Defensive Line Coaching

[Stak78]

While I do realize that they are on the third set of defensive coaches in three years. I have to question the quality of position coaches that the Cowboys continue to have on staff. The technique and discipline has been poor for years. I believe that they hire placeholders to run them through drills and have meetings to go over film. Yet, I don’t believe these coaches actually coach the players up. One would assume that both Eberflus and Shotty would address this as it ultimately reflects on them. Why doesn’t the sports media ever question stuff like this?

 

[blueblood70]

While I do realize that they are on the third set of defensive coaches in three years. I have to question the quality of position coaches that the Cowboys continue to have on staff. The technique and discipline has been poor for years. I believe that they hire placeholders to run them through drills and have meetings to go over film. Yet, I don’t believe these coaches actually coach the players up. One would assume that both Eberflus and Shotty would address this as it ultimately reflects on them. Why doesn’t the sports media ever question stuff like this?

Whitecotton's one of the best defensive line coaches in the NFL It was talked about when he was brought over so first of all you're watching him coach a bunch of backups and their backups... Wait till he gets Fowler on one side with Osa next to Solomon Thomas next to Parsons and then we can talk about what you think about the defensive line..

Nose tackle that's not on him I mean he's gotta try to develop one but you're blaming a guy for what you think you see in the preseason games no game plans no stunts no twist no zone block nothing special including no blitzing..

This is vanilla but some of your reactions just are getting worse this whole place overreacting now we're blaming a bad defensive coach when he is one of the better ones...

Career Summary. Aaron Whitecotton is a football coach in the National Football League (NFL) and has been the defensive line coach for the Dallas Cowboys since 2025. Prior to this season, he coached for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers, and New York Jets for twelve seasons.

It's kinda hard when you read where he's been what do you remember about most of those teams pretty good defensive lines that's for sure....

 

[blueblood70]

While I do realize that they are on the third set of defensive coaches in three years. I have to question the quality of position coaches that the Cowboys continue to have on staff. The technique and discipline has been poor for years. I believe that they hire placeholders to run them through drills and have meetings to go over film. Yet, I don’t believe these coaches actually coach the players up. One would assume that both Eberflus and Shotty would address this as it ultimately reflects on them. Why doesn’t the sports media ever question stuff like this?

By the way you're gonna blame last year mike Zimmer was lame duck had no time and had too many injuries to get this team in shape after what Dan Quinn left it..

Last I remember Dan Quinn had a pretty solid deep well respected staff but without proper talent none of it's going to be perfect He had some good things and some bad things you want to see what we remember the Green Bay playoff game and Washington's loss to the Eagles in the championship game last year what did that remind you of Oh yeah those two games sure look the same for Dan Quinn So Washington has our cast offs and you're worried about the fact that we're on a 3rd staff we're only on the third one because of the lame duck staff we had last year it didn't stick because they needed to make a full change...

 

[fivetwos]

The edges are fine. The interior is garbage.

The difference? Talent.

Coaching matters but nearly none of them can turn crap into something useful. It’s not about coaching.

 

[thunderpimp91]

The Cowboys current DL coach Aaron Whitecotton has a pretty good reputation around the league. Honestly I think we put too much on coaching at this level, and expect these guys to be miracle workers with mediocre talent. Reality is the Cowboys DL has had Micah Parsons who has developed nicely, but is always going to be mediocre at best in the run game. DLaw has frequently missed time. OSA has been developed nicely, but another player who is undersized. Mazi is just a bust, simple as that. Then the Cowboys have also probably done a very nice job of Maximizing the results of some JAGs like Carl Lawson, Jonathan Hankins, etc.

For what this team has been given to work with I actually think coaching staffs up to this point have done a nice job with the DL. Biggest issue IMO seems to be more of a roster building philosophy that minimizes the value of run defenders.

 

[Bob-Lillys-War]

run game defense will be awful .

 

[Coogiguy03]

We're in for a long year

 

[Creeper]

I posted this once before but got a lot of pushback for it. Coaches can only do so much. No one is going to turn Mazi Smith into Vita Vea. Maybe Mazi can if he puts his mind to it but no coach can do it for him.

The Cowboys have no made DT a priority. It is as simple as that. When they draft or sign a DT talent, the DL coach will look like a genius.

