Anytime you bring in a new coach or coordinator in the NFL, you can expect major change in terms of player personnel as well. The Dallas Cowboys finally lost defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to a head coaching job, and unfortunately to their division rivals out in Washington. They've now replaced Quinn by hiring former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer as their new defensive coordinator.
And this is a role Zimmer has actually held in the past. He was on the Cowboys' coaching staff from 1994-2006 and was the defensive coordinator from 2000-06. He has plenty of familiarity with Mike McCarthy as well, as the two faced off twice a year from 2014-18 when McCarthy was the coach of the Green Bay Packers and Zimmer was head coach of the Vikings.
With Zimmer now in the mix, what Cowboys defensive players are treading thin ice? Let's take a look at some players who have likely been put on notice after this move.
1. DaRon Bland, CB
DaRon Bland was an All-Pro selection this past season after he picked off an outrageous nine passes with five of them going for touchdowns, an NFL record. Bland knows how to get his hands on the ball but does his play style jive with the way Mike Zimmer calls a defense?
Bland's aggressiveness in attacking the ball in the air worked well for Dan Quinn's defense. Quinn seeks out defensive backs with length and ball skills, and his defense can have success even if corners are getting burned at times. Bland not only picked off nine passes and returned five of them for touchdowns, but he was also victimized quite a bit in coverage throughout the course of the year.
Despite the fact that he picked off nine balls, Bland was targeted by opposing quarterbacks a whopping 84 times and he gave up 660 receiving yards and four touchdowns.
With Dan Quinn identifying specific types of corners for his defense, will Bland turn out to be a fit schematically with Mike Zimmer? You would hope so with the amount of man coverage these guys are going to be asked to play, but if the results aren't there, Bland could find himself out of favor quickly.
2. Mazi Smith, DL
The success of Mike Zimmer's defense is predicated on the front four getting pressure. The Dallas Cowboys seemingly have that covered with the likes of Micah Parsons coming off the edge, but they need more out of 2023 first-round pick Mazi Smith.
Smith was arguably playing out of position this past year and looked like a fish out of water in Dan Quinn's defense. It's one thing to boast a bunch of traits and make a number of lists for your freakish athletic ability, but to disappear when you get the chance to play?
That's not a good sign.
Smith is going to need to make a substantial impact in his second NFL season, and Mike Zimmer is obviously going to be tasked with getting the best out of him. Zimmer needs to get Smith playing more of the 1-tech position and maybe less of the 3-tech position where he looked so uncomfortable this past season.
You have to be patient with the development of young players, but the Cowboys really need instant contributions from Smith and if neither Quinn nor Zimmer can get that out of him, he will undoubtedly be treading thin ice.
3. Sam Williams, EDGE
We could see a breakout season incoming for Sam Williams in 2024, but he's going to have to do his part to make sure the Cowboys are comfortable guaranteeing him a bigger role under a new defensive coordinator.
Williams has played somewhat sparingly on defense over his first two seasons in the league. The former second-round pick played just 273 snaps as a rookie and 303 snaps this past season. He's been efficient on a per-snap basis with 21 pressures, 16 QB hits, 15 tackles for loss, and 8.5 sacks in those 576 total snaps. Considering that would be roughly a 55-60 percent workload for a full-time player, it's apparent that Williams is ready to have his role increased.
But it won't come with Dan Quinn calling the shots.
The Cowboys will likely be losing both Dorance Armstrong and Dante Fowler Jr. this offseason off the edge, paving the way for Williams to shine. But if the Cowboys are going to ask Mike Zimmer to rely on him more, then Williams is going to have to come up big. He currently would slot as the top reserve rusher off the edge behind Micah Parsons and veteran DeMarcus Lawrence.
Is Williams ready for the pressure?
4. Trevon Diggs, CB
When Mike Zimmer was with the Minnesota Vikings, the team made a blockbuster trade involving an apparently disgruntled Stefon Diggs at the wide receiver position.
The Vikings didn't determine Diggs was worth investing a long-term contract into, and they traded him to Buffalo for a bounty of draft picks. At the time, Zimmer tried to articulate that the Vikings never really wanted to trade Diggs, but what happened happened and there was definitely tension between Zimmer and Diggs when they were in Minnesota.
Now, Zimmer is getting the chance to coach Stefon's little brother Trevon in Dallas. Is there going to be any underlying tension there as well?
Obviously, Trevon is his own person. The tension that existed between Stefon Diggs and Mike Zimmer years ago in Minnesota may be nothing but water under the bridge at this point for both sides, but you can't help but wonder if that could be something worth monitoring now that Zimmer is in Dallas.
5. DeMarvion Overshown, LB
The Dallas Cowboys need some young players to step up at the linebacker position in the 2024 offseason and they're going to have to rely a little bit on 2023 third-round pick DeMarvion Overshown, an impressive athlete at the position who suffered a season-ending injury last year.
Historically speaking, Mike Zimmer has invested a lot in the linebacker position in his defenses. The Minnesota Vikings always had strong linebacker play and the Vikings used first and second-round picks on off-ball linebackers in consecutive years to open Zimmer's tenure with the team.
Needless to say, with Leighton Vander Esch likely (sadly) done as a Cowboy after last year's injury and nobody really stepping up at the position for Dallas, I think there's going to be a ton of pressure on a young player like Overshown to take on a bigger role.
The Cowboys desperately need him to be a hit, especially with the rest of their 2023 NFL Draft class looking like a dud for the most part.
6. Chauncey Golston, DL
For Chauncey Golston, this season likely was going to be a "thin ice" type of year no matter who the Cowboys hired at defensive coordinator.
The Cowboys invested a third-round pick in the former Iowa Hawkeyes star back in the 2021 NFL Draft, so he's now entering a contract year. Over the course of his first three seasons in the league, Golston has barely even been a rotational player for the Cowboys. He played just 29 percent of the defensive snaps last season and 23 percent the year before.
The Cowboys have also seemingly done their part to replace Golston on the depth chart with other guys, including drafting Mazi Smith in the first round last year.
I think this is a put up or shut up type of offseason for Golston, if the Cowboys don't trade him away before the offseason program even begins. He's got a long way to go to impress a new defensive coordinator after some underwhelming years under Dan Quinn.
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