
Dallas Cowboys' offseason blunder raises questions—did passing on Mike Vrabel and Ben Johnson set the team back? Marcus Mosher and Landon McCool debate the Cowboys’ missed opportunities in last year’s coaching cycle, explore Jerry Jones’ reluctance to pursue “whiz kid” coaches, and examine whether Dallas is finally correcting its flawed hiring philosophy.
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The Dallas Cowboys made a huge mistake last offseason. And no, I'm not talking about trading Micah Parsons. We'll tell you what it is next. You are Locked on Cowboys, your daily Dallas Cowboys podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome back to the Lock On Cowboys podcast, part of the Lockon podcast Network. Your team every day. We we'd like to thank you for making us the number one sports podcast network. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel is officially in playoff mode. Every game day during the NFL playoffs, FanDuel is giving customers even more ways to get in on the action. Visit FanDuel.com to get started. Welcome back. I am your host, Marcus Moer. You can follow me on Twitter at Marcus Moser. Joining me today, as always, is Lana McCool. Check him out on Twitter @McCool BCB on today's show, we're going to talk about Jonathan Gannon getting a second interview with the Cowboys. We're going to talk about a sneaky candidate that is quickly emerging as a serious contender. But I want to start with this. We just watched some awesome playoff football in the divisional round, and as I'm sitting there and I'm watching Mike McDonald look awesome with the Seahawks, I saw Sean Payton, who, you know, just a couple years ago joined Denver, now has the Broncos as the number one seed in the afc. And you look at Mike Vrabel, who his team is in the AFC Championship game. And then you look at Ben Johnson, who probably should have had the Bears in the NFC Championship game. Did the Cowboys make a mistake by not even interviewing Mike Vrabel and Ben Johnson during the cycle last year?
A
I think the answer is yes, because I think the answer is that they should have at least brought these guys in and had conversations. Now, you know, maybe part of the reason is some of those guys wouldn't have accepted interviews with, with the Cowboys. I don't know, but I, I think if the general thought process is that, you know, should you, should you be casting a deeper and wider net in these interviews? I think absolutely the answer is yes. I don't know that the Cowboys suffered a ton because I think that they got a good coach in Brian Schottheimer. And I do think that your point being that those two guys are in these playoff games. The Cowboys are not, you know, stands. But I, I, but I think overall to the point, yes. Should they have made more interview questions? Is, was the process flawed last year and maybe they got a, you know, a good situation despite that. I think that that certainly falls into the realm of possibility and it certainly is. It's true that they needed to interview more candidates and I, I'm hoping that this is them showing us that they're course correcting that, that problem.
C
It's just when you get to these big postseason games, coaching becomes more important than ever before. And we can dissect Mike Frable's job that he's done with New England. I think there is some scheduled luck in there. It also helps to be playing in the afc. I'm just going to say that right now. And then Ben Johnson, I mean he, he had a really, you know, he walked into a pretty decent situation. He clearly has his, you know, blueprints of how he wants to build this team. But those were the top two guys of the cycle. I think Liam Cohen was the next, you know, highest rated guy. The Cowboys had no interest in talking to those guys. And I think that's what, I think that's what's so frustrating is I think Jerry Jones in the front office has always operated, at least since Bill Parcell's, that the coach doesn't matter all that much. And that's why they haven't attracted these big name coaches and really went out and spent a lot of money on the coaching staff. I just wonder if it's, if it's time to really ev. Reevaluate that, that philosophy of that strategy.
A
See, I view it differently. I think that their fault is certainly there, but I don't view it as. They don't think the coach matters. I just think that they view as the, the, the minimum requirements to be. These coaches are different and I think that that's ultimately what's changed a lot. And that's what, what kind of ruled out guys like Liam Cohen and, and, and some of these guys Initially, and I think the reason that Schonheimer kind of snuck through that is because they knew Schadenheimer. Right. And I think that that's the lesson is that you can't make these arbitrary rules when you're making these interviews and you're trying to find the best candidate for the job because the best candidate may not meet these necessary requirements. And I think we've seen year in, year out, and especially this year, that the guys that you kind of pre. Disqualified for the job, clearly we're good coaching candidates. So, yeah, I think the co. If anything, it's. It's been an issue of just holding the job in such high regard that you think that only experienced head coaches can take the job and only, you know, I mean, it's different now because we're talking about a defensive coordinator, but I think even then when they were doing the head coaching job, it was more about like holding this crazy high standard to being able to hold the. The Dallas Cowboys job instead of just going out and looking for someone who could be the best at being a head coach of a football team.