But I will say this. This is Mazi's 3rd year and his 3rd DL coach and his 3rd weight target. Either that is stupid coaches, or it is desperate coaches trying to find something to turn Mazi into a good player. I fear now it is the latter. They are trying to find anything to make Mazi into a player worthy of a roster spot. We know Mazi is strong. And he is athletic. Coaches have to be scratching their heads trying to figure out how to get those two attributes to work for Mazi to make him a better player. For whatever reason it hasn't worked yet.

 

[Majic]

Whitecotton's one of the best defensive line coaches in the NFL It was talked about when he was brought over so first of all you're watching him coach a bunch of backups and their backups... Wait till he gets Fowler on one side with Osa next to Solomon Thomas next to Parsons and then we can talk about what you think about the defensive line..

Evidence?

 

[blueblood70]

Evidence?

I don't need evidence his resume speaks for itself I posted about the teams he's coached before and those teams had very good offensive lines I mean you can look at one of my other posts up there it has everything I need and you have no evidence that here he's not going to do well how about give the guy a year I mean you're making stuff up when the guy has a solid resume...

So the only evidence we're going to have here would be watching him coach 17 games and also behind the 8 ball a little bit where's his stud defensive tackle in the middle where's that nose tackle some teams have and the Cowboys don't have but I guarantee with the starting defensive line you're gonna see something different when they start running blitzes stunts zones close to 100 actual game plans where they're actually doing things that you can have more evidence if he's good or not...

He has a reputation maybe you weren't paying attention because you don't at the beginning of the year when we were assembling this coaching staff they were talking about the resumes and how the league looked at some of these guys and he has a very good reputation for putting together and getting the most out of his players on the defensive line...

Career Summary. Aaron Whitecotton is a football coach in the National Football League (NFL) and has been the defensive line coach for the Dallas Cowboys since 2025. Prior to this season, he coached for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers, and New York Jets for twelve seasons.

It's kind of hard when you read where he's been what do you remember about most of those teams pretty good defensive lines that's for sure....

 

[Stash]

Evidence?

https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...ton-new-york-jets-resume-defensive-line-coach

 

[kskboys]

The edges are fine. The interior is garbage.

The difference? Talent.

Coaching matters but nearly none of them can turn crap into something useful. It’s not about coaching.

It is definitely not. Zimmer was screaming for Tavondre Sweat, and he would've completely transformed our D.

 

[kskboys]

I posted this once before but got a lot of pushback for it. Coaches can only do so much. No one is going to turn Mazi Smith into Vita Vea. Maybe Mazi can if he puts his mind to it but no coach can do it for him.

The Cowboys have no made DT a priority. It is as simple as that. When they draft or sign a DT talent, the DL coach will look like a genius.

But I will say this. This is Mazi's 3rd year and his 3rd DL coach and his 3rd weight target. Either that is stupid coaches, or it is desperate coaches trying to find something to turn Mazi into a good player. I fear now it is the latter. They are trying to find anything to make Mazi into a player worthy of a roster spot. We know Mazi is strong. And he is athletic. Coaches have to be scratching their heads trying to figure out how to get those two attributes to work for Mazi to make him a better player. For whatever reason it hasn't worked yet.

Neither. Mazi is a straightline athlete w/ poor instincts. Has nothing to do w/ coaching. He was called athletic, but is he? I don't think so.

 

[Jarntt]

I'm not putting that on the coaching. Poorly coached players still give you the Wow play at times if they are good enough. Coaches can't make a guy not get blown off the line or at least be able to hold his ground. Yes, technique helps with this, but strength and ability are more important. Not to mention just flat out tackling that guys have been doing since their whole lives

 

[fivetwos]

It is definitely not. Zimmer was screaming for Tavondre Sweat, and he would've completely transformed our D.

Interesting how they let some assistants influence draft picks, but not all, and it’s often the wrong call either way.

Jerry will hand out a contract like Halloween candy to some players, yet play hardball with the ones he shouldn’t.

Mister ‘football man’ seems to have a true knack for making the wrong decision.

 

[Majic]

I don't need evidence his resume speaks for itself I posted about the teams he's coached before and those teams had very good offensive lines I mean you can look at one of my other posts up there it has everything I need and you have no evidence that here he's not going to do well how about give the guy a year I mean you're making stuff up when the guy has a solid resume...

So the only evidence we're going to have here would be watching him coach 17 games and also behind the 8 ball a little bit where's his stud defensive tackle in the middle where's that nose tackle some teams have and the Cowboys don't have but I guarantee with the starting defensive line you're gonna see something different when they start running blitzes stunts zones close to 100 actual game plans where they're actually doing things that you can have more evidence if he's good or not...

