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Locked On Cowboys - Daily Podcast On The Dallas Cowboys
BIG HIRE: Dallas Cowboys Make MASSIVE Coaching Hire To Finally Fix Secondary | 3-4 vs. 4-3 DEBATE!
00:28:18
Dallas Cowboys’ defensive overhaul sparks intrigue—can Christian Parker unlock the full potential of the front seven? Landon McCool fields fan questions on the team’s coaching shakeup, spotlighting new defensive passing game coordinator Derrick Ansley’s unique blend of Nick Saban and Brandon Staley coverage principles.
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- [00:02]
Landon McCool
It's the lockdown podcast network.
- [00:05]
Ross Jackson
Your team every day. Not to brag or anything, But Arby's new $7.99 meat in three box is kind of a big deal. The other guys give you just one side. We give you three sides. Not to brag. You get a meaty sandwich, curly fries, mott sticks, a sweet treat and a drink. All for just 7.99. It's more meal for your money. More meal for your money. More meal for your money. Where'd that come from?
- [00:35]
Landon McCool
Arby's. We have the meats and participating Arby's for a limited time. Everyone deserves to be connected. That's why T Mobile and US Cellular are joining forces. Switch to T Mobile and save up to 20% versus Verizon by getting built in benefits they leave out. Check the math@t mobile.com switch and now T Mobile is in US cellular stores. Savings versus Comparable Verizon plans plus the cost of optional benefits. Plan features and taxes and fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third line free via monthly bill credits. Credit stop if you cancel any lines. Qualifying credit required. Today on the Locked on Cowboys podcast. It's a Lando solo show and I am taking your questions, including which one of these defensive positional coaches intrigues me the most. Find out next on the Locked on Cowboys podcast.
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Ross Jackson
You are Locked On Cowboys, your daily.
- [01:35]
Landon McCool
Dallas Cowboys podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome. I am Landon McCool with the locked on Cowboys podcast and you have arrived here without Marcus. What happened, guys? Well, guess what? Marcus is on paternity leave. We are not the Minnesota Vikings. We do not fire our folks just because they decide to spend time with their families. So you got me and we're taking your questions. I gathered them up. They were thrown at me while we were wadded up like paper balls and tossed at me from long distances. And I uncropled them and I read them and I treated them like gold. And we're going to answer those questions today, including what to expect from this defensive front now that we've got Christian Parker as a defensive coordinator. What? What does all this three down linemen, four down linemen. What does the change mean? We'll talk about that. What are some of my personal draft blind spots, maybe like positions that I've struggled with in the past and I've gone back and tried to reevaluate the way I look at these players and have I applied some of those lessons onto this class? The answer is no. Guys, I don't look back on this. The answer is obviously yes. We'll talk about it in the next segment. But first we are going to talk about the most intriguing position coach of the new hires of the defense that has been brought in so far. And, and to me, I think first of all I should bring up this question was brought to by the great Mark Guida who is a long time follower. Good to hear from you, Mark. And it's a great question because I do think that each one of these guys is interesting and we've kind of covered this in the realm of the idea that it, the alignment aspect of it, right. Like the fact that they are, they're kind of doing what they said they would do. They're going out and getting teachers. We haven't really kind of dove down into the deep of like which one of these guys is individually the most interesting. And I do think to me it's, it's this latest one, it's Derek Anley who is the defensive passing game coordinator. That, that kind of intrigues me. Again, if we're not talking about Christian Parker himself. Right. I think Ansley intrigues me because of the experience that he has coming both from a, a Saban backed, you know, Rip, Liz, you know, cover three, cover one match cover situation and then having also been with Brandon Staley, which you know, is, is kind of the split field, cover 2, cover 4 version of, of of those sort of match principles. I think that it's really intriguing to me that we've got a guy that has so much experience in kind of both sides of the man match world that he's, you know, going to be able to bring kind of principles of each. Right. And I think you're gonna see some cover one that turns into cover three based on rules. You're gonna see some cover four that turns into man coverage based on rules. And I think you've got a guy that you can bring in who again is so steeped in, in this that he could teach both of these and, and, and teach them well. And maybe part of that is kind of, you know, what the, the, the exciting extra angle that Parker was bringing that was kind of referenced in some of the interviews that we saw after he got hired. I just think that you look at the, you know, the, the makeup of this group right now and, and, and there's a lot of things that they kind of all have in common, including the, the X's and O's history that we, we've covered. But they're all young, they're all teachers, they all have experience in the NFL despite being very young. And I think for me, Derek Ansley's the guy that, you know, of the ones that we know that have been hired so far that has kind of the intro, the most interesting, you know, broad background coming from a lot of college experience, a lot of pro experience, and then the variety of kind of the X's and O's that we've seen that have really