When Dallas hired Christian Parker, I wasn’t exactly fired up about it, until I looked into his background.
I wasn’t overly excited because he is a 34-year-old who’d never called an NFL defense and taking over a unit that needs more than a patchwork to get going. Dallas needs someone to develop players, clean busted plays and keep this from becoming another one-year experiment.
We have all watched this show and dance routine enough. A new defensive coach walks in, talks about pressure and turnovers, and we spend the offseason trying to talk ourselves into the hire.
I wasn’t ready to do that again. Then I went back through the coaches who ran Dallas’ Super Bowl defenses and Parker started making more sense.
Ernie Stautner, Dave Wannstedt, Butch Davis, and Dave Campo all led defenses during Super Bowl seasons.
We know those names now because of what came later, but it doesn’t mean each one arrived as some famous NFL coordinator everybody wanted.
Stautner built his reputation with the defensive line under Tom Landry. Wannstedt followed Jimmy Johnson from the University of Miami and got his first NFL coaching job in Dallas. Davis worked his way up through the defensive front. Campo climbed through the secondary.
Dallas didn’t always chase the hottest name available, but instead trusted coaches who were still moving up and gave them a defense before the rest of the league knew who they were.
I think that’s where I’m at on the Christian Parker hire.
He’s getting his chance because the coaches and players who have been around him knew he was ready for more, not because he bounced around collecting coordinator titles.
I think we can all get behind that aspect of it easier than another recycled hire everybody knows.
Let’s not forget that Christian Parker is a first-time defensive coordinator, but I also don’t see him as some random young coach Dallas just pulled out their hat.
He spent the last two seasons coaching under Vic Fangio in Philadelphia as their defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator. Before that, he coached the secondary in Denver.
I care more about what happened to the players around him at those stops than how long his resume is.
Patrick Surtain II became one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean stepped into the league and played like veterans. All three became first-year All-Pros after working with Parker.
I’m all about that, especially with the young cornerbacks room the Cowboys are sporting this year.
Show me players who improved. Parker can do that.
It doesn’t prove he can run the whole defense, yet. Coaching defensive backs is one job, while calling plays, handling the front and fixing things after the first plan goes sideways is another.
Time will tell.
Christian Parker...
