Blogging The Boys
New defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus has already made his presence felt in retooling the Cowboys DL and LB groups.
For the third consecutive season, the Dallas Cowboys will have a new defensive coordinator. Matt Eberflus returning to Dallas after being fired mid-season as head coach of the Chicago Bears last year is actually one of the more familiar faces on the Cowboys staff, considering the Cowboys also have a new head coach, offensive coordinator, and new positions coaches at nearly every spot. This hasn’t slowed the Cowboys down one bit in responding to how last offseason’s inactivity caused so much regression, with trades and free agent acquisitions shaking things up significantly going into Schottenheimer’s first year.
Where Schottenheimer will call plays for an offense that is about to go into the draft still with major needs at wide receiver and running back, Eberflus’ past experience with the team has allowed them to dig in even more on the defensive side of the ball to build around cornerstones like Micah Parsons.
Osa Odighizuwa became one of the Cowboys most important internal free agents to retain as a centerpiece to Eberflus’ defensive line, one that will be expected to bring pressure without a dependency on blitzing/stunting the team has needed at times. Impressively, the Cowboys were able to get this deal done early with Odighizuwa and make him a mainstay of the defensive line for years to come. They have also added veteran DT Solomon Thomas and edge rushers Dante Fowler and Payton Turner.
The Cowboys defensive line will feature a blend of new and old faces thanks to these moves, but the linebacker position has a chance to look almost entirely different. A former Eberflus defender with the Bears, Jack Sanborn, was signed to a one-year deal around the same time the Cowboys traded for yet another former first-round pick in Kenneth Murray. Second-year player Marist Liufau is likely the most promising player with any past experience to continue seeing snaps alongside these new additions to start the year. DeMarvion Overshown is a question mark for 2025 at this point.
When looking at the Cowboys skill positions, offensive line, and secondary under this same lens of comparing last offseason to this current one, the results so far have been mostly humbling. Sure, there are more moves to talk about, but through all of the noise the same questions at a lot of the same positions that held this team back a year ago persist. This is still a team that is looking to find players that can help them win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball more, which did bode well when looking at some of the promising players still on the rise expected to start on the offensive line. Will the Cowboys defensive line under Eberflus, and front seven as a whole, be able to have a similar expectation in year one? Let’s take a closer look to find out.
**2024 Additions: Marshawn...
