FRISCO — Back when the Cowboys were in Oxnard, Calif., for training camp, there was a scene where defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton appeared to be in his element.
His defensive line was separated into three lines. Whitecotton stood in the middle with his whistle in his mouth, ready to work. He would blow the whistle and make hand motions, sparking the defensive linemen — one at a time — to move around in perfectly choreographed chaos.
Whitecotton, locked in on the task at hand, looked like a maestro — a conductor using the instruments at hand to make his own music. Moving forward, there’s potential for that music to sound more pleasing than it did through the first nine games of the season. That’s especially true after the addition of a new instrument.
The Cowboys reunited Whitecotton with former All-Pro defensive tackle Quinnen Williams on Tuesday when the Cowboys traded a second-round pick in 2026, a conditional first-round pick in 2027 and former first-round pick Mazi Smith to the New York Jets for Williams. When he met with reporters Wednesday, Williams said how excited he was to work with Whitecotton, who coached him in New York from 2021-24.
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“I think anybody can look at the résumé. Before I had Whitecotton, I kind of was ascending to be a good defensive tackle. But once Whitecotton came into my life as a coach, I became an All-Pro and Pro Bowler,” Williams said. “The techniques that he’s taught me, the things he’s done for me in my career have been unbelievable and kind of transcended my career to this day. Being paired back with him, I know the sky is the limit.”
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The ceiling for this defensive line was expanded immediately with the addition of Williams. There was some optimism — albeit, little — of growth potential from the Cowboys’ last game, however.
To be fair: There is a lot of room to grow. The Cowboys’ defense is ranked 31st in the NFL in terms of points allowed. The same goes for yards allowed per game.
The Cowboys had their struggles against Arizona, too. They allowed 27 points and allowed the Cardinals to convert 7 of 13 third downs.
They did limit the Cardinals to 5.2 yards per play — just ahead of their offense’s 5.1 yards per play — and they also had five sacks. For perspective: The Cowboys averaged roughly two sacks per game heading into Monday night.
Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said before the game on Monday that there would be changes to coordinator Matt Eberflus’ defense. One big one on defense: the use of more five-down fronts. That meant having five defensive linemen to go with two linebackers. It was a callback to some things the Cowboys did with former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who’s now the head coach of the Washington Commanders.
“Some of the things we were able to do from the 5-down stuff that we played, I thought that was very good for us,” Schottenheimer said on Monday.
Cowboys defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa agreed. He hoped the Cowboys would employ it more because of what it does to an offense. With five defensive linemen in front of five offensive ones, the potential four double teams is effectively lost. It means 1-on-1 matchups for a defense. It limits how offenses can even coordinate their protections from a slide standpoint. It comes at the cost of an extra linebacker or player on the back end of a defense, but it makes things more challenging at the point of attack for an offense.
“There’s no genius behind playing five down when you’ve got talented defensive linemen,” Schottenheimer said.
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It also could make sense with the Cowboys’ personnel, too. Schottenheimer was encouraged by the pass-rush ability shown by rookie Donovan Ezeiruaku and veteran Jadeveon Clowney. He liked what he saw from Odighizuwa, Kenny Clark and Solomon Thomas, too.
“We’ll roll those guys through. We’ll stay fresh,” Schottenheimer said of the defensive line. “But again I do think you’ll see us continue to use a 5-down front. We liked some of the things.”
It should be more of a common sight on defense, but it can’t be the only sight, however.
“It gives you options,” Whitecotton said. “There’s ways for us to look at that moving forward. Are there any adjustments we make to it? Or do we keep it the same?’
That’s up to the conductor. And with a new instrument, and an added defensive look at his disposal, there’s optimism about what that could sound like.
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