Why we need a young, new thinking DC, not an old one

[KB1122]

A young DC means we should trade Dak. Because we probably won't be ready in his window. That would be fine, but that's what the decision would mean, or should mean.

 

[CyberB0b]

IMO, the Dallas Cowboys need a young, talented, innovative, up and coming Defensive Coordinator that brings new and aggressive thinking to one of the least talented defensive rosters in the entire NFL.

There are many reasons why. But I will start with the fact that other than Dan Quinn, all of the last 6 DCs we’ve hired have been older, more “established names” who used concepts that were tried and true and had been used in the NFL a long time. Those men were Monte Kiffin, Rod Marinelli, Mike Nolan, Dan Quinn, Mike Zimmer and Matt Eberflus.

The average age of our last 6 DCs when they were in Dallas was…62 years old. And that’s with a 51 year old Dan Quinn (at the time) in the mix. He was a baby compared to the others.

Now we as fans typically love the old “name hire”. Somebody we’ve all heard of who may (or may not) have had some success in the past. Everyone likes hiring someone we’ve heard of because it makes us think they can repeat what they’ve done in the past.

What we rarely hear about are young rising assistant coaches who are much more in tune with today’s players and much more willing to try new ideas.

Look at Houston’s HC DeMeco Ryans. He just turned 41 and has been a HC in Hou three years now. Look at their great defense. He was a young up and coming assistant at SF where he coached LBs a couple of years, then became the niners DC and they were great under his leadership.

I’m not knocking “experienced” DCs, but I believe our future will be best handled by a coach with upside rather than a past.

The Dallas Cowboys need a DC who thinks differently, is more aggressive, can relate well to younger players and brings fresh concepts to our defense. We need that kind of DC a lot more than another DC everyone has heard of, but whose best days are in the past.

Please…no more old retreads we’ve all heard of.

100%

 

[ChuckA1]

Jim Leonhard.

100%

 

[Blackrain]

Thing is, they've gone with the aged DC several times recently. Time to shake things up. As you say, it has to do with the individual.

Yeah right it has to do with the individual.
If the individual is going to be successful he needs our GM to stop dumpster diving start drafting smart motivated self-starters that want to win a Super bowl.
No individual young or old that's going to be successful with Jerry's team building practices of dumpster diving and putting all the best assets into the offense every year

 

[ChuckA1]

Yeah right it has to do with the individual.
If the individual is going to be successful he needs our GM to stop dumpster diving start drafting smart motivated self-starters that want to win a Super bowl.
No individual young or old that's going to be successful with Jerry's team building practices of dumpster diving and putting all the best assets into the offense every year

My comments were strictly referring to the DC search. I've criticized the GM and FO so much recently, I thought I'd spare the thread. You are, of course, spot on regarding the immense need for additional quality players on defense.

 

[Chuck 54]

IMO, the Dallas Cowboys need a young, talented, innovative, up and coming Defensive Coordinator that brings new and aggressive thinking to one of the least talented defensive rosters in the entire NFL.

There are many reasons why. But I will start with the fact that other than Dan Quinn, all of the last 6 DCs we’ve hired have been older, more “established names” who used concepts that were tried and true and had been used in the NFL a long time. Those men were Monte Kiffin, Rod Marinelli, Mike Nolan, Dan Quinn, Mike Zimmer and Matt Eberflus.

The average age of our last 6 DCs when they were in Dallas was…62 years old. And that’s with a 51 year old Dan Quinn (at the time) in the mix. He was a baby compared to the others.

Now we as fans typically love the old “name hire”. Somebody we’ve all heard of who may (or may not) have had some success in the past. Everyone likes hiring someone we’ve heard of because it makes us think they can repeat what they’ve done in the past.

What we rarely hear about are young rising assistant coaches who are much more in tune with today’s players and much more willing to try new ideas.

Look at Houston’s HC DeMeco Ryans. He just turned 41 and has been a HC in Hou three years now. Look at their great defense. He was a young up and coming assistant at SF where he coached LBs a couple of years, then became the niners DC and they were great under his leadership.

I’m not knocking “experienced” DCs, but I believe our future will be best handled by a coach with upside rather than a past.

The Dallas Cowboys need a DC who thinks differently, is more aggressive, can relate well to younger players and brings fresh concepts to our defense. We need that kind of DC a lot more than another DC everyone has heard of, but whose best days are in the past.

Please…no more old retreads we’ve all heard of.

I wouldn’t disagree, but I have a bigger issue with the bend but don’t break DCs. We have an explosive offense. Don’t make their job harder while other teams have the ball and eat clock as we bend and don’t break, also giving us routinely long fields.

