Tag: Matt Eberflus

Cowboys defender with two years left on $21 million deal may no longer fit

Cowboys safety Malik Hooker might be on the chopping block in 2025, says @ReidDHanson.

Matt Eberflus is the Dallas Cowboys new defensive coordinator and with him comes a new defensive scheme. As a former Cowboys coach, Eberflus isn’t foreign around these parts. His scheme is much more straight forward than that of Dan Quinn or Mike Zimmer. He stunts less, blitzes less, and disguises his coverages less.

For safeties like Donovan Wilson and Malik Hooker it means a higher proportion of split safety looks. This impacts both players since most of those two players’ careers have been spent in some form of single-high secondaries. By most predictions, Wilson won’t be able to play in the box as often as before and Hooker won’t be able to play centerfield as often as before.

Hooker’s ability to effectively play as a single-high safety made him a valuable commodity for the Dallas defense over the years. His range and consistency made him a top player at one of the NFL’s most demanding roles.

With more split safety looks on the horizon, Hooker’s top skill, his range, loses some of its value. Split-safety looks like Cover 2, 2-man and Quarters don’t require the same extraordinary range as a Cover 1 or Cover 3 scheme. As such, the role is easier to fill and doesn’t require a high investment cost.

Hooker signed a three-year, $21 million extension in 2023 that runs through 2026. At a cap cost of $7.5 million in 2025, Hooker is one of the top-10 cap hits and certainly qualifies as a high investment cost (per OTC).

The Cowboys got a taste of Hooker playing more diverse coverage roles in 2024 when Zimmer increased the amount of 2-high looks Dallas played mixing and matching Wilson and Hooker in the process. It didn’t turn out well. Both safeties posted their lowest graded qualifying seasons of their respective careers in 2024.

In previous seasons in Dallas, Hooker was a player most teams avoided. He was rarely targeted and routinely ranked among the best safeties in yardage allowed. Playing in a less demanding split safety role more in 2024, Hooker appeared to regress, giving up more yards than ever before in Dallas. Not focusing on his area of expertise, as demanding as that expertise may be, was a bad thing for Hooker and possibly a sign of things to come in 2025.

Like Wilson, his counterpart, Hooker’s return to the Cowboys in 2025 is far from assured. He’s an expensive player coming off a down year. Significant costs could be saved by letting him go if the Cowboys think they can adequately replace his production.

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This 60-game starter for the Cowboys is on hot seat heading into 2025

Safety Donovan Wilson might find a better fit for his skillset than in the next iteration of the Cowboys defense. | From @ReidDHanson.

After a new coaching staff has been put into place, the next stage is centered on internal roster assessments. Teams look at which players on the team performed and which did not, making decisions based on cost and scheme fit.

The Dallas Cowboys are sure to be embarking on this task currently. One of the players sparking debate within the fanbase is six-year veteran safety Donovan Wilson.

Wilson is one of the more maligned players on the Cowboys defense. Some see him as a natural playmaker and difference maker. Others think he freelances too often to be trusted and is too inconsistent to be worth it.

Whatever fans may feel about the soon-to-be 30-year-old, the value is in the eye of the Cowboys front office. That very front office saw fit to sign the former Texas A&M product to a three-year, $21 million dollar deal back in 2023. With 2025 being his last actual contract year, the Cowboys have to decide if Wilson is still worth the price of admission or if he’s someone who could be released this offseason.

At a cost of $8,650,000 against the salary cap in 2025 it’s certainly a discussion worth having before the new league year begins in March. The upcoming draft boasts more than a few solid safety prospects, should the Cowboys go that route (like in this mock draft). As an alternative to the draft, Dallas also has a couple young safety options deeper down the roster that could offer better value than the current high-priced veteran.

Matt Erberflus, recently named defensive coordinator, plays a fairly straight forward brand of football. He values consistent, disciplined play by his defenders, being a stickler for run fits and demanding reliable play in coverage. It doesn’t particularly fit Wilson’s brand of play since he’s at his best crashing downhill with a certain aura of reckless abandon. What was seen as endearing for Dan Quinn might seem off-putting to someone like Eberflus.

Per Pro Football Focus tracking, Wilson’s missed tackle percentage was in the NFL’s bottom 20 amongst safeties in 2024 (that’s a bad thing). He also gave up a completion percentage of 86.1 percent when targeted to go along with six touchdowns allowed. They graded his play 61 out 98 in the NFL last season and watching the film it was easy to see why. At times it seemed as though Wilson didn’t belong on the field because he was so mistake prone.

