FRISCO, Texas — Matt Eberflus’ Dallas homecoming is the opposite of triumphant.
The Cowboys‘ new defensive coordinator left Dallas after seven seasons as the team’s linebackers coach (2011-2017) to become an NFL defensive coordinator for the first time with the Indianapolis Colts (2018-2021). Eberflus rose to the top of the coaching profession, earning a head-coaching job with the Chicago Bears shortly thereafter. However, Chicago tenure there was short-lived after he went 14-32 in nearly three seasons (2022-2024). That run ended after an eye-popping time-management debacle in a 23-20 Bears loss at the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day in Week 13 this past season.
“I’m just grateful for the opportunity to really just work with this [Cowboys] crew,” Eberflus said Tuesday. “I want to really thank the Jones family for bringing me on as a defense coordinator and [new head coach] Brian Schottenheimer, really excited about the opportunity to do that. Going forward, really just attacking this job and working with the players to have an attacking defense.”
Before teaming up with Schottenheimer, someone whose enthusiasm and buy-in Eberflus raved about, he took some time to reflect on his entire process as a head coach before deciding to coach again in 2025. He also somewhat joked that his wife Kelly was the driver behind him not taking a sabbatical from coaching — something coaches like Pete Carroll, Mike Vrabel and Mike McCarthy have done in years past. The opportunity to coach in Dallas again was too enticing to turn down for the 54-year-old.
“It was mainly my wife. She wanted me to go to work now, and I did, too,” Eberflus said. “I was excited about after a couple days, a couple weeks after taking that break [following his Week 13 firing]. I was excited to get back on it and had several phone calls from a bunch of different people. I was excited about looking at different opportunities, and this was the best opportunity that I felt was really cool for me to come back to Dallas.”
Working with Parsons, Diggs and Bland
Eberflus will be building his 2025 Dallas defense around the foundational skill set of three-time All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons. Why wouldn’t he? Parsons’ 52.5 sacks are the fifth most in a player’s first four seasons played since the NFL began tracking individual sacks as an official metric in 1982, and the four-time Pro Bowler is the only one with at least 12 sacks in his first four seasons in the league. Given the focus Eberflus has on Parsons’ pass rush chops, it’s fair to project he could be lining up most along the line of scrimmage like he was the last three seasons.
“Micah is a premium pass rusher,” Eberflus said. “We’re going to use him that way certainly. He’s a heck of an athlete and doing a lot of different things for us on defense. When you have a guy like that, you want to be able to utilize his skill set. As we’re around him more, we’ll be able to see what that skill set is and really take advantage of that.”
Thanks to the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, coaches aren’t allowed to demand much of their players’ time at this point in the offseason, but the two have caught up on the phone to begin to get to know each other.
“I can’t really talk much football at this time of year with the guys, just kind of talk with him more personally what he was doing,” Eberflus said of his relationship with Parsons. “I think he was at Disney with his kids at the time. He knows that we’ll adjust to make him in the best light that he can be in in terms of position, in terms of pass rush. Really utilizing what he does best and that’s rushing the passer.”
Dallas’ back end talented tandem of All-Pro corners in Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland also drew Eberflus to the Cowboys’ DC opening even though Diggs likely won’t be ready for the start of the season after undergoing knee surgery.
“I believe the guys we have here [at corner] are the two best in the league, they really are,” Eberflus said of Diggs and Bland. “They’re top notch, top five for sure. Excited to work with those guys. They got length, they got speed, they have really good coverage ability. It all starts with being able to play man coverage, I believe.”
He also believes he can get even more out of 2023 first-round pick defensive tackle Mazi Smith, who hasn’t lived up to his draft status through two NFL seasons.
“I’m excited about Mazi,” Eberflus said. “I liked him coming out [in the draft]. Real explosive athlete, big body type that can move really well, so we’re excited about bringing his game to the next level. And he can certainly do that.”
The calling card of Eberflus’ defense, in his words, will be generating turnovers. During his Chicago tenure, the Bears’ 75 takeaways were tied for the sixth most in the NFL from 2022-2024. The Cowboys were elite at that under former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, with a league-most 93 takeaways from 2021-2023. However, their 22 in 2024 under Mike Zimmer were the 12th most in the NFL in a campaign marred by injuries and growing pains associated with his scheme.
“It’s pretty simple. We take the ball away,” Eberflus said. “That’s what we do. We stop the run. We want to make exciting plays for our football team. That’s really what we do.”
Fixing the run defense
The last time the Cowboys had a top-10 run defense was all the way back in 2018 under then-defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli when Dallas’ 94.6 rushing yards per game allowed ranked as the fifth best in the league. That’s who Eberflus worked under in his last four seasons as the team’s linebackers coach, something he will draw upon going forward.
“It’s really about fundamentals … playing your technique and obviously the better players you have, the better they are, so it’s important to have that, too,” Eberflus said of stopping the run. … “We’ve had some good run defenses in the past here when I was back with Marinelli. I know we had a few years where we were really good. So we’re excited about getting that back.”
Ultimately, it won’t matter what Eberflus draws up if he doesn’t get the personnel depth he needs along his defensive line, especially at the defensive tackle position. The Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles, one of Dallas’ biggest NFC East rivals, shut down Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas Chiefs by getting home with their front four over and over again. It’s going to take plenty of work from both Eberflus and the Dallas front office to get to that level.
“It’s about getting the depth there that we need,” Eberflus said about closing the gap with the Eagles. “I know that we’ve had some free agents leave us over the last couple of years, but there are really some good pieces that are there to work from. So it’s exciting to look at the future in terms of draft and acquiring other players that are special talent guys, and we’re excited to get that done.”
Familiar faces
The good news in the talent acquisition department is Dallas vice president of player personnel Will McClay and Eberflus have a connection dating back to when the new DC was in his linebackers coach capacity with the team. That helps McClay’s scouting department get a jump on the type of players Eberflus wants in his defense.
“Will McClay has done an awesome job here acquiring talent with the Jones family and excited to get back with him,” Eberflus said. “He knows what we’re looking for, but we’re not taking that for granted. … We’ve been gone seven years now. … That’s going to be a really fun challenge for him and I to get on the same page again. We’ve already started that process.”
One of those players is Cowboys interior defensive lineman Osa Odighizuwa, who is a pending free agent this offseason. His 60 quarterback pressures were the second most at the defensive tackle position in the entire NFL in 2024, behind only Denver Broncos second-team All-Pro Zach Allen’s 75.
“Certainly Osa is a guy that we like a lot, and he’s a really good player for us,” Eberflus said. “We’ll look at other guys, too, and we’re in the middle of that process right now.”
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Author: Garrett Podell
February 18, 2025 | 5:25 pm