C
And I don't. I try to think about how I want to say this. I don't think Jerry Jones has had an appetite to go out and hire. Let's call the. Than the Whiz kids. Right? The Mike mc, specifically.
A
Right. Yeah.
C
The Liam Cohen and the Ben Johnsons. I think the Mike Frable situation is a little different because I think. I'm not even sure if the Cowboys would have requested Mike Frable that he even would have interviewed here because I, frankly, I don't think he would have put up with the front office. I don't think he would have put the. But I also think it was a perfect situation for him in New England that he was. As long as that New England job was open and available to him, I think he was going to take it regardless. So we could actually maybe, you know, exclude him a little bit. But I do think it's worth mentioning that we never heard any bit of interest there.
A
Well, I mean, we also got to go back and remember what the environment was around like back then. And like, I think most of the Cowboys nation was screaming exclusively no more coaching retreads. You know, so I, I think that that's part of that was, hey, it's fair, right? You know, I, I think that part of this is that, that, you know, they were. They didn't get into that because they didn't want to have to give off once they, once they identified Schottenheimer was, was, you know, a candidate for head coach. I think they just wanted to continue to string it out. So why inflame the Cowboys fandom by going out and putting out names they weren't even necessarily going to interview?
C
So one last thing. I just, just let me complain for a minute.
A
100. No, you're right to complain. Let me be clear. The process is bad. I'm saying that the result may not have been so bad, but, but the Cowboys have gotten away with that for years. Like that's what the Cowboys constantly, and.
C
I know this is very arbitrary. So like, please forgive me. We just got done watching two games on Sunday. Now. They were sloppy. Like there, there was a bunch of turnovers in, in both games. The one thing I think you can say about all four teams, that there's a general toughness about all of them. Right. I think even the Bears, the Bears are pretty bad on defense. They've gotten a lot of turnovers, but man, they, they had multiple big time stops and they were flying to the football and they were making tackles. The Rams defense, they've got a good couple good players up front, but that is not an overly talented group and they make every single tackle. It seems like this is one thing I would love for Schottenheimer to be able to change. I don't even know if he can. I think the Cowboys need to develop some kind of toughness where you can go out and play in the road, on the road in bad weather and not have it affect you that much. They just haven't had that in years.
A
Yeah, I think that's, that's the step that this specifically, like, let's talk about the offensive line, it feels like needs to take next year. Right. The defense, we need to instill that whoever our head coaching is. And like that's, I mean our defensive coordinators, like that's just going to be part of this change of culture on that whole side of the ball. But on the part of the ball that actually dictates how things go in the offense, like it specifically has got to start with this young offensive line. I need to see Tyler Booker take this offensive line up a step with his leadership. I, I, I think it's time for Riley to kind of help these guys grow a little bit. And I think in a second year or two of Clayton Adams and Riley, I'm hoping it starts up front. It starts with the attitude up front and, and, and how you, and how you block and how you finish, folks. And I think it, it permeates from that and then, you know, obviously on the defensive side, it's just got to be fundamental, like in the bedrock of whatever new defense you're building.
C
And listen, not a spoiler, but I've been watching a lot of draft tape over the last couple weeks. Surprise, surprise. And every time I watch these guys I'm like, man, I just want some tough football players. And there's a couple guys in this class. And I'll mention Mansoor Delaine from lsu. It's not the biggest. Doesn't have the longest arms, doesn't run particularly fast. But the guy's just a football player. And it feels like when the Cowboys lost Jordan Lewis on defense last year, they really lacked any kind of attitude like that. They need to find more players like that if they ever want to be considered a tough, physical football team.
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Keante Scott, from my perfect example, he.
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Had 29 year old rookie cornerback. Awesome. Give it to me.
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He's ready to play, buddy. He's ready to play. He's aged. He's well aged.