kind of made it interesting. It's not that I don't think that Ryan Smith is a, is an interesting character or coach, but I think it's, you know, he's got a little bit more of a shallow resume. You know, as a guy who's going to probably come in and purely be the cornerback's coach. He doesn't quite have the, the, the kind of depth of, of an interesting background that you see some from someone like Ansley. I, I think one of the kind of interesting parts of this question, you know, of we've seen so far of the guys that they've hired is who's going to end up in the booth during, on game days. And Marcus brought this up on the show the other day, and I think it's an interesting question because Parker traditionally was the guy that was up in the booth and, and I think, you know, it gives you that ability to kind of see the, the scheme a little bit better, especially in coverage, to kind of see the whole field how, how they're playing your coverage. But it does sound like there is interest in him potentially being on the field during the season. So if that's the case, which one of these guys ends up kind of up in the booth? And I, and I wouldn't be shocked if, if Ansley was the guy that ended up in the booth or, or maybe the opposite way, right? Like maybe Ansley is the guy that's on the, on the field and Parker's up in the booth. But I, I imagine that it's going to be one or the other because of these two guys seemingly are the two guys that have the most history, the most background, the, the, the, the probably the deepest a, you know, breadth of knowledge of coverage schemes. So you want one of these two guys in the booth just to kind of give you that pair of eyes up, up above and be able to kind of give you some insight as, as the game is going on. You know, one last thing I'll bring up, I think is really important is anytime you read anything about Ansley and about, you know, some of the history he's had coaching. I, I think it's very interesting that, that he not only has drills to kind of help with what, you know, what they refer to as short term memory drills to kind of help cornerbacks, you know, forget the, you know, and, and they say flush and move on these bad plays. Apparently he has like a competitive drill that he, that he uses that kind of helps that short term memory. I didn't even know that that was thing that was necessarily coachable, but I love that, that they're trying to do that to be able to teach that mentality of being able to flush it away. And then the other aspect of Ansley that I think is so interesting and, and I think is so important when you talk about these kind of match principles, these, these coverage with rules situations is that you have to learn to play with your eyes, right? It all starts with zone because you have to be able to see what the kind of catalytic, catalytic event that's, you know, triggering you to play a certain type of coverage on your side of the field and the other side to play another type of coverage. So really, really important that these cornerbacks learn to be able to kind of make their initial movements and then use their eyes to locate, you know, whoever the, the, the, the, the person is, that is the kind of, you know, you like. For instance, they may be triggering off of the number two receiver or the number three receiver. And if the number two receiver goes up vertical, then we're playing quarters to this side or playing a shell coverage. If, if he gets, you know, shallow, then you may have man responsibility with that guy. So what you're doing post snap is going to be dependent and a lot of times multiple people in, on the defense, what they're doing may be dependent on what one specific wide receiver may be running and them reacting to that and that triggering kind of a decision tree that, that, that, that tells you what, what coverage you're supposed to be playing. But it all starts with your eyes, right? It all starts with your ability to be able to kind of side saddle, to backpedal or, and to play with your eyes and be able to see what's happening and not just, you know, feel like you see with some of these man cover guys that are just immediately in people's face and that are just completely focused on the guy that's in front of him. So a little bit of an interesting switch. We got a guy in here that clearly has a lot of experience in, in teaching this kind of coverage. So I think that's a really good start. So Derek Ansley, to me, is one of the most interesting ones of these guys that are coming in so far from what we've seen. I'm excited to see who the rest of these guys are. All right, coming up next, we are going to talk about draft blind spots and, you know, where have I screwed up in the past? Have I learned from these mistakes? You'll find out next. This episode is brought to you by Gusto. Let's be real. 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That's right, three months free payroll@gusto.com LockedOnNFL One more time, that's gusto.com forward/lockedonnfl this episode is also brought to you by FanDuel. It's the last call for football on FanDuel. One final Sunday, one last kickoff, the final chance to get in on the action before the NFL season officially comes to a close. This is Super Bowl 60, and FanDuel is making sure you're right in the middle of it with a special offer just in time for the biggest game of the year. Whether you're backing the favorite, riding with the underdog, or building one last same game parlay, this is the game everyone's been waiting for. This is where predictions turn into plays, stats turn into storylines, and every snap feels bigger. It's a perfect way to cap off the season to make the super bowl even more exciting. For from kickoff to final whistle if you're a new customer, bet just $5 and get 200 in bonus bets. If you win, make it count, because after the super bowl, the season is over. Last call for football on FanDuel, an official