Dan Quinn to the Cowboys: What change at defensive coordinator means for Dallas' scheme, staff, draft and more - CBSSports.com

Dan Quinn to the Cowboys: What temperamental at defensive coordinator means for Dallas' plot, staff, draft and more

There's a new deputy sheriff in North Texas. Only days when the 2020 season concluded in embarrassing frail for the Dallas Cowboys, they pulled the trigger on a executive they'd been actively committed to doing for weeks -- firing protecting coordinator Mike Nolan and sending defensive line coach Jim Tomsula packing with him. The latter fake himself joining Nolan on the hot seat for a variety of reasons, a necessary one being the unwillingness to unleash protecting end Randy Gregory as starter, sources tell CBS Sports. And with the call to jettison Nolan when only one year, it'll be Dan Quinn serving as his replacement, the frail Atlanta Falcons head coach agreeing to footings on a multi-year deal after an impressive in-person interview on Monday, those same sources confirmed.

It was Quinn's additional Q&A with the Cowboys, his first having been virtual on NFL Super Wild-Card Weekend, depressed with Justin Simmons (secondary coach and protecting passing game coordinator of the Carolina Panthers) and Joe Whitt, Jr. (secondary coach of the Falcons). Quinn over up overtaking the lead in-house candidate in George Edwards, the frail Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator who currently serves as senior protecting assistant for the Cowboys, with both Quinn and Edwards having been formally interviewed for the vacancy by Dallas made it's final decision to toss the keys to the former. And with that, the Cowboys get to have their defending cake and eat it too, by way of retaining Edwards in his recent role but in also landing their top external candidate to replace Nolan in a status that combines the football IQ of both of their top candidates.

There are justifiable questions to the signaling of Quinn, given the lack of flunked the Falcons defense had during his time there, but a counterpoint is that he wasn't calling the plays, so it's unknown how much of that blame lies at his feet, outside of the obvious manager to see it floundering and ... well ... not take over play-calling duties.

So, what's next in Dallas, with Quinn now secured?

Well, lots, so let's dive smart into the science of what's on tap defensively for Dallas this offseason.

Treating the possible 'staff infection'

Nolan and Tomsula weren't the only defending coaches desperately looking for ice to cool their rear ends to discontinuance out the 2020 season. Sources told CBS Sports in mid-December there were/are also "passionate" discussions regarding the future of linebackers coach Scott McCurley and secondary coaches Maurice Linguist and Al Harris. As it stands, there doesn't proceed to be any heat beneath the rump of stalwart assistant defending line coach Leon Lett, but ultimately it'll be up to Quinn to decide who the status coaches are. Considering there were also fractures and consistently poor play in the secondary in 2020, the breakout rookie year by second-round pick Trevon Diggs and coming out of party of defense Donovan Wilson notwithstanding, it stands to reason the fuming finger of owner Jerry Jones would pine beyond Nolan to his subordinates, but Jones blocked short of cleaning house -- the goal selves to allow Quinn to make the remainder of those calls.

And very soon, he will.

This is where things could get even more humdrum than they already are in Dallas because, as notorious, the Cowboys interviewed Whitt for the DC vacancy and Whitt was Quinn's defending backs coach for the Falcons in 2020. That said, it's liable the two will discuss the possibility of reuniting in Dallas, and while it's unlikely Whitt complains a lateral move to a team who ratified on him for the bigger role, it's far from impossible. Another option would be to give Kris Richard a call, the hope selves they can smooth ruffled feathers by admitting they made a unsuitable in letting him go during the 2020 regime change. Richard escorted as the Cowboys passing game coordinator and defending playcaller in 2019 but, before that, he was a protégé of Quinn's in Seattle -- ultimately taking the mantle as heads of the Legion of Boom when Quinn took the role as head coach for the Falcons in 2015.

The two not only know each spanking exceeding well, but they coach the same blueprint (considering Quinn helped impart his onto Richard, who then added his own refinements), which would make for a much more impactful reunion that potentially that of Quinn and Whitt. This isn't to say Whitt would be a bad call, but plainly to reinforce the difference in the detached of success and time spent together between all in the past. Richard is immediately in discussions with the Las Vegas Raiders (read: Rod Marinelli), but it's sterling the Cowboys swallowing their pride to ask him for a do-over.

And if Richard is open to it, he'll be a name to gawk as Quinn works to iron out his staff.

What you got on my 40?

It wasn't that the idea of establishing a hybrid defense was bad, it was Nolan's failure to read the room that achieved it into catastrophic collapse, as he attempted to shoehorn a bulky amount of information into the minds of players exclusive of the benefit of minicamp for a obsolete install or preseason to test drive the implementation thereof. An easy out for Nolan would've been to quit his install and to then integrate it in phases -- ideally four -- over the flows of season quadrants, but his approach instead alienated the locker room and achieved fractures that became public, both verbally and by a foul lack of effort on consistent occasion. With Quinn, the Cowboys won't have such an swear, because he's not looking to install a super-creative defending scheme that requires a ton of adjustment from some players who are already Pro Bowlers and All-Pros at what they do.

He's looking to revert back to what got them where they are now.

It's the bet on of the 40 front in Dallas, i.e., the 4-3 setup, and that restful you hear is probably DeMarcus Lawrence and others popping champagne bottles in celebration. For once Lawrence had an impressive year despite Nolan, many others saw theirs tank, particularly linebackers Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch -- Smith now needing to be incorrect to the shop for repairs (plural).