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All right, let's talk about the Cowboys ongoing defensive coordinator search and let's talk about Jonathan Gannon because it feels like Cowboys Nation is maybe overreacting a little bit here. We'll get to that next foreign this episode is brought to you by ultimate qb. The draft picks are set. We know where everybody's going to be drafting. There's going to be probably 20 teams looking for a franchise quarterback. Do you ever wish that you could be drafted by your favorite team? Well, now you can. And there's a mobile game just for you called Ultimate QB Football Legend. And this game, you step into the cleats of a number one draft pick and it's your job job to lead your team to greatness. To help turn a failing franchise into a dynasty. You're going to deal with all the ups and downs of a quarterback career, from rookie nerves to playoff drama. And every choice shapes your journey. Ultimate QB is totally free to play, has no ads and works 100% offline. Perfect for when you just want to sneak in a game or two on the go. Just head over to ultimate-QB.com that's ultimate-QB.com or search for Ultimate QB in your app store and we've got something special for you guys. Use promo code locked on in the game store to get a free boost at the start of your career. Ultimate QB Football Legend QB1. It's your legacy. This episode is brought to you by Prize Picks. The big game is almost here and there's no better Way to stay locked into every moment with Prize Picks so the daily fantasy app where It Feels Good to be right with football season coming down to its final stretch, now is the perfect time to close it out. Strong Prize Picks makes watching the game even more exciting by letting you build simple lineups through player projections. No drafts, no waiting, just football action all the way through the playoffs. Prize Picks is incredibly easy to get started. You just pick two or more players and choose more or less on their player projections. So go download the Prize fix app today and use promo code Lot NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's promo code Loton NFL for $50 in lineups after you Play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks it's good to be right. Welcome back to the Lot on Cowboys podcast. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen every single day. We're if you haven't done so already, go check out the new Everydayer Club. You're going to get access to ad free audio of the Locked on Cowboys podcast compatible with Apple Podcasts, Spotify and every other major podcast app. Just go to lockedon cowboys.supercast.com or CH or check out the link in the show notes to learn more. All right, Lana, let's talk about Jonathan Gannon because it feels like a lot of Cowboys nation is upset with his potential hire. He's going to be interviewing again at some point this week. Why should fans calm down a little bit here?
A
I. I don't understand why they got riled up. Like, I mean that, that's, I guess where I would like to start is, is I, I mean, to me, I thought we all agreed that this was a very great crop of defensive coordinators that were available, that Jonathan Gannon was part of that. I, I think, you know, some people may be like down on him because he is also a former head coach and because the Joneses had preferred that previously, but that shouldn't disqualify him. Coordinator, coach, look what we were just talking about and how this Bears defense was playing despite all the talent that they've lost. I mean that's because they got former head coach of these Saints as their defensive coordinator coming in here and Allen did such a great job in that defense. So I think it's really odd because like I see a lot of tweets about the second interview stuff and there's just an outpouring of replies from folks about anybody but Gannon fight. You know, cannot hire Gannon and I Think, you know, to answer your question, I think Gantt is a really good defensive coordinator. I think he showed what he could do by leading the, the, the Eagles to the super bowl when he was the defense coordinator by, you know, while they had a backup quarterback. You know, I think he has taken what they have in Arizona personnel wise and what's. What, you know, you talk about bad ownership and what. It's stingy ownership like, like, and it's taken the personnel that they've, they've provided for him, and he's, he's made incredible strides despite what he, he's had. I think he's done a really good job of using modern defenses. He's got a lot of COVID 6 and cover 8 stuff. He uses a lot of, of really up to date stuff. And I, I think maybe that there's a stigma around him because of other coaches that he's coached with previously. Like, because, because he coached with Eber. Is that really what this is?
C
Because that's a lot, that's a lot of it. I think there is. Because he worked under Eber Floose in Indianapolis. I think a lot of people are saying, oh, why did you fire Matty if you're just gonna go hire Jonathan Gannon?
A
He's a completely different coach since then. Like, it's absolutely ridiculous. Yeah, I'm sorry, go ahead.
C
No, I mean, that's part of it. I, I also think, I think there's a reputation of, from Jonathan Gannon that he's kind of a dorky guy, he's a little awkward, he's weird, and that some of the other coaches, like, compare and contrast them to like, Brian Flores, who is, like, uber intense and, you know, he might be a little bit more rigid with how he deals with other coaches and players. I do think there's a, you know, a subsection of Cowboy fans that really want somebody that's going to come in here and change the culture and give the, you know, the Cowboy some attitude. And I don't disagree with that at all. I wouldn't take it out on Jonathan Gannon as a potential, you know, candidate because he's a very good defensive coordinator in his own right. And the other thing is, if you're using the Cardinals defensive stats against him, I understand why it's easy to do that because he's the play caller. Go do that with Dan Quinn before he got fired in Atlanta, and you'll see, you know, he looked like he was an awful defensive coach. Right. He comes to the Cowboys, he can just focus on Defense, look how much better he is. Look at Washington now that he's in.