sportsbook partner of Super Bowl 60. Visit FanDuel.com to get started. Welcome back and thank you for making Locked on Cowboys your first enlistment of the day. And thank you for making Locked on the number one sports podcast network. And if you haven't already, go check out our new Everydayers club. You get access to an ad free audio feed for Locked on Cowboys compatible with Apple Podcasts, Spotify and every major podcast app. An invite to the members only Locked on Everydayers Club Discord Server, which includes a group chat for for listeners of the show. So just go check it out at lockedon cowboys supercast.com or tap the link in the show notes to learn more. Okay, our next question comes from Taha Ahmed, who asked Landon, would you be willing to look back and share some of your draft hits and misses and save the last two draft classes, particularly with position groups that Dallas needs this draft? What did you learn from those prior hits and misses and how are they impacting your analysis this year? And actually, you know, I think this is something that I've been kind of doing, you know, year to year just to try to kind of get better at this every year. But I will say that I've talked about this on the show before that, you know, one area where I really struggle, I feel like, you know, it's if we're going to talk about, you know, specific position groups and, and really not even just position groups, but a specific type of players, I've really struggled with these longer, more power, strong side defensive ends, I think. You know, and, and I last year, to me it felt like was the first year where I kind of felt myself course correcting on this a little bit. Right. I think Mikel Williams, I didn't love him, but I understood the value in a guy like that. And I think I went back and looked at my horizontal board from last year and actually I think I have it still right here. And, and I ended up putting him as a red ship, which actually surprised me. You know, honestly I, I think in my own memory I remembered putting him as a second rounder but I ended up putting him as a redship, which for me is like a bottom of the first round type player, you know, and I think that those are the are really a good example of the kind of guys that I have struggled with traditionally. I, I think it has something to do with just the, you know, it's a lot easier eval to see these kind of explosive guys you feel like can run underneath the table or at least I see those guys a Little bit better. And I, I think I, I understand the, the minimum requirements in order to make it as that type of player. Right. Like is it. I think that there. It's hard sometimes to parse the speed ends. Like are they strong enough to play the run? How useful are they going to be on all three downs? Those are the kind of questions that I feel a lot more comfortable answering. Versus is this big man who has really long levers, he's got all the kind of elements that you want. Is he going to be able to take the next step as a pass rusher to be, to make himself more useful? It's. I, I think that angle is a lot more difficult to kind of parse out because a lot of it has to do with. I think the team that they end up with. You know, this is pass rush to me is something I would much rather have a little bit more evolved coming out of college than, than having to teach somebody how to rush the passer and how to teach a multitude of. Of hand, hand moves and counters to those moves. I think that might be a little bit more difficult. I think that's something. It's not so much difficult. It's just more that it's not something that you're going to do as a coach during the normal course of practices. Right. Like that's something that they're going to have to improve on and get better at in their. On their own working with a personal coach, not like necessarily a Cowboys coach. Right. So that all being said, like you kind of lose control of the development of that aspect. Right. So then it becomes kind of what kind of person are they? Right. Do you feel like they're the kind of person who's going to be a hard worker, who is going to, to put in the time and effort to self improve to get better as a pass rusher? Right. And you know, with these body types, the bigger, longer body types, you know, sometimes it feels like they are guys that aren't always guys that love football. They just happen to be big and long and they didn't want to play basketball so they threw him out as defensive end. And sometimes they, they, they're able to get by all throughout college with, you know, the, with just their body and that skill set and that's enough to, to have production, but that's not going to necessarily cut it at the next level. So trying to parse those guys out has become more difficult. I, I think again, I, I'm gonna be challenged again by my, you know, my Kendrick fault from my My almond War, Auburn Tigers. I think it's, you know, another long guy that, that I think is a lever guy that you play. And again, just like Mikel Williams played in a position that, that didn't necessarily feature him as a pass rusher too, too much. And when he did get the opportunity as a pass rusher, he didn't exactly explode off the ball, but he's an incredible athlete and he's, he's got a rare body type and he's got the kind of makeup that you like that makes you feel like he could project and grow into that situation again. Also like Mikel Williams, a younger player, so you feel like there's, there's, there's growth. He's got, you know, the big paws sort of analogy with, with puppies. I, I do think that Kendrick Falk is another one of these guys that I'm probably gonna still be course correcting. Right. Like, I'll probably look back at, at my, at my horizontal board next year for him and be like, oh, I actually rated him higher than I, I would have assumed I did. And not remembering because I do think that I, I am trying to push myself