But he has 60 starts on a defense that has been near the top of the league most of the last four seasons.

If Wilson is at his best playing near the line and in position to make plays in traffic, then Eberflus’ defense probably isn’t for him. This new defense will demand more play as a deep safety in 2-high looks and less opportunities to play in the box blitzing and crashing the backfield.

If it’s ultimately determined Wilson is a poor fit for the defense, expect the Cowboys to go the cost-cutting route this March.

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Matt Eberflus’ defensive philosophy demands Cowboys re-sign this player

For the sake of Eberflus’ defense the Cowboys must keep Osa Odighizuwa

Free agency is time of comings and goings for NFL teams. Underperformers and poor fits typically leave, ideally replaced by higher performers and those who appear to be better fits. Coaching changes, like the kind the Dallas Cowboys are currently undergoing, can spark extra churn on the free agency front.

Different coaches run different schemes, and since not all players fit all schemes, changes have to be made in personnel. The Kris Richard days are a perfect example. Richard, hailing from the Seattle defensive coaching tree, was a heavy Cover 1 and Cover 3 coach. Since his scheme demanded the most from his boundary cornerbacks, the Cowboys made an aggressive effort to replace their standard sized CBs with long and lean alternatives who were better equipped to handle the demands of Richard’s scheme.

In 2025 the Cowboys have brought in Matt Eberflus to lead the defense. Like Richard, Eberflus has a particular brand of football he prefers and populates his roster accordingly. His brand happens to be on par with the direction most of the NFL has been trending in recent seasons: bend but don’t break.

The pendulum has swung from the single-high looks and landed all the way on the other side of the schoolyard at the Vic Fangio 2-high. Eberflus’ defense, much like Rod Marinelli’s many years ago, plays with the middle of the field open. It lives in nickel personnel and disguises very little. It relies on a handful of key positions to make it all work and one of key positions is up for review this March in free agency.

Aside from needing a dominant edge rusher, the Eberflus defense relies heavily on the 3-tech defensive tackle to provide most of the pressure. Micah Parsons, presumably in Dallas forever, has the edge position locked down. He’s one of the best edge players in the NFL and gives Eberflus everything he needs from either side of the defensive line. The 3-tech DT, aka under tackle, is considerably more unsettled.

Osa Odighizuwa is about to enter free agency. With four years of service under his belt, he’s unrestricted in his availability and free to go to the highest bidder. It’s difficult to estimate for sure what the market will be for the UCLA product but as one of the most accomplished interior pressure players in the NFL, he’s likely to approach top 10 money at DT.

With just 13.5 career sacks, it’s easy to take Odighizuwa for granted. Sacks are king in most minds and not everyone cares that Odighizuwa ranked fifth in pressures last season (tracked by Pro Football Focus). But care they should, because pressures are a far more stable statistic year to year than sacks and pressures are what Eberflus needs to make his defense work.

Prior to 2024 there was concern Odighizuwa didn’t have the conditioning to make it through and entire 17 game NFL season. In previous years he faded down the stretch and wasn’t the same difference maker when games seemingly mattered the most. In 2024 that changed with him actually performing better down the stretch, thriving most in the back half of the year.

Replacing Odighizuwa in a single season will be next to impossible if the Cowboys choose to go that route. Unless Dallas trades up for Michigan DT Mason Graham, they probably won’t find a plug-and-play rookie 3-tech like Odighizuwa would otherwise offer them.

The new coaching staff needs certain competencies in place to make their systems work and one of those competencies for Eberflus’ defense is to have an explosive pressure player at 3-tech.

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Cowboys hire Garrett’s assistant, former Bears HC to lead Schotty’s defense

Dallas officially brings back former longtime defensive assistant Matt Eberflus as defensive coordinator.

In a widely anticipated move, the Cowboys have announced the hiring of former Bears head coach Matt Eberflus as their defensive coordinator.

He replaces Mike Zimmer, who lasted just one season in Dallas under former head coach Mike McCarthy.

Eberflus spent seven seasons in Dallas from 2011 through the 2017 season under then-head coach Jason Garrett and former defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, Monte Kiffin, and Rod Marinelli.

Eberflus interviewed with both Atlanta and Cincinnati this offseason, but chose to return to Dallas.

