Owner Jerry Jones knows what the Dallas Cowboys need in order to improve in 2026. This past season, first-time head coach Brian Schottenheimer did well to keep the offense humming and connect with his players. But the defense, as many expected, held the team back.
Jones wasn’t pleased with defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, and ended up firing him immediately after the season ended. In came Christian Parker, who spent the last half-decade coaching up stellar defensive backs on the Denver Broncos and Philadelphia Eagles. While Parker’s words need to translate to the field, he’s saying all the right things so far.
Christian Parker claims Cowboys defensive scheme will be “multiple” and flexible
When asked about what kind of scheme he will run and how he will turn around the Dallas defense, Parker made it clear that he won’t be tied down to one specific scheme: “we’ll be a 3-4 by nature, but 4-3 spacing will be appropriate, 4-2-5 in nickel, different front structures, coverages behind it.”
The first thing is we’re going to be multiple. I think that whenever you form a defensive structure, it’s about the players that you have… You build it around the players. You want to build a package that has diversity in scheme, and you want to tailor it to the players you have.
His tone is quite different from Eberflus, who was no stranger to stirring up controversy by bringing up the fact that the Cowboys traded away Micah Parsons right before the season. Eberflus made it clear that trading away an elite pass-rusher with such little notice affected his entire defensive scheme.
Parker is quickly placing any future blame on himself, if his defense ends up underperforming. He knows he has to adapt to the players at his disposal, instead of trying to fit square pieces into round holes.
A lack of flexibility is what ultimately got Eberflus fired. Running a 4-3 Tampa 2 scheme, his defense simply wasn’t cutting it in Dallas last season. It never got better, and he didn’t adapt. It sounds like Parker is willing to do what Eberflus didn’t.
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