FRISCO, TEXAS — The Dallas Cowboys concluded their third day of interviews for the vacant defensive coordinator position on Wednesday, with the team interviewing Mike Zimmer, Ron Rivera, Aiden Durde and Rex Ryan. More names are expected to be considered, and the front office intends to extend the search into next week.
One of those names is New York Jets safeties coach Marquand Manuel, who is scheduled to be interviewed on Thursday.
Owner and general manager Jerry Jones is scheduled to leave for Las Vegas on Thursday to attend NFL Honors. There, Dak Prescott was named MVP, CeeDee Lamb was named Offensive Player of the Year, and Daron Brand and Micah Parsons were named Defensive Player of the Year – and he met Manuel at least one more time before he left. It is expected that interviews will be conducted.
The Cowboys have cast a wide net in their search for their next defensive coordinator following the departure of Dan Quinn, who took the head coaching job with the Washington Commanders.
They finished interviewing current defensive line coach Aden Durde, the top choice among internal candidates, on Monday and had strong talks with the front office. Potentially hiring Durd would allow the Cowboys to largely stabilize their defense under Dan Quinn and put more emphasis up front.
Zimmer and Rivera also completed interviews earlier in the week, and each has extensive head coaching experience and backgrounds in Dallas. Zimmer's career with the Cowboys includes 13 years as an assistant, including seven years as defensive coordinator in the 2000s. Rivera was a district foe for Dallas as the Commander's head coach for the past four seasons until he was fired last month.
Rex Ryan was interviewed Wednesday and after narrowly missing out on the Broncos' defensive coordinator position in 2023, he will interview for the same position with the Cowboys in 2024. Ryan is stepping away from his coaching job after being fired as Buffalo's head coach. Bills was hired in 2016 and has been an analyst on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown for eight years.