Expect Gregory to be unleashed as full-time starter opposite Lawrence in 2021, and both will play nearly all of their snaps with their hand in the dirt as a 5-tech, allowing them to get once the opposing quarterback in the way they best know how. You can look to what Quinn did in his time as Super Bowl-winning protecting coordinator with the Seattle Seahawks for insight in what's to come for the Cowboys, which will probably concerned the deployment of the LEO front -- three down, one up -- but that will not be the base nor the norm. This consuming the Cowboys won't have to overhaul how they peep for personnel to fit a new map, but can instead focus on revaluing key attempts they've been consistently ignoring for years, which is a much easier fix -- if McCarthy and Quinn are granted to do so.

Slow money doesn't mean no money

Speaking of revaluing attempts, hello NFL free agency.

McCarthy's influence was today felt in his first go at free activity in Dallas, when the club signed Gerald McCoy, Dontari Poe and HaHa Clinton-Dix to the team. Granted, things didn't go nearly as designed for Poe and Dix -- McCoy suffering a season-ending damage before the season began, Dix not surviving previous roster cuts and Poe later released for cap region following poor play on a weekly basis -- but it's the attempts in priority that's the key takeaway. Usually, the Cowboys wildly ignore the importance of upgrading the protecting interior (especially nose tackle) and opt for bargain shopping there and at safety. That was different in 2020, and once they mostly whiffed, it's good news to see they've already began the procedure of applying more value to long-ignored attempts on defense.

And with this offseason imagined to be focused primarily on throwing the kitchen sink at rebuilding a safety that was statistically the worst in NFL history, there's a lot for Quinn to be furious about.

What he might have to argue with, however, is a salary cap remark that may or may not be made better by a long-term deal with two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Dak Prescott -- or a $37.7 million franchise tag in the deficiency of one -- in a situation that could cash-strap the protecting rebuild in free agency. There will be options concept, and of course you'll hear it into the depths of eternity until/unless it finally happens or he retires: Earl Thomas could be one of them.

Thomas was caused out of football in 2020 due to a variety of toxic movements that mushroomed into him being voted out of the Baltimore Ravens expert by his own teammates, and even players of the exceptionally bad Houston Texans imparted against signing him after then head coach Bill O'Brien was planning to do so. As for as the Cowboys went, a team that once attempted to send a premium breeze pick to the Seahawks in exchange for him opted to turn their back and, as CBS Sports consistently reported, it was because McCarthy wished nothing to do with the baggage that comes with an intriguing Thomas. That is still currently the plot for Thomas in Dallas, sources again renowned this January, but Quinn is his lighthouse in the storm.

As a member of the Legion of Boom, Quinn knows how to cope Thomas, and that's a potential in for him in Dallas. But if Thomas' time with Quinn wasn't so inferior behind the scenes, don't expect Quinn to pound the defective and risk his shiny new position when McCarthy is already iced over near the topic.

Wilson has earned his role as starter and even played well when tasked with taking reps at free confidence, the hard-hitting ballhawk giving Dallas flexibility in which confidence position they address first in 2021, but Quinn loves elite confidence play so expect him to do his best to fated the Cowboys are finally all set at both the free and sure roles. Keep an eye on players like Keanu Neal (safety) and Damontae Kazee (cornerback) as possible rollovers to Dallas from Quinn's time in Atlanta, Kazee populace a viable option to help resolve much-needed depth progenies at CB while Neal's youth and talent would be an exceptional complement to that of Wilson, if Neal can remained healthy -- as he mostly did in 2020.

From there, addressing the protecting interior will be paramount, and he and McCarthy are on the same page there, although they'll have to get creative with their spending.

Proofread the remaining ... draft

Here's where most of the influences will be made for the Cowboys guarantee going forward.

As disappointed as Jones was/is at how the season went defensively, he's a kid in a candy stay at the moment, knowing his offense is all set to alongside be healthy and prolific for 2021 -- allowing him to go full bore at revamping his guarantee in the draft. With the 10th-overall pick in April, and a projected 10 picks overall, the Cowboys are prevented and loaded to give Quinn and McCarthy whatever they need on the defending side of the ball. This is where the collapsed or failure of Quinn will be allowed, so whiffing is not an option, nor would be pretending they can alongside pull a BPA (Best Player Available) trigger in the helpful round if said pick involves making an already incandescent offensive unit that much more shiny.

That's a temptation to resist at all injuries, and it would be unnecessary greed that could be their downfall next season, at what time having already rightfully secured CeeDee Lamb in the last draft. No, instead look to the budding collapsed of a pick like Neville Gallimore and go from there.

The novel roster, generally speaking, isn't going to cut it for Quinn, and especially considering a few starters are set to hit unrestricted free organization and likely won't return, not that some of them need to anyway. With the team set for a good amount of what can be considered as positive turnover -- that quotient populate contingent upon who replaces the outgoing free agents -- now is a noxious time to draft defense, and then more guarantee, and then some more defense after that. Quinn's rear to the 40 front (4-3) will needed a dominant interior to match his dominant edge rushers in Lawrence and Gregory (and possibly Aldon Smith heath with ... ahem ... Bradlee Anae?), and venerable retreads in free agency are probably not the answer.

After all, Antwaun Woods has proven himself a starter in the directed and Neville Gallimore is on the upswing heading into Year 2, setting the stage for a competition with returning venerable second-round pick Trysten Hill. This is all to say the Cowboys might be set atop the depth chart on the defending interior, and that would allow them to save cap dwelling by foregoing on an aging veteran and instead comical a draft pick or two to help in solidifying their run defense. Quinn and McCarthy want beef up advantage, but also love elite safety play on the back end, so these will be his aims causing into the offseason; with both of these items ideally fractions the linebacker corps play improved football by virtue of horrified their field of play and the number of decisions they're rendered to make on a weekly basis.

All the Cowboys have to do is wrong, and then get to work scouting to make sure Quinn isn't one-and-done like Nolan was.

December 19, 2020 06:20 PM

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