into enjoying and, and loving these players a little bit more than I have in the past. But. But yeah, for sure. I mean, I think those guys and, and I think just a general note, on top of that, I'm trying to lean more into the idea of, of drafting for traits because I do think that as time has gone by, especially these last few years, it feels like teams are having more and more successful with drafting Tracy guys. I mean, there still is a situation, lots of situations where it's a bust or if they don't go the right position, right spot, that it doesn't quite work out. But I think being more open to, to these kind of traitsy players and understanding that some of these guys are truly on a completely different timeline than other guys. Right. And that, that maybe their best football is going to be in the NFL. That's something that I'm trying to kind of open myself up to a little bit more that, you know, it's been a kind of a long time coming a little bit. So that's, you know, part of my development as I become as, as an evaluator over these last few years. All right, enough of that. Let's not talk about me anymore. Let's talk about what to expect from this defensive front. Three down linemen, four down linemen. What's happening with Christian Parker and these down linemen who's playing and where are they playing? We'll cover all of that and more on the next segment. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. February can be a lot flowers, candy, stuffed animals, and so much talk about relationships. And it can honestly feel like everyone else has it all together in their love life. But here's the truth. Whether you're married, dating, single, or just focused on you, most people are still figuring it out. 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Sign up and get 10% off@betterhelp.com LockedOn that's B E T T E R h e l p.com LockedOn this episode is brought to you by TurboTax Tax season doesn't have to take over your Life this year. TurboTax is making it easier than ever just to hand things off and move on with your day. With TurboTax Full Service, you can have your taxes done for you by a trusted local expert, start to finish, without the stress of guesswork. Instead of spending hours trying to figure out forms, you can meet with a local TurboTax expert in person or connect online and they'll handle everything from W2s to self employed forms and work to get you every deduction possible. You can upload your documents, go about your day and get updates right in the TurboTax app. It's a huge time saver and it gives real peace of mind knowing an expert is handling it. For a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local Turbo tax expert for just $150 all in. If a TurboTax expert didn't file for you last year, just file by February 28, take taxes off your plate and get back to your life. Visit turbotax.com local to book your appointment today. Welcome Back to the Locked on Cowboys podcast. Thank you for tuning in today and tomorrow. Make sure you check us back out again as we are going to be doing more of a deep dive on some of the coaching hires. I wouldn't be shocked if we heard a couple more names between now and then. It looks like they're trying to get this, this staff kind of finalized. So we are going to go, you know, even deeper in some of these guys and what it means for this defense. And that's actually a great segue into what we're going to talk about here in this last section. My guy, Singit at Blue sky at Singjit B Sky at Social says congrats to Marcus again. Congrats to Marcus. I heard a lot about the kinds of coverage Fangio style defenses run that Parker will draw from. What can we expect from Parker in front in terms of front seven I. E. Odds versus even fronts, lots of bass versus nickel dime, one gap versus two gap. And I think these are great questions and we've kind of touched on it a little bit, but it can be a little bit confusing. And the other part of this too is that I want to be very clear in saying that we don't know for sure. Like I think we have an idea, I think we have a thought on where what he may like to do. And I think that there is a lot of alignment and kind of the different spots that we saw Christian Parker get to. And I mean that all the stops that he's been in, they've been kind of some alignment I feel like in sort of what he likes to do. So I think we could talk about it generally. But I do want to kind of preface that I wouldn't be shocked if, you know, he came in and kind of did something completely different than maybe what we are all expecting. But generally speaking in the Fangio system, first of all they play tons of different fronts. Lots of it is most of it, almost all of it is is a one gap trying to get up field sort of system, right? But they will play three down linemen, three defensive tackles if you want to call it that way. They'll play five and six man surfaces with with just one linebacker behind it. Ultimately what they want to do up front is kind of be able to make everybody gapped out, right? Like have folks responsible for all the gaps in. In the run game and then being able to drop certain guys in sim pressure situations to kind of create opportunities for unusual blitzes of people to be coming from different directions in the past game. But they Always want to be sound. Right. And I think that that's where one of the things that felt like was probably a mandate for the Joneses up front is it feels like it does. You know, they kind of mentioned that this was a priority is finding a way to use all these defensive tackles that they have. Clearly they've got three guys that they view as not only starters, but plus starters. They're paying them a lot of money and they want to be able to use all these guys. Now, none of these three guys, even though they are all defensive tackles, some of them have played nose pretty regularly too in Williams and Clark. I don't know that