He has a reputation maybe you weren't paying attention because you don't at the beginning of the year when we were assembling this coaching staff they were talking about the resumes and how the league looked at some of these guys and he has a very good reputation for putting together and getting the most out of his players on the defensive line...

Career Summary. Aaron Whitecotton is a football coach in the National Football League (NFL) and has been the defensive line coach for the Dallas Cowboys since 2025. Prior to this season, he coached for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers, and New York Jets for twelve seasons.

It's kind of hard when you read where he's been what do you remember about most of those teams pretty good defensive lines that's for sure....

All very well, but he seems to be passed over for DEF Co-ordinator positions and Arron Glenn has let him go immediately.
My take would be he has a promising resume, but as Bill Parcells used to say let's 'tap the brakes here'
As you probably are aware he was screaming for us to draft Ezeiruaku at #12 which is nonsense when no one else projected to take him there.

 

[DeaconMoss]

Team needs to look into one or two of these players for help immediately
David Onyemata
Shy Tuttle
Nathan Shepherd
Jordan Elliott
Dante Stills
Zacch Pickens
Brodric Martin
Tyler Lacy
Leki Fotu

 

[blueblood70]

All very well, but he seems to be passed over for DEF Co-ordinator positions and Arron Glenn has let him go immediately.
My take would be he has a promising resume, but as Bill Parcells used to say let's 'tap the brakes here'
As you probably are aware he was screaming for us to draft Ezeiruaku at #12 which is nonsense when no one else projected to take him there.

You're still trying to make stuff up you don't know how he's gonna look this year with our starting team over 17 game average that's what you need so why don't you stay in your lane and wait till you have real proof... The way Aaron Glenn used to be on the street he didn't have a job before Campbell brought him back you you want to go there it happens Some of the best coaches in football have been fired or moved on from because they no longer fit a system Narratives because you think you're right and you're wrong because we have no proof here....

Literally when new coaches come in they literally pretty much bring in a whole new staff that's how it works.. A good try trying to point stuff out like that there's a reason coaches move from team to team there's a reason every time dan Quinn went to a different team he brought a handful of his own coaches with him.... All we have to go on is what he's going to do here but he had a very good resume he was very well accepted when he was hired here except for you trying to find the bad in every one even though we haven't seen him in a single damn game for the Cowboys with this roster enough said Mike drop bye bye..

 

[Stak78]

Whitecotton's one of the best defensive line coaches in the NFL It was talked about when he was brought over so first of all you're watching him coach a bunch of backups and their backups... Wait till he gets Fowler on one side with Osa next to Solomon Thomas next to Parsons and then we can talk about what you think about the defensive line..

Nose tackle that's not on him I mean he's gotta try to develop one but you're blaming a guy for what you think you see in the preseason games no game plans no stunts no twist no zone block nothing special including no blitzing..

This is vanilla but some of your reactions just are getting worse this whole place overreacting now we're blaming a bad defensive coach when he is one of the better ones...

Career Summary. Aaron Whitecotton is a football coach in the National Football League (NFL) and has been the defensive line coach for the Dallas Cowboys since 2025. Prior to this season, he coached for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers, and New York Jets for twelve seasons.

It's kinda hard when you read where he's been what do you remember about most of those teams pretty good defensive lines that's for sure....

I absolutely hope you are correct about Whitecotton. That’s quite a long time and a lot of teams as a position coach without being promoted to a defensive coordinator position. That being said I can already see a stark improvement in the linebackers play. I’m assuming this is Eberflus influence.

 

[blueblood70]

I absolutely hope you are correct about Whitecotton. That’s quite a long time and a lot of teams as a position coach without being promoted to a defensive coordinator position. That being said I can already see a stark improvement in the linebackers play. I’m assuming this is Eberflus influence.

Well I'm not trying to be right i'm also hoping I'm right i'm just providing voice of reason here and some facts Yes overall I hope the whole defensive staff as a group is improved but on the fact that he's never been promoted you know sometimes you're just really good at your job but that doesn't make you eligible to be running a whole defense Just like sometimes coordinators don't make good head coaches they get knocked back down....

So I'm not sure how any of this is going to work out but saying that it's not going to work out and that these are poor decisions and bad cheap coaches like the dudes arguing me about that is absolutely incorrect.... that would TBD...