A
Look at him now.
C
Some guys are just better off as defensive coach coordinators rather than head coaches.
A
Or just in better situations. Right. And like, and I, I think, yeah, like, that's the thing that's really surprising to me is, you know, if, if it's about the fact that he was under Eber flu. So, I mean, he was also under Zimmer, which a lot of people really liked. I don't know if that makes it better or not, but I mean, he's done, he does a lot of different stuff. I mean, his, his, his coaching style and the way he attacks offense is completely different than uber flu. So I, I guess if, if you don't like the fact that he was under the, in the same organization as Eberfluss at one point and under Eberflus at one point, then just go look at the tape and watch how he play coaches defense and watch how Iberfluz coaches even tell me if you see any difference. And I'm not talking about results. I'm talking about what's on the field, like the type of coverage he's using. Middle of the field versus open versus closed. Like big, huge difference, schematic differences between these two. So I just think it takes a little bit of a deeper dive than just going to see how, how, who we play with. I mean, look, if you want to go that route, I mean, I was talking to John owning about this very situation. He brought up an excellent point. This would be like expecting Matt Eberfluss to run a Rob Ryan type defense because Matt Eberfluss worked under Rob Ryan. Let me tell you something. We didn't see a lot of Rob Ryan in that Eberfluz defense this year.
C
No, not at all. It's. I, I have my favorite candidates in the cycle. Gideon's actually not one of them, but that doesn't mean he's not super, super qualified. And honestly, if the Cowboys hire him, I'm gonna feel like, okay, you just made a big upgrade over Maddie Refluz. I just. There shouldn't be this visceral reaction to Jonathan Gannon getting a second interview in Dallas. And the other thing is, we've talked about this for a while. We would like to see someone who has an expertise on the back end with the corners and the safeties because they need a lot of work and development there's. Or development there. That's what Jonathan Gannon specializes in.
A
Yeah, I mean, this is, this is Exactly. Like, you know what the kind of situation you're looking for. I think that there's just, you know, some misunderstanding about what kind of, what kind of defensive coordinator he is. But yeah, like, look, I think if this was your hire last year instead of Eberfluss, he would have been your number one choice with the Bullet considering all the candidates last year. It's just that there are a lot of great candidates this year that he's not being, you know, pumped up as the best candidate out there. I think I've said all along he's not my favorite candidate, but if he is the defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys next year, it's great. Like, you've, you've made a clear upgrade in how this team is going to cover the pass at the very least, and I think you work from there really quickly.
C
If the Cowboys hire Gannon as their defensive coordinator, do you think we'll see them focus more on the in the draft and corners and safeties, or do you think it's going to be more loading up on the front seven and then kind of letting Gannon try to figure out ways to cover it up on the back end?
A
Well, if you're going to run a lot of COVID six and cover eight like he does, I'm going to think that you're probably going to want to get your hands a lot of veteran corners. So I would imagine you're probably going to try to backfill the corner situation with as much, you know, middle to cheap veteran corners that maybe you don't need as many man guys because you're going to be running complex coverage so you can spend a little bit cheaper. There's and find just a handful of guys that you can rely on to at least be solid on the back end and then load up the talent in the draft on the front end to see what you can get to put pressure on the quarterback.
C
All right, so Jonathan Gannon is going to have a second interview in person at some point this week, but there's another candidate out there, Landon, who could be an option. He's starting to turn heads in that building. I'll tell you who that is next. This episode is brought to you by fanduel. The championship round of the NFL playoffs are here and fanduel is officially in playoff mode. Every game day during the NFL playoffs, FanDuel is giving customers even more ways to get in on the action. Because right now, every NFL playoff game day, FanDuel users get a profit boost pack waiting for them inside the app. Each Game day, you're going to see a pack loaded with multiple profit boosts that you can apply to the bets that you like the most. Like I love the Patriots this week against the Broncos. I just don't see how the Broncos are going to score. And now you can use one of your profit boost to get an even bigger payout while the playoffs continue to roll on. So visit FanDuel, the official sportsbook partner of the NFL, and grab your profit boost back every NFL playoff game day.
