The idea of naming Mike Zimmer as the Cowboys' next defensive coordinator appears to be gaining momentum.
Word broke on Saturday that the Dallas Cowboys are in talks with Mike Zimmer regarding their defensive coordinator vacancy (you can track all news and information related to Opening Day here). Zimmer has clearly held the position before.
As of this writing, there are only two external candidates (and two internal candidates) linked to the Cowboys, considering Ron Rivera's firing led to Dan Quinn's departure. The other person is the person who caused the vacancy in the first place. There are two external candidates, both of whom have head coaching experience, and both of whom are older in age.
Frankly, this potential hire would be a classic move for the Cowboys. When they hired Dan Quinn, he had checked the same boxes before, and that the only coordinator they had hired was the opposite of these things (from an experience standpoint). Consider that relatively young ) were already in their building at Kellen Moore.
It's true that Zimmer found success in his first play on the Cowboys' defense, and it's true that he experienced some high points during his time away from the club. He parlayed his stellar performance with the Cincinnati Bengals into a head coaching opportunity with the Minnesota Vikings, and after taking time to stabilize things, turned them into a legitimate defense as well.
However, one could argue that Zimmer's Vikings regressed in his final season with the team (which is probably why this was his last season) and that the players and talent are aging. The reality is that things fell apart on his watch. He hasn't coached in the NFL at all in the last two years and hasn't been a defensive coordinator in over a decade. There's a good chance he'll do a great, great job leading the defense, but how could this be one of the first two names that comes up? Especially when the initial reports about Zimmer went something like this: he He was someone who was interested in the job.
Considering that when the Cowboys hired Mike McCarthy, he was one of only two candidates involved, the other being Marvin Lewis, who managed Zimmer with the Cincinnati Bengals. Let's look at. It was such an open and closed process that you could argue that you have to look under a few more rocks than that when making such a big decision.
Choosing a defensive coordinator isn't that big of a decision for a head coach, but it's pretty close. And the only two outside names reported to have ties to Dallas thus far are by far veteran coaches, one of whom hasn't been in the league in more than two years, meaning they're I feel like I'm just looking through the rolodex and haven't started searching under a stone.
Once again, if Zimmer is hired, he will be able to keep the Cowboys' defense in good shape and we will all be very happy with the outcome. But the Cowboys are a team that likes what they know, and their problem is that they can't expand their horizons. Considering the “all-in” nature of this year, as defined by Jerry Jones himself, it feels more like an “all-out” to settle like this.
Perhaps the Cowboys will interview other candidates of various archetypes and choose one of them, or choose Zimmer despite them. But it would be irresponsible and reckless not to cast a wide net in decisions like this, and we seem to be on the verge of them doing just that.
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