The Perfect Dan Quinn Replacement is Obvious, But Nobody Wants to Say It

The Dallas Cowboys' offseason has brought the opposite news fans wanted on the coaching front. Mike McCarthy is sitll here, and Dan Quinn is gone. So that leaves the Cowboys a little late to the game as they begin their search for a new defensive coordinator.

But the thing is, they shouldn't have to search very hard. All of the NFL's head coach openings are now filled, and that leaves the perfect name available.

The problem is, it feels crazy to say it out loud. But I'll give you a hint. It rhymes with Will Welichick.

Bill Belichick Should Be the Cowboys' Defensive Coordinator

Before you jump back up to the top of this article to send me an email criticizing me, let me try to preempt some of your pushback. I'll adress the "why not" before I really get into the "why."

The main arguments against the hiring, as far as I can see, are pretty straightforward:

1. The game has passed him by, we don't want him
2. The hiring would bring too much drama
3. He'll be gone as soon as he has a chance at another head coaching job
4. Belichick won't accept anything but a head coaching job

"The Game Has Passed Him By"

Probably the most common criticism of Bill at this point is that he's just not up to speed on what it takes in the current NFL. And frankly, I don't think that you or I know enough about how things operated in Foxborough to know for sure how much that is true or false.

But I'll even grant you that it's probably true in some areas. I don't want Belichick designing my roster. I don't want him drawing up an offense. I probably don't want him trying to force the "Patriot Way" on a group of young players who don't have the hard-nosed throwback mentality that he values.

But on defense? Come on.

Bill has overcome his own terrible roster-building decisions to consistently field elite defenses, even in his twilight years. In the last four seasons the Pats' D has been a top-10 unit in either yards or points allowed, or both. His secondaries have been top-10 in net yards per attempt allowed in each of the last three.

He knows enough about modern offenses to know how to stop them, and that's the extent that you need a defensive coordinator to be up to speed on the modern game.

And how about the rest of the questions?

"The Hiring Would Bring Too Much Drama"

I guess I can see why you might protest like this. Cowboys fans are righlty sick of always getting negative media attention. It would be better to remain somewhat anonymous than to listen to the criticism that would come from a Belichick hiring.

But first of all, we know Jerry Jones believes the opposite of that. Jerry would rather field the most hated team of all time than to fall out of the news cycle.

And second of all, we're facing the drama regardless. The media is going to be all over whatever happens with a Dak extension. They'll be all over McCarthy. Adding in one more piece of drama isn't going to make a difference.

And fearing drama is no reason not to make the right football decision.

"He'll Be Gone as Soon as He Has a Chance at Another Head Coaching Job"

He sure will. No arguments from me there. But let me answer this with a big question: so what?

Coordinators leave. That's what happens when you have a great one, and that's a fine price to pay for having a good one. Dan Quinn's contributions aren't somehow minimized by the fact that he didn't retire in Dallas. You don't develop a coordinator from the ground up in hopes you turn someone into a gem eventually. If you do that, they're leaving anyway.

It would suck if he did a great job and then left before seeing it through, but that's the case for any coordinator.

"Belichick Won't Accept Anything But a Head Coaching Job"

It's your word versus mine here, and neither of us know Bill well enough to give a confident answer here.

If the big holdup is "will he accept the job" and not "is he right for the job" then it's a pretty good sign that he would be a great hire if we can make it happen.

And if I had to guess, Bill loves football too much to sit out a season as a TV personality. A diehard might like his actual analysis, like when he goes off on 15-minute NFL history tangents in press conferences, but do you think a major network is going to let him have free run like that?

A year as a coordinator makes a lot more sense than a year as a talking head as he bides his time waiting for another head coaching job.

And now with those concerns responded to, why is he right for the job?

So Why is He Right For the Job?

I already touched on it in addressing the argument that he can't keep up with the modern game, but Bill straight up knows defense.

If you want to just focus on the modern game and ignore his defenses ranking top-11 in points against in all six seasons as the New York Giants' defensive coordinator, fine. If you want to ignore that he took over the Browns after their defense ranked 28th in points against and proceeded to have them rank 18th, 14th, 12th then 7th over the next four years, fine.

But his longevity fielding elite defenses has spanned many eras of football already. He's had no problem shutting down any new era of offense that's come up against him. And that includes the most recent motion-heavy, pass-heavy game we're seeing right now.

Belichick will also command a ton of respect in the locker room. And that's something that's going to be increasingly important if the players don't have faith in Mike McCarthy — something that is almost sure to happen if things go south at any point next year.

And talk about a backup plan. If McCarthy does need to be fired, you couldn't ask for a much better Interim Head Coach option than Belichick. For a team that has Super Bowl-level talent but a head coach who might not be capable of bringing them there, the option to fire him if he's not performing and get right back into contention is incredibly valuable.

I get it. You've spent years building up a hatred for Bill Belichick. You've taken glee in seeing him fail. That's all fine.

But in the NFL, you've gotta do whatever it takes. The Cowboys' window to contend with their current roster isn't going to stay open forever, so let's do something dramatic.

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