“I think we’re in the initial run,” Jones said. “We’re going to cast a wide net, whether it’s half a dozen, ten, 12 coaches when it’s all said and done. I don’t know what that number will be, but then we’ll narrow it down. We’re already starting to narrow it down and we’ll start to bring guys in for in-person interviews, some of the guys that we felt were the guys that would fit.”
Jones added that he feels all the candidates that the team has interviewed are qualified for the position, but there are layers to what constitutes the best overall fit for what the Cowboys are looking for.
“The guys who fit what we want to be as a defense, the identity that we want to have, that fit with the personnel that we have on the defensive side of the ball because we think we have a lot of good pieces in place,” Jones said. “We know we have to improve not only from a coaching staff standpoint, but we also need to improve from a personnel standpoint. So all that goes into the mix and the equation, and I think we’re making good progress.”
The Cowboys don’t have a deadline for when they’d like to have a hire complete, and are moreso focused on doing all they can to ensure they select the right candidate for the job.
“We hadn’t necessarily set a deadline, if you will,” Jones said. “I think it’s more about getting it right. Once we feel comfortable that we have the right guy, then we’ll pull the trigger and we’ll move from there.”
Across the NFL, there’s been a heavy upheaval on staffs in this coaching cycle. There are nine head coaching vacancies, and with that comes movement for coordinators and assistant coaches as well. For Jones and the Cowboys’ situation, does that create more possible candidates than maybe were expected beforehand?
“You could say one or the other, but I do think it gives more opportunities,” Jones said. “The fact that some of the staffs are opening, when the head coach goes, usually a lot of the staff go with it… I think there are opportunities out there, and we’ll continue, as I said, to cast a wide net, learn a lot, and hopefully come up with the guy that we want that compliments coach Schottenheimer and his offense and the culture we want to have here with the Dallas Cowboys.”
When it comes to what the Cowboys are looking for in their next defensive coordinator, head coach Brian Schottenheimer laid out some clear traits in the year-end press conference. They want a teacher, communicator, someone that is passionate about football and has the ability to take complex information and simplify it for their players.
That’s been a key portion of each interview that the Cowboys have held, and so far, Jones is seeing candidates that exhibit those qualities.
“When you have the interview, you look for those traits. Are they a great teacher? Can they communicate and verbalize complicated things in a way that makes it easy for the players so he doesn’t have to be out there thinking?” Jones said. “He’s using his skill set and playing 100%, playing fast, playing reckless in terms of being able to make plays and not having to think about what his assignments are because he does have a great feel for what he’s supposed to do.”
“All of those things are the traits that we’re looking for, and certainly we’re seeing that in a lot of the guys that we’re interviewing, and certainly looking for how they’re going to utilize some of the pieces we already have in place.”
That’s not the only thing that interviewees have been asked about. The Cowboys have a lot of young players they’re excited about on defense, like LB DeMarvion Overshown, DE Donovan Ezeirauku and CB Shavon Revel among others. On the defensive line, Dallas has a strong core with Quinnen Williams, Osa Odighizuwa and Kenny Clark. They’ve also got two first-round picks, so development has been another crucial sticking point.
“We also want to know their vision for how they develop young guys because we’ve got two first-round picks,” Jones said. “A lot of people, and probably rightfully so, think they may end up being defensive players, but at the same time we were going to draft a defensive player when we drafted CeeDee Lamb… I think it’s just a work in progress, and I think it’s coming together good for us.”
For the latest on the Cowboys’ search for a new defensive coordinator, you can keep up with our candidate tracker when you click here.
