By Jon Machota, Zach Berman and Brooks Kubena
For the first time since 2014, the Dallas Cowboys are expected to have a defensive coordinator without any previous NFL head-coaching experience.
According to a team source and league sources, the Cowboys are working to hire Christian Parker as their next defensive coordinator. As of Thursday afternoon, the deal was agreed upon but not officially signed, the team source said.
Parker has spent the last two seasons as the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach. The 34-year-old was the Denver Broncos’ defensive backs coach from 2021 to 2023. He began his NFL coaching career as a defensive quality control assistant for the Green Bay Packers in 2019.
Parker, who was also a candidate to be the Packers’ next defensive coordinator, was one of three candidates who interviewed for the Cowboys’ DC job in person. The others were former Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon and Minnesota Vikings defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach Daronte Jones.
The Cowboys fired defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus after only one season on Jan. 6. Second-year Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said in the team’s end-of-season news conference on Jan. 7 that they would “cast a wide net of candidates and find someone who is a great teacher (and) a great communicator.”
The search for Eberflus’ replacement reached nine candidates.
“Good coaches take their players, and they fit their players into the model that fits what they do well,” Schottenheimer said recently while talking about what he would be looking for in the team’s next defensive coordinator. “You’re looking for a guy that has the ability to instruct and get guys to believe and get guys to buy in. We’re salesmen. When you’re up there in front of players, you’re selling them on why (what you’re doing) is going to work. Part of that is your personality, part of it is your ability to communicate.”
“But when we cast this wide net and go find the right guy for this job, which we will find, no question about it, it’s going to be the (passion, enthusiasm, great communication skills) but also the flexibility of, ‘Hey, we can do different things,’ because those are the things that cause us problems (on offense),” he continued. “The flexibility and some of the unknowns and things like that.”
The 2025 Cowboys defense was arguably the worst in franchise history, allowing a franchise-record 511 points. Dallas’ defense ranked last in the NFL in scoring defense, allowing 30 points per game, and 30th in total defense, allowing 377 yards per game. Opposing quarterbacks averaged a 109.6 passer rating against a Cowboys’ defense that managed only 12 takeaways.
Dallas’ most recent defensive coordinators before Eberflus were Mike Zimmer, Dan Quinn, Mike Nolan and Rod Marinelli. Parker would be the team’s first DC without previous NFL head-coaching experience since Monte Kiffin was hired in 2013.
What the Cowboys are getting in Parker
Ever since the Eagles hired Christian Parker in 2024, it was clear he was not going to be around for long. Players gushed about his attention to detail, skill development, and ability to connect with everyone from a first-round pick like Quinyon Mitchell to an aging star like Darius Slay, who is actually older than Parker. Among the players he helped develop are Jaire Alexander and Patrick Surtain.
Parker keeps a drive on his tablet with notes from every meeting and every decision since he entered coaching at Virginia State. Mitchell once gave the example of Parker pulling up a play from 2019 with the Packers for a lesson on a given day. Alexander spoke about how Parker was the coach he entrusted to get him through a difficult time in Green Bay. When Slay was making his final postseason run with the Eagles, Parker left a red gas tank by his locker with a Post-It note that read, “How much gas do you have left in the Big Play tank?” as a motivational play. He’s worked under established defensive coaches such as Vic Fangio, Vance Joseph, Mike Pettine, Jerry Gray and Mike Elko. The proof of Parker’s work has been in the results. The Eagles’ secondary has been one of the best in the NFL since he arrived, with Mitchell and Cooper DeJean having developed into first-team All-Pros.
“I can say a lot of things about what he’s meant to me and (Mitchell), too,” DeJean said after the season. “We’ve had a routine of we go meet with him two or three times a week to go over the team we’re playing or go over different looks. I don’t think I’d be the player I am or have the success that I’ve had without him. He’s poured a lot into me and (Mitchell), too, ever since we got here. I appreciate him for that. Not everyone notices him, and I don’t think he gets the recognition that I think he should.” — Zach Berman, Eagles writer
Mannnn😔. They got a great one wouldn’t be the player I am without CP🫡 https://t.co/AyQycoOsPs
— Cooper DeJean (@cooperdejean) January 22, 2026
Who replaces Parker in Philly?
This is a bittersweet loss for the Eagles. Parker was widely respected inside the NovaCare Complex. He was beloved by the defensive backs who played for him — as a mentor, motivator and technician.
However, Fangio has another disciple readily available to promote: safeties coach Joe Kasper. Kasper first joined coach Nick Sirianni’s 2021 staff as a defensive quality control coach. He held that role for two seasons and connected with Fangio in 2022 when Fangio joined the Eagles as a consultant in the postseason. When the Miami Dolphins hired Fangio as their DC in 2023, Kasper joined Fangio as his safeties coach. He returned to Philadelphia in 2024 with Fangio to again coach safeties.
Under Kasper, Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson led the team with six interceptions in 2024, Reed Blankenship brought stability to the back end as a team captain in 2025, and Andrew Mukuba, the team’s 2025 second-round pick, developed into a full-time starter as a rookie before suffering a season-ending ankle fracture.
Cornerbacks coach Roy Anderson is another internal option. Anderson is a two-time NFL safeties coach who spent the 2023 season as the Seattle Seahawks’ secondary coach under former Seahawks DC Clint Hurtt, before they both joined Fangio’s staff in 2024.
The Eagles could maintain continuity by elevating Kasper or Anderson, but would then need to backfill the safety coaching position. Ronell Williams, who coached the Eagles’ nickels in 2023, has spent the last two seasons as their defensive quality control and assistant linebackers coach. Sirianni and Fangio are experiencing the natural attrition of developing a successful coaching staff. — Brooks Kubena, Eagles writer
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini and Nicki Jhabvala contributed to this report.