Eberflus spent the past four seasons in Chicago as head cosh. accumulating a 14-32 record. He was fired on November 29 after botching clock management a late comeback attempt in a nationally televised game against Detroit on Thanksgiving Day.

Prior to Chicago, Ebeflus spent four seasons with Indianapolis as coordinator, where he took a Colts defense that ranked 30th overall in scoring and defense and elevated them into the top half of the league in many statistical categories. 

Before he departed Dallas in 2017, the Cowboys front office wanted him to take over for Marinelli but refused to leapfrog his mentor. He now returns to the Cowboys as part of new head coach Brian Schottenheimer’s staff.

Report: Former Cowboys assistant to return to Dallas as Schottenheimer’s coordinator

The Cowboys lost Eberflus to the Colts almost a decade ago, but have brought in back in the fold to take over the D. | From @ArmyChiefW3

Dallas’s hiring of Brian Schottenheimer as their next head coach was quickly followed by a report of who will be in charge of the defense. It appears Dallas will also bring back former assistant coach Matt Eberflus as the team’s defensive coordinator.

The former linebackers coach spent seven seasons in Dallas, from 2011 through 2017.

The Cowboys front office reportedly wanted Eberflus to take over as defensive coordinator after the 2017 season for an aging Rod Marinelli but he refused to undercut his mentor. Instead, the rising defensive coach took the Indianapolis defensive coordinator job under then-head coach Josh McDaniels.

In the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Eberflus helped the Colts defense become the only team in the league to have his squad rank in the top ten in scoring, run defense, and takeaways. 

In four seasons, his turnovers and run defense in Indy never fell out of the league’s top 10 rankings.

Eberflus spent the last three seasons as Chicago’s head coach, accumulating a 14-32 record in his Bears tenure. Eberflus set Chicago’s franchise record with a 14-game losing streak and was fired midway through the 2024 season after an embarrassing clock management blunder on Thanksgiving against the Lions.

He now becomes the third defensive coordinator in the past three seasons for Dallas and has the task of creating mismatches for defensive end Micah Parsons, among others.

Dallas signed Mike Zimmer to a one-year contract to be the team’s defensive coordinator before the 2024 season and appears to be a one-and-done situation.

Terms of the Eberflus deal have not been disclosed.

Big name enters Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator conversation

A new (big) name is floating around the Bengals’ biggest coaching vacancy.

The Cincinnati Bengals appear to have one of the most attractive coaching vacancies in the NFL right now, with the defensive coordinator position up for grabs.

That’s reflected in the list of top candidates for the job, as well as in the interviews the team has already set up.

And it’s especially evident with former head coach Matt Eberflus entering the conversation, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler: “Former Bears head coach Matt Eberflus is involved in the #Bengals defensive coordinator search, per sources.”

Eberflus flamed out badly as head coach of the Chicago Bears from 2022-2024, but two things apply: Most do in Chicago and that isn’t an indictment on his skills as a coordinator.

One of the top defensive minds in the NFL, Eberflus got his start at the pro level as a positional coach in 2009 and, from 2018-2021, turned an Indianapolis defense from a bottom unit to a top-10 performer with a strong culture of accountability.

The Bengals can’t waste time on developmental coaches lacking experience right now as they sit in win-now mode after a failed season despite historic offensive output.

Written another way, Eberflus might be the top guy for the job.

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Bears request interview with Ravens OC Todd Monken for head coaching job

Bears request interview with Todd Monken for head coaching Job

After two seasons of engineering one of the NFL’s top offenses, Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken is drawing interest from other teams with head coach openings.

According to NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero, the Chicago Bears have requested an interview with Monken for their vacant head coach position.

The Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus in the middle of the season and finished the year with a 5-12 record. If Monken took the job in Chicago, he would already have a promising young quarterback in place: 2024 No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams. Williams did not live up to the hype as a rookie, but the former USC Trojan showed enough flashes to warrant excitement going forward if provided a better environment.

The Ravens’ offense with Monken at the helm has been the definition of multidimensional, becoming the first team to cross 4,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in a season in 2024. Monken transformed Baltimore’s offense into one of the best passing attacks in the league after years of Greg Roman offenses in Baltimore faltered in that regard.

Quarterback Lamar Jackson has enjoyed two of his best seasons under Monken. After winning his second MVP award last season in Monken’s first year with the team, Jackson is poised to potentially take home a third MVP trophy for a historic 2024 campaign that saw him finish with the fourth-highest single-season passer rating of all time.