any of them are, you know, two gapping guys that you want doing that on a regular basis. All of them are. Their value is in getting up the field. So I, I would imagine that you're going to see a lot of kind of three man fronts where you've got two of these guys playing like a four eye, which is like the inside of the eye of the tackle and still trying to get up field with. With a true zero nose, but he's still choosing a side and choosing a gap at a. Which get a gap and going through that. Depending on what, whatever the design of the play is. There's also likely going to be two outside edge players that would be very similar to like outside linebackers. That's I think why you're seeing them interview some folks like the, like the Pittsburgh outside linebacker coach. When you're seeing them interview guys that have that specifically outside linebackers coach, you know, title, not just linebackers coach. To me, you should think edge, right? Not, not necessarily linebackers. Right. I think that they're going out to find guys that have, you know, experience doing that. Now, now I do think that there is a difference here and I think that, that it's important, right? Like you're not just going out and finding a defensive end coach, you're finding an outside linebacker coach. And the difference is, is that in this Fangio system and any system that has like a sim pressure aspect to it, you're going to have some of these guys who are rushing out off the edge, of course, but there's also going to be times when they're going to be dropping into passing lanes, they're going to be dropping into a hook situation, they're going to be, you know, keeping their eyes, they're going to be faking like a, like they're coming and then they're going to be dropping into a passing lane. So that is a different Type of skill set that kind of has to be taught pretty regularly as opposed to a guy that's just putting his hand in his dirt and getting up field all the time. There certainly will be plenty of opportunity for pass rush situations. You know, in third down it's going to look very familiar, right? You're likely going to see a lot of four down fronts, guys getting up the field and then coverage on the back end. But early in first and second down, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw more three down linemen, three defensive tackles, let's say, and then some stand up guys outside. Honestly, I think, you know, John Owning and I were talking about this a lot. If you want to like make a comparison, something that you can kind of hold on to from the past a little bit. I really think what Wade Phillips was doing here is probably the closest thing where you're three down linemen, but they're all kind of like 280 to 300 at the most. And you got Jay Ratliff, if you remember, was never over 305 pounds and he was playing the nose tackle and they're all slanting and they're going in, they're, you know, one gapping. There's lots of stunts, there's lots of twists, there's lots of that. So that's probably, I would say closest to like historical comparison. I mean, honestly, Dan Quinn didn't do a lot of different stuff. It was from a more 4, 3 base. But I mean again, it's one gap. You saw Dan Quinn use a whole bunch of different fronts. He would move guys into different gaps and let them rush the passer from different spots. I mean that was part of the opportunity of getting guys like Micah Parsons opportunities by, by kind of changing the fronts a little bit and then, and then looping guys around and get, and getting kind of a pick situation almost for Micah as he's, as he's running free. I would imagine that too. I think that you're gonna see guys like over shown second level defenders getting a lot of opportunities to kind of get downhill, to kind of attack the quarterback. But that also means that at times you're gonna have some of those outside guys dropping into passing lanes a little bit more than maybe we were used to. So wow, that was it. That was a great long show. I enjoyed every minute of it. You know, we, we, we don't get an opportunity to just be you and I a little bit, you know, without Marcus kind of interrupting with things. But I miss him already. I need him back because I I can't do this show by myself. Every single time I do it, I miss him a little bit more. So make sure you follow me on Twitter @McCool BCB. Make sure you follow Marcus and give him lots of congratulations guys at Marcus Underscore Moser if you never miss the episode the Everyday Club is built for you. Get the Locked on Cowboys podcast at the at the AD Free Play plus members only Discord access. Head to LockedOn Cowboys supercast.com to join the club. And for those of you on video, we send you the first ever 24.7nba YouTube channel on audio. Make sure your second listen is the Locked On NFL podcast and we will see you all tomorrow.
- [29:31]
Ross Jackson
Not to brag or anything, But Arby's new $7.99 meat in three box is kind of a big deal. The other guys give you just one side, we give you three sides not to brag. You get a meaty sandwich, curly fries, Mott sticks, a sweet treat and a drink. All for just $7.99. It's more meal for your money. More meal for your money. More meal for your money. Where'd that come from?
- [29:55]
Landon McCool
Arby's. We have the meats and participating Arby's for a limited time. What's up everybody? This is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Locked On Podcast network and if you haven't heard yet, we started a club and we would love for you to join. It's called the Everydayer Club and one of the things that you get as a member is an ad free version of the podcast that you're listening to right now. It works with whatever podcast app you already use. Same episodes every day, just no ads. There's also a members only group chat for fans of your team, plus a lot more. You can check it out by tapping the Everydayer Club link in the show notes.