easy.
That said, the Browns are 3-11 and rumors continue to persist around head coach Kevin Stefanski’s job security. If he gets fired, Schwartz would be very available. Even if Stefanski sticks around, he may opt to shake up his staff, or Schwartz may want to jump ship for somewhere more stable. The Cowboys aren’t exactly the model of stability, but Brian Schottenheimer has earned plenty of good will by now, and Schwartz would immediately be welcomed warmly.
Schwartz’s scheme would also mesh well with the current roster. He cut his teeth under Jeff Fisher and Gregg Williams, and emphasizes physicality and aggression over everything. Schwartz loves playing press man coverage and, while not blitz-happy, his Browns do currently rank 10th in blitz rate. He’s more selective with his blitzes, like Mike Zimmer last year, but uses simulated pressures to find ways to win with four.
Stealing Schwartz away from the Browns would be as close to a home run as the Cowboys could get. His track record on defense is impeccable, and he was named the Assistant Coach of the Year back in 2023, his first year with the Browns.
One of the NFL’s best defenses over the last two years is undoubtedly the Broncos, where Vance Joseph has enjoyed a career revitalization after once being fired by the Broncos as head coach. While Joseph isn’t going anywhere for a lateral move, his top assistant might.
Jim Leonhard is the Broncos’ assistant head coach and pass game coordinator on defense. He’s been there the past two seasons, during which time Denver is third in the league in EPA/play allowed. Before that, he was the defensive coordinator for his alma mater Wisconsin, during which time the Badgers were 46-20 and dominated on defense.
Leonhard also became Wisconsin’s interim head coach during the 2022 season. He finished 4-3 down the stretch and looked to be the favorite for the full-time job before Wisconsin stunned everyone and poached Luke Fickell...
