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MOBILE, Ala. — The Dallas Cowboys took an important step for their 2025 defense on Tuesday.
Another major puzzle piece now looms.
As Dallas named former Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus its defensive coordinator, the franchise expects Eberflus to install a system that puts a premium on aggressive pressure from its defensive front.
The hitch in this plan: Dallas’ top pressure player, Micah Parsons, is entering the fifth-year option and final year of his rookie contract on a team that has failed to sign top stars to spring deals lately. When receiver CeeDee Lamb held out through this past summer’s training camp before receiving a deal, the Cowboys’ offense responded with a slow start to the season.
That was with continuity at play-caller and offensive system.
Parsons and the Cowboys are preparing to learn their third defensive system in three seasons, which could further the importance of contract clarity on the unit.
Will the Cowboys extend Parsons sooner?
“I don’t think anyone’s ever underestimated Micah’s value in terms of what he can bring,” executive vice president Stephen Jones told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday. “From the day he walked in the door, he’s been one of those [guys who] when he’s rolling, it’s a problem for the other guys and they got to find him. They got to figure out how they’re gonna go at him.
“I don’t want to get into the details [of] early, late, when all that comes. Too early for any of that, but obviously Micah is an important part of what we’re about.”
It may be too early for a team still assembling its defensive staff to develop a clear plan for player extensions. But the Cowboys’ route to extending Parsons could hinge on two factors.
The first: Is Dallas willing to pay Parsons the money players at his position have commanded, as some of his predecessors have reset the market among non-quarterback contracts?
And second: Lamb last year waited to sign with Dallas until Minnesota Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson reset the market. Could Parsons similarly slow-pay a deal until the Pittsburgh Steelers extend T.J. Watt and the Cleveland Browns do so with Myles Garrett?
When the Cowboys drafted Parsons 12th overall in 2021, they envisioned Parsons could exceed the inside linebacker role he played at Penn State. Team owner and general manager Jerry Jones described Parsons’ potential that night as one of “pressure, pressure, pressure.”
After four years pressuring the rest of the league, Parsons now has the chance to pressure the Cowboys.
What Parsons offers the Cowboys, whose success may hinge on him
When the Cowboys interviewed Eberflus this week, they asked about his vision for Parsons, Jones told Yahoo Sports.
“Everybody’s had their own idea of versatility with [Parsons] and moving him around because he’s such a game-wrecker when he’s rolling,” Jones said. “Getting him into situations where he can have matchups that are favorable [when] everybody’s gonna be trying to double, triple. I mean we’ve seen it all with him and even as many as three guys on him.
“So if you can move him around and then not know for sure where he’s gonna be, then it can be advantageous for everybody on the defense. … We’re confident [Eberflus] is going to utilize him and get the most out of him.”
The most out of Parsons has proven hefty during his rookie contract.
In four seasons since Dallas drafted him 12th overall, Parsons has dominated to the tune of 52.5 sacks, 112 quarterback hits and 256 total tackles. He’s forced nine fumbles and recovered four, including one for a touchdown.
Parsons ranked third this season on ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric, winning 23% of his rushes.
His debut four years compare favorably to his counterparts nearing the extension line. While their impact can be measured in different ways, Parsons’ career has ramped up more quickly than any active player’s by some metrics.
Parsons’ 52.5 sacks in his first four seasons edge Watt’s 49.5 and Garrett’s 42.5. His 177 pressures outpaced Watt’s 176 (narrowly) and Garrett’s 119.
Garrett and Watt have tallied more sacks during the past four years, but the 25-year-old Parsons could have more prime years ahead than the 30-year-old Watt and 29-year-old Garrett. Watt won Defensive Player of the Year in 2021, his fifth season; Garrett won in 2023, his seventh.
Eberflus’ system will bring a 4-3 defensive front with philosophical similarities to former Dallas defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli’s system, Jones said. He’ll seek “beefier” defensive tackles to stop the run, a category Jones expected 2023 first-round draft pick Mazi Smith to fill well. The Cowboys will also look to extend free-agent-to-be defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa, a homegrown talent whom Jones characterizes as a “priority” in their free-agent course of business, pending Eberflus’ evaluation.
But the ethos Eberflus brings might as well describe Parsons’ play style.
“High energy,” Jones said. “Zero tolerance for not running to the ball and playing aggressive and playing — a tough term — but playing violent. That’s where he’s built on.”
How Cowboys’ defense fits into vision under new head coach Brian Schottenheimer
Head coaching experience in the NFL may not be an official requirement for the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator. But Dallas’ defensive coordinators have checked that box for more than a decade now. Its last coach not to meet that criteria was 2013 defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, who had spent time as North Carolina State’s head coach.
Consider that a plus that drew the Cowboys to Eberflus. Dallas named Brian Schottenheimer its head coach on Friday night, the first head post for a coach with more than two decades of NFL experience. He’ll call offensive plays, Schottenheimer and Jones confirmed. So Dallas wanted a counterpart who could take defensive logistics off Schottenheimer’s plate.
In Eberflus, who knows the Cowboys well after serving on their coaching staff from 2011 to 2017, they hired a candidate with experience in the role and the organization.
Dallas liked Eberflus’ intensity to balance out Schottenheimer’s positivity. And statistically, Eberflus has coordinated three top-10 scoring defenses and five top-10 rushing defenses since 2018.
The Cowboys view stopping the run and creating a run game as crucial areas of improvement in 2025. Under Schottenheimer, they plan to hire an offensive coordinator who will oversee the run game and protections, Jones said.
A more reliable run game will better support quarterback Dak Prescott as well as relieve pressure from the defense.
“I think it’s a must,” Jones said. “I think it’s a must that we marry our run game to our pass game … [with] reduced formations and things that do set you up to run the ball even more efficiently as some of these teams have done in our league. Schotty embraces all that.”
The Cowboys’ offense will benefit from some continuity under Schottenheimer, who spent the past two seasons as offensive coordinator under play-calling head coach Mike McCarthy.
Dallas’ defense will look to smooth the tides of change as it transitions from Dan Quinn in 2023 to Mike Zimmer in 2024 and now 2025.
Parsons’ participation will be crucial to success in that transition. The Cowboys extending him will aid that participation.
“We’ve had three systems and we understand that that’s not optimal — I’ll be the first to admit it,” Jones said. “But we’ve also talked through that with Matt when we were interviewing him about how we make that as painless as possible.
“Schotty’s gonna really count on Matt to do the heavy lifting on the defensive side.”