Blogging The Boys
The Cowboys secondary has a lot riding on it.
There are several reasons to be optimistic about the upcoming season of the Dallas Cowboys, and many of them stem from the changes within the coaching staff. There’s already a lot of excitement building up around new head coach Brian Schottenheimer. And the same is also true for both of the team’s new coordinators, Matt Eberflus and Klayton Adams.
But not all changes carry the same level of enthusiasm. For example, the team lost their defensive backs coach, Al Harris, who joined Ben Johnson’s new coaching staff in Chicago. Harris had coached with Johnson during their time together with the Miami Dolphins in 2012. He’s now the Bears’ new passing game coordinator, a promotion well deserved after an impressive tenure as the Cowboys' defensive backs coach.
Before Harris arrived in Dallas, the Cowboys' secondary was often a hot mess. It shouldn’t be too hard to remember when it seemed like the defense getting an interception was such a rare occasion. That’s because it was. During the five seasons before Harris showed up, the Cowboys’ defense never eclipsed double-digit interceptions. And right before Harris joined the coaching staff, the Cowboys only had seven interceptions, finishing third-worst in the league in 2019.
But those problems went away. In all five of his seasons with the Cowboys, the defense reached double-digit interceptions. They had a three-year stretch (2021-2023) where they finished in the top eight in picks, including a league-leading 26 interceptions in 2021.
The work Harris did in transforming Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland into ball-hawking studs was quite impressive, but it wasn’t just about what he did with the talented fellas. During Harris’ first three seasons with the Cowboys, Anthony Brown was a starting outside corner. And nobody should forget the disaster the team dealt with last year due to injuries, which saw seven corners play at least 100 snaps on defense. Players like Amani Oruwariye, Josh Butler, Caelen Carson, and Andrew Booth were called into action quite a bit last year.
In what ended up being a job swap, the Cowboys' new defensive backs coach is former Bears’ defensive backs coach, David Overstreet II. He has gone where Eberflus has gone, first with the Indianapolis Colts, then to Chicago, and now to Dallas. He doesn’t come with the same track record as Harris, but in all fairness, the Bears' defense has not had the same level of talent. Chicago finished dead last in 2021, allowing 7.4 yards per pass attempt, and finished second-worst last year, allowing 6.8 yards per attempt. On the flip side, the Bears led the league in interceptions in 2023 with 22 picks, and his Colts team finished third with 19 interceptions in 2021. So, there are some good things and some not-so-good things.
Of course, those numbers are a compilation of many factors. Roster talent plays a huge role, not only in the secondary, but who they have lining up on the defensive line. Harris benefited from...