I prefer a gambler who will stunt, slant, blitz, anything to get a 3 and out or something close. Don’t allow another teams to flip the field. So what if you get gashed by a big play here and there. Get our offense back on the field faster, regardless of why. Get the offense a couple of shorter fields per game. The deeper the other team is on their own end, the more I want to get after them.

 

[Captain-Crash]

old coach hater

 

[ICP]

I have the utmost faith that the Jones boys will make the worst decision possible

 

[xwalker]

IMO, the Dallas Cowboys need a young, talented, innovative, up and coming Defensive Coordinator that brings new and aggressive thinking to one of the least talented defensive rosters in the entire NFL.

There are many reasons why. But I will start with the fact that other than Dan Quinn, all of the last 6 DCs we’ve hired have been older, more “established names” who used concepts that were tried and true and had been used in the NFL a long time. Those men were Monte Kiffin, Rod Marinelli, Mike Nolan, Dan Quinn, Mike Zimmer and Matt Eberflus.

The average age of our last 6 DCs when they were in Dallas was…62 years old. And that’s with a 51 year old Dan Quinn (at the time) in the mix. He was a baby compared to the others.

Now we as fans typically love the old “name hire”. Somebody we’ve all heard of who may (or may not) have had some success in the past. Everyone likes hiring someone we’ve heard of because it makes us think they can repeat what they’ve done in the past.

What we rarely hear about are young rising assistant coaches who are much more in tune with today’s players and much more willing to try new ideas.

Look at Houston’s HC DeMeco Ryans. He just turned 41 and has been a HC in Hou three years now. Look at their great defense. He was a young up and coming assistant at SF where he coached LBs a couple of years, then became the niners DC and they were great under his leadership.

I’m not knocking “experienced” DCs, but I believe our future will be best handled by a coach with upside rather than a past.

The Dallas Cowboys need a DC who thinks differently, is more aggressive, can relate well to younger players and brings fresh concepts to our defense. We need that kind of DC a lot more than another DC everyone has heard of, but whose best days are in the past.

Please…no more old retreads we’ve all heard of.

Vic Fangio was 66 when the Eagles won the Super Bowl last year...

 

[StarLord]

Rex fits our criteria under Jethro. Not a sought after coach. Knows how Jethro operates.

Ok but is he Monte Kiffin old?

 

[ConstantReboot]

Yes sir. It’s obvious we’ve tried hiring the old school DC for years. And in many cases (like Monte Kiffin, Rod Marinelli and Mike Zimmer) they were old men whose ideas were old too.

I wanted them to promote Al Harris to coach. At least bit would have kept our defense in tact. Zimmer's defense was always overrated.

 

[Bullflop]

As much as I'd like to see this team switching to a young up-and-coming DC taking over for this team, I know in my heart and soul that Jerry won't hire one. He wants a DC he's able to control, be his lap dog, obeying his every want, while agreeing with everything he says. That's how he rolls! Actually, he already has that in Stephen, Will and Schotty. More than that would easily lead to jealous competition!

 

[Kwyn]

https://www.denverpost.com/2024/02/29/sean-payton-jim-leonhard-broncos/

Why Sean Payton worked hard to hire “football genius” Jim Leonhard to Broncos staff as defensive assistant

“I think that he’s extremely bright,” Payton said. “He was as a player. He solved all the problems as a player. He was in Buffalo, the Jets, Baltimore, Denver. He played 10 years and I think he’s got one of these high ceilings that we see with some young coaches.

“I think a lot of him.”

“Man, you’re getting a football genius who is for the players above all,” Njongmeta told reporters Wednesday morning at the NFL scouting combine. “Who is very versatile, very adaptable and able to look at his personnel and adjust his defense based on his personnel.

“All-out good coach.”

 

[CowboyoWales]

As much as I'd like to see this team switching to a young up-and-coming DC taking over for this team, I know in my heart and soul that Jerry won't hire one. He wants a DC he's able to control, be his lap dog, obeying his every want, while agreeing with everything he says. That's how he rolls! Actually, he already has that in Stephen, Will and Schotty. More than that would easily lead to jealous competition!

.....and a DC that Jerry can understand. 'Flus was perfect, a basic 4 man rush, with zonal cover (and lie that he'll adapt to the players attributes).....and he'd been with us before and an ex-HC (so must be good). Jerry must of thought SN here we come.

IMO, the Dallas Cowboys need a young, talented, innovative, up and coming Defensive Coordinator that brings new and aggressive thinking to one of the least talented defensive rosters in the entire NFL.