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Welcome back to the Locked on Cowboys podcast. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen every single day. One more name we need to mention here later, and that is Durante Jones, who has already had two interviews with the Cowboys. And according to Nick Harris on the Cross Chop podcast, Shout out John. Shout out Nick. He said that Durante Jones had an awesome interview with the Cowboys. I believe it was over the weekend. And he is kind of a sneaky, under the radar candidate if you're not familiar with him. Last year he was the passing game coordinator and in Minnesota under Brian Flores. We've been wanting Flores for a while. But why might this be a better fit?
A
It's, it. Well, first of all, it's interesting, right? Like, I mean, you think about how complicated the Flores system specifically is. They do so many blitzes in order to compensate for all that, you kind of have to run to maybe some interesting coverage stuff on the back end to kind of make it all fit right, to get the numbers right. And, and so, you know, you need somebody who can teach that to your defensive backs and it could be quite complicated. This is the guy who's basically, that's been his job, right? Like that he's, it's been trying to get everyone in the back end coached up on the, the finer points of how to play these coverages on, on the back end of these complex, you know, blitzing schemes that Flores is going to be running up front. So I think the reason that you feel like this could be a better situation, you know, is that you, we talked about the fact that Brian Flores is already getting head coaching interviews and if you get him, it means that he, you know, was left with, without a, without the music, without a chair, while the music was playing in the Head coaching aspect of this. Right. So that probably means that, you know, if you, if you get success, he's not going to be here for very long. I mean, it could be a very one and done situation. And when you're talking about a guy that, you know is installing maybe a pretty complicated scheme, as we've talked about previously in the conversations that I have with Cody Alexander, I think it could be kind of a situation where you don't even get a fully installed Brian Flores scheme before suddenly he's pulled from you at the end of, you know, one really potentially solid year. So to become a head coach, if you get this guy, maybe you get an opportunity to grow a little bit. With Schottenheimer, you know, maybe you get some of the benefits of that kind of complex scheme that he learned underneath Flores and then the opportunity for actually to let it kind of grow into its own thing underneath him and an opportunity for him to become a better defensive coordinator instead of having to worry about him constantly being snapped up to be a head coach just because you had a little bit of success on defense.
C
Well, and he's also this, It's. I, I get it's really hard for defensive minded coaches to get head coaching jobs, but it seems like the ones that are getting the most traction in the NFL right now are like the really young ones. Whether that's like Mike McDonald. Chris Shula from the Rams has had like a million interviews. Jesse Minter for the Chargers. Yeah, Jones will be 48 this year, and that's not old for NFL coach. It's not, it's not old for NFL head coach. But I think in the NFC, the, the oldest coach in the playoffs was Matt LaFleur at 46. Like a lot of these teams are just going incredibly young. So Jones might be in the spot where he might be kind of pigeonhole held as a, you know, as a defensive mind for the rest of his career. And that could be the sweet spot for Dallas. If you're getting the guy that could be here for three, four, five years, you can install a defense. You can draft guys for this defense year over year, they can develop in the same scheme and that's how maybe you get this defense back to being average.
A
Yeah. And let me be clear, 48 isn't old for anything. Okay? So if anyone ancient. Listen, I still got a couple years before I hit 48, but not too many years. And I don't like how it's coming on me. So. Yeah, I agree. Like, I think it is a sweet spot. Like you Get a guy where, you know, and again, he hits the kind of other things that you're looking for here. A guy that's a great communicator. Obviously, Schottenheimer, if we're hearing this, come out to the media, I think that, that it means that Schottenheimer clearly likes the guy as well. They've already had two interviews that, that, that clearly says something. And I think if you come in here and it works, depending on what kind of scheme it is and how quickly it goes, yeah, it could be a situation where you get an opportunity to work with him for a long time, and if you get success this year, maybe you're able to run it back and kind of continue it without having to, like you said, constantly worry about him being poached by somebody else. So I do think it's, that's why you're seeing a little bit more of these kind of interviews as well, like and Parker and some of these other kind of guys that don't necessarily have defensive coordinator experience. Maybe there's a chance that they, they can stay with you for a little bit.
