Inside The Star
I’ve gone back and forth on the Cowboys defensive coordinator search more times than I can count, and I keep circling back to Daronte Jones.
Not because he’s trendy, or a big name.
The truth is simple, the more I look at what Dallas needs, Daronte Jones background checks more boxes than I expected.
We can’t ignore what the Vikings put on the field last season. They didn’t just play solid defense, they made quarterbacks think about decisions.
Minnesota landed in the top ten in points per game (19.6), top five in sacks (49) and ranked inside the top three in pass defense. That type of production doesn’t happen by accident.
If you watch the tape on the Vikings defense, you will see tight coverage, clean communication, and defenders playing fast because they know what’s coming.
Daronte Jones coaches the defensive backs and helps shape the passing-game plan, and that influence shows up every week.
For a Cowboys’ defense that’s had too many late-game breakdowns, that level of consistency stands out to me.
What I appreciate most about Jones is how he attacks modern offenses. Everything today is about spacing, rhythm. And quick decisions. If you mess with those three things, drives stall.
Minnesota mixed press looks, match concepts, rotating safeties, and disguised leverage on a regular basis.
Quarterbacks rarely saw the same picture twice. You could see pressure show up when coverage could support it. Watching that, I kept thinking how often Dallas was burned by predictability.
This is where Jones feels like a major upgrade.
Another piece I can’t overlook is Daronte Jones’ time working with Brian Flores.
Flores is respected across the league for his attention to detail and aggressive mindset. You can see that influence in how Minnesota disguises coverage and times pressure. That style of defense is what Dallas lacked all season.
If you can’t get Brian Flores. Why not get a Flores disciple?
I respect Jim Leonhard a lot. He’s organized, disciplined, and sharp. But when I stack the two side by side, Jones’ recent NFL results against high-volume passing attacks carry a little more weight.
That doesn’t make Leonhard a bad option. I would be ecstatic with him as the defensive coordinator. It just highlights a choice: the Vikings Flores style structure could prove to be more disruptive with what the Cowboys offer personnel wise.
Each of these coaches have experience as a defensive coordinator at the college level, but Daronte Jones has a larger body of work.
Jim Leonhard is the hot name right now, and he may be a defensive genius. Daronte Jones may have a few more skins on the wall and that experience may be better suited as...