Definitely innovative. Just look at Caleb Downs, supposedly reads the game and reacts at a super human rate. ;Flus would use him as a bland SS in passive zonal coverage.....the innovator utilizes the skillset into a multi-facted tool on run, coverage and Safety Blitz.

 

[CowboyFanInLexKy]

It has to either be an older coach or an offspring of an older coach for Jerry to hire (outside of Quinn Garrett and Moore). Moore and Garrett were projects... It was well known. Quinn, I have no idea where he came from (well I know where he came from and I know quite well who he is and what he has done). Moore and Garrett fit the pattern in regards to familiarity with the Joneses.In Dan Quinn's time here, we had a very solid defense (dispite injuries up the wahoo).... Quinn knew how to work with what we had (which really wasn't much) and knew how to adjust and in turn (like I said), our defense was pretty solid with all things considered.

 

[ArtClink]

IMO, the Dallas Cowboys need a young, talented, innovative, up and coming Defensive Coordinator that brings new and aggressive thinking to one of the least talented defensive rosters in the entire NFL.

There are many reasons why. But I will start with the fact that other than Dan Quinn, all of the last 6 DCs we’ve hired have been older, more “established names” who used concepts that were tried and true and had been used in the NFL a long time. Those men were Monte Kiffin, Rod Marinelli, Mike Nolan, Dan Quinn, Mike Zimmer and Matt Eberflus.

The average age of our last 6 DCs when they were in Dallas was…62 years old. And that’s with a 51 year old Dan Quinn (at the time) in the mix. He was a baby compared to the others.

Now we as fans typically love the old “name hire”. Somebody we’ve all heard of who may (or may not) have had some success in the past. Everyone likes hiring someone we’ve heard of because it makes us think they can repeat what they’ve done in the past.

What we rarely hear about are young rising assistant coaches who are much more in tune with today’s players and much more willing to try new ideas.

Look at Houston’s HC DeMeco Ryans. He just turned 41 and has been a HC in Hou three years now. Look at their great defense. He was a young up and coming assistant at SF where he coached LBs a couple of years, then became the niners DC and they were great under his leadership.

I’m not knocking “experienced” DCs, but I believe our future will be best handled by a coach with upside rather than a past.

The Dallas Cowboys need a DC who thinks differently, is more aggressive, can relate well to younger players and brings fresh concepts to our defense. We need that kind of DC a lot more than another DC everyone has heard of, but whose best days are in the past.

Please…no more old retreads we’ve all heard of.

Actually, the most important quality a Cowboys coach can have are three-fold.

1. They are willing to turn in their man card and be Jerry's puppet
2. They make our beloved fuhrer feel comfortable
3. They are willing to be a coach at a cut-rate salary since the richest owner in the NFL pinches pennies when it comes to coach's contracts

This narrows the field considerably, as many coaches simply will never agree to these terms, and who wants to play for a loser franchise that hasn't won consecutive playoffs games in 30 years and has the leagues worst defense? And why would they coach for a control-freak like Jerry?

 

[Rayman70]

Don't recall if I spoke on this yet, but here it goes. I agree with the premise laid out by Bob. It's imperative we keep up with the rest of the league. Look at the playoffs for proof. Dennis Allen and Saleh may be an outlier. A mix of success at DC and a younger innovative yet good teacher is paramount in our search. Schematics are only as good as the students you have and the teacher. Then said teacher must be equally as open minded as the student in certain situations that arise on game days. Flus was DOA. Same as Zimmer mostly. There are a couple outliers like Vic Fangio, Dennis Allen and Saleh. The latter being the most impressive given the injuries in that side of the ball. He's gonna be a hc again. He's done yeoman's work. Great teacher, adaptive as heck. He gets it. Maybe Eberflus can take a year off and learn some lessons.

 

[JayFord]

You’ll get an old bull who runs tampa 2 and nothing else

 

[32BellyOption]

Old, young, white, black, purple or yellow it don’t matter to me I just want the best one possible.

 

[Rayman70]

I'm open to hiring a DC that's never done it before. Just because a guy has never been a DC don't mean they can't do it. Otherwise, guys like Saleh and Flores, and Fangio never get a chance. You gotta start somewhere. It's called opportunity. Let's say we hire Banda or elevate whitecotton, I might be skeptical a bit at first, but what if they turn into something special? Either way, only way to find out is to have a employer take a chance. It's not always the big names that are the best hires. Sometimes it's the hungry younger guy that has a passion for teaching.