C
One of the things I like about Jones is he's coached at basically every level. He was a high school coach, he was a college coach, he coached the cfl. He's been at multiple NFL teams. Like, he, he's been around different, you know, ages of football forever. And I kind of like that, like, he's going to be able to add some, you know, some fun wrinkles to this defense really quickly between Jones and Gannon. Which one would you like to see the Cowboys hire?
A
I mean, I, I, I think it would be interesting to see. I think honestly, the calls on a lot of these are going to come down to who are the assistants that these guys are bringing with them. Right. I'm interested to see who Gannon is, is bringing with them because I don't know that he has necessarily like the, the greatest group of, of, you know, assistants that, that, you know, at Arizona, but maybe that's because of the north, the organization, you know, I'd be interested to see if he's, you know, walk. He's promising guys, you know, in these interviews, like, hey, I could bring along this guy or this guy. I think a lot of those kind of individual things will make a difference. But I think if you're asking me just on face, I think Durante Jones, just because I think he brings something a little bit new, he's got some stability. I, I, again, I like Gannon. I think he would be a great choice. I I just, I'm interested in some of these other guys and the situations they're coming his specifically a teacher in a complicated system that, that intrigues me.
C
After watching the playoffs game, playoff games, it's really hard to just go down for the, you know, try to get a double as a defensive coordinator job because I do think, I think Gannon can be get this defense back to playing at an average level. I almost think you need to swing for the fences. It's so hard to win a Super Bowl. You might as well go out and try to hire somebody that could maybe get you a higher ceiling. And I think that's Jones and I think that's why I'm so fascinated by him as a potential candidate. We'll see if the Cowboys make a move on him at some point this week. That is it for today's show. We want to thank you for making Lockdown Cowboys your first listen every single day. If you never miss an episode, the Everydayer Club is built for you. Get locked on Cowboys ad free members only. Discord access and more. Head over to lockdown cowboys.supercast.com to join the club. And for those of you on video, we can send you the first ever 24.7national NBA YouTube channel and on audio, make your second listen to lockdown NFL podcast. Follow Landon on Twitter coolbcb. I'm at Marcus Moser and we'll see you right back here tomorrow.
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This episode dives deep into what the hosts call a critical mistake made by the Dallas Cowboys in the previous offseason—the decision to not even interview top coaching candidates Mike Vrabel and Ben Johnson. The discussion expands into the Cowboys’ overall hiring philosophy, questions about organizational priorities, and ongoing developments around the 2026 defensive coordinator search, focusing specifically on Jonathan Gannon and a surprise emerging candidate, Durante Jones. The hosts mix insider insights with pointed critique, examining both mistakes and possible silver linings for the organization.
Timestamps: 00:44 – 07:47
"When you get to these big postseason games, coaching becomes more important than ever before."
– Marcus Mosher (03:39)
Timestamps: 07:31 – 10:16
"...I just want some tough football players."
– Marcus Mosher, on scouting draft prospects (09:30)
Timestamps: 13:26 – 19:59
"If this was your hire last year instead of Eberflus, he would have been your number one choice with the bullet."
– Landon McCool (18:31)
Timestamps: 21:28 – 27:54
Landon McCool:
"You can't make these arbitrary rules when you're making these interviews and trying to find the best candidate for the job—the best candidate may not meet these necessary requirements." (04:38)
Marcus Mosher:
"The Cowboys need to develop some kind of toughness where you can go out and play on the road in bad weather and not have it affect you that much. They just haven't had that in years." (07:47)
On Jonathan Gannon:
"He showed what he could do by leading the Eagles to the Super Bowl when he was the defense coordinator ... I think he's done a really good job of using modern defenses." (13:26, Landon)
On Durante Jones:
"If you're getting a guy that could be here for three, four, five years, you can install a defense, you can draft guys for this defense year over year, they can develop in the same scheme and that's how maybe you get this defense back to being average." (24:18, Marcus)
Landon and Marcus deliver a critical yet hopeful appraisal of the Cowboys organization, focusing on the need for broader thinking in hiring coaches and instilling a much-needed edge and toughness to the team. They urge not to get caught up in stale habits or fan overreactions, emphasizing that both process and people matter—highlighting why innovative hires and thorough evaluation could break years of stagnation. As the defensive coordinator search intensifies, they see real promise in both Jonathan Gannon for his modern schemes and in Durante Jones for stability and fresh ideas, with a slight lean toward the latter's high-upside appeal.
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