Cowboys' Trevon Diggs Reveals Pick For New Coordinator; Should Players Get a 'Vote'?
With Dan Quinn accepting a job as head coach of the Washington Commanders, filling the last coaching vacancy in the league, the Dallas Cowboys are suddenly in the market for a new defensive coordinator.
Quinn, who was previously the coach of the Atlanta Falcons before coming to Dallas, was a hot candidate to become an NFL head coach once more. Although his time with the Falcons ended poorly, Quinn did a great job of reforming the Cowboys' defense into one of the best in football, recency bias aside.
Now the Cowboys must find someone to replace Quinn, but that's easier said than done.
Dan Quinn, Al Harris
With head coach Mike McCarthy entering the final year of his contract, many prospective defensive coordinators could shy away from Dallas due to a lack of long-term security.
That could push the Cowboys to promote from within, and if they do so, star cornerback Trevon Diggs knows just the man for the job.
"Al Harris for DC," Diggs wrote on X.
Harris first came to Dallas in 2020 alongside McCarthy, who previously coached Harris during the cornerback's playing days with the Green Bay Packers. Now the Cowboys' defensive backs coach, Harris has helped develop some of the secondary's brightest stars like Diggs himself and Defensive Player of the Year finalist DaRon Bland, who had an NFL-best nine interceptions and league-record five pick-sixes this season.
Harris, 49, has a wealth of coaching experience, beginning as an intern with the Miami Dolphins in 2012 and spending six seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs from 2013 to 2018. There might be a chance that Harris joins Quinn in Washington, but the fact that he was a McCarthy hire rather than a Quinn hire casts doubt on that scenario.
If Harris does stay in Dallas, he is a prime candidate to be the team's next defensive coordinator, much to Diggs' delight. But ...
Should players really have a voice in this? Our Mike Fisher reports that Joe Whitt and Quinn are "attached at the hip.'' So assume Whitt is Washington-bound. What about Aden Durde? Don't some players like him?
Dallas can't really "run a democracy'' here. McCarthy's lame-duck status is a problem - and we bet he'd rather attach his wagon to someone like Ron Rivera or Mike Zimmer than to a rookie coordinator. (CowboysSI.com broke the story of the coming Rivera "visit'' here and we have the scoop on Zimmer's interest here.)
Brandon Staley? Mike Vrabel? What do these names - along with Quinn and predecessor/McCarthy's first hire Mike Nolan have in common?
Not only have they been coordinators - they've been head coaches. Harris, of course, has been neither.
In the end, Dallas doesn't need to just "find the right guy.'' It's about a complex fit ... with opinions and options even being served up from the locker room at The Star.
