Blogging The Boys
The Dallas Cowboys have a new defensive coordinator, with news breaking Thursday that the team was working on terms with Eagles defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator Christian Parker. Brian Schottenheimer apparently chose Parker over several other candidates, including Jim Leonhard, Daronte Jones, and Jonathan Gannon. Todd Archer is confirming the deal.
Here’s a deep dive into Parker’s background and what to expect from his defense in Dallas.
At just 34 years old, Parker would be one of the youngest coordinators in the league. The Virginia native played both wide receiver and cornerback at FCS Richmond and started his coaching career at FCS Virginia State. Eventually he got a graduate assistant job at Notre Dame and went to Texas A&M a year later.
That precipitated his jump to the NFL, serving as a defensive quality control coach for two years with the Packers. During that time, defensive coordinator Mike Pettine – who ran the Jets defense when Schottenheimer was their offensive coordinator – referred to Parker as his eyes and ears while calling games.
From Green Bay, Parker landed as the defensive backs coach in Denver under newly-hired head coach Vic Fangio. There, Parker quickly became a trusted voice for Fangio, and he started to generate buzz as a coaching star. Fangio openly praised his football acumen and communication skills. He left such an impression that Parker was retained by each of the Broncos’ next two head coaches.
When Fangio was hired to run the Eagles defense two years ago, he reunited with Parker, hiring him as his defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator. There, Parker has been instrumental in coordinating one of the league’s best defenses over the last two years, during which time Philadelphia is ninth in EPA/play.
Parker has also flexed his player development skills. In Green Bay, Jaire Alexander blossomed into one of the more respected cornerbacks. In Denver, Patrick Surtain II and JaQuan McMillan both became impact players. And last year, Parker was handed two rookie corners in Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean and had them ready to start most of the year in a season that saw the Eagles win the Super Bowl.
In case you haven’t picked up on all the hints by now, Parker is a disciple of the Vic Fangio School of Defense.
This style of defense is built on the same philosophy as Eberflus, but with a completely different MO. Fangio (and his disciples) aims to keep everything in front of the defense and make the offense earn it with dinks and dunks. But while Eberflus preferred a straightforward pre-snap picture, Fangio has mastered the art of confusion.
His defenses often look the same pre-snap – four down linemen, very light boxes, and two-high safety shells – but what they do after the ball is snapped can change radically from play to play. He’ll employ a lot of zone coverage, but Fangio does use pattern match techniques, which allows defensive backs to switch to...