Losing Monken just a year after losing defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald would be a massive blow to the Ravens, who look to maximize their Super Bowl chances every year with Jackson in his prime.

 

Former Seahawks HC Pete Carroll interested in Bears job

Former Seahawks HC Pete Carroll interested in Bears job

There is always something interesting to unwrap on Christmas morning, and the NFL news cycle is a gift that keeps on giving. On Wednesday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke the news that former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll isn’t just interested in coaching again, but he is specifically interested in the open Chicago Bears job.

The timing of this news is especially notable, considering the Seahawks are gearing up to take on the Bears for a Week 17 Thursday Night Football showdown. Never say Schefter doesn’t know how to drum up peak engagement for his stories.

Of course, I don’t feel like I would be doing my job if I didn’t take a moment to point out Schefter’s tweet isn’t entirely accurate. Yes, those four coaches listed did all win a National Championship in college, and all four did make it to a Super Bowl… but only three of them won a Lombardi. Sorry Jim Harbaugh, but Pete Carroll was a key reason in 2013 why you have yet to win a ring yourself!

Anyways, back to the main story. The Chicago Bears are in the market for a new head coach after parting ways with Matt Eberflus following their disastrous Thanksgiving performance. Eberflus became the first Bears head coach in the 104 year history of the franchise to be fired in-season. Despite Chicago being trapped in the basement of the league’s toughest division (as well as the perpetual dysfunction of the organization) the Bears job will be sure to draw plenty of interest. The roster is solid, and they have former No. 1 overall pick in Caleb Williams as quarterback. Williams may not be living up to his lofty draft position as a rookie, but the man still has a tantalizing amount of talent any coach would love to get a chance at working with.

Carroll being interested in the Chicago job makes sense, but would the Bears be interested in him? I would imagine some of the first responses to this news would be “the last thing Chicago needs is a 73-year-old coach who is defensive minded! It’s an offensive-driven league!”

Let me address the “defensive coach” charge first. Yes, Carroll has been historically known as a defensive coach, but he does not get nearly enough credit for his outstanding work with quarterbacks. In fact, I would argue Carroll deserves to be known as a “quarterback whisperer.” Let’s just look at his NFL quarterbacks, shall we?

  • Russell Wilson – an undersized third round pick who evolved into an incredibly unique, playmaking quarterback. He soon turned into a perennial MVP candidate and became the best signal-caller in Seahawks history. However, the story of Wilson cannot be told without his two years in Denver, as well as his 2022 season – the first without Carroll. They were the two worst years of his career and led to his ouster before his mega contract could even kick in. Wilson has reclaimed some mojo in Pittsburgh, but he still isn’t close to where he was when he was under Carroll’s tutelage.
  • Geno Smith – widely regarded as one of the bigger quarterback busts in recent memory, Smith bounced around the league for several years as a backup before finally earning the starting role in Seattle. Smith led the Seahawks to the playoffs in his first year as a starter and had them alive until Week 18 last year. Smith won Comeback Player of the Year under Carroll and made consecutive Pro Bowl appearances.
  • Drew Lock – yes, I’ll throw some love to Drew Lock here. Lock started two games under Carroll and played well in both, including pulling off an upset win on Monday Night Football. Similar to Wilson, Lock without Carroll in New York has been a disaster this year.

One could also include Carroll getting to the playoffs with an aging Matt Hasselbeck in 2010, as well as nearly getting there in 2011 with Tavaris Jackson. But Carroll’s expertise with quarterbacks is not limited to the NFL. When Carroll was the head coach at USC, his quarterbacks enjoyed tremendous success. Carson Palmer won the Heisman and became the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 NFL draft. Matt Leinart also won a Heisman, as well as winning two National Championships and making it to a third. Mark Sanchez would go on to be the No. 5 overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft.

I can confidently say Caleb Williams would overwhelmingly benefit from Carroll’s leadership and coaching.

As for the question of age, we should all be so blessed to

  • A) Live to 73
  • B) Look and feel as good as Carroll does at 73

Carroll has arguably more energy than anyone else coaching in the league right now, and as Al Michaels once described him as someone who looks like he “surfs to work.”

Carroll is a future Hall of Fame head coach and one of the best to ever lead a team at any level of football. The Chicago Bears should be willing to take a long, hard look at Carroll and think about what he can offer to their organization.

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Mike Tomlin almost makes same mistake as recently fired Matt Eberflus

Mike Tomlin’s questionable timeout management in Week 13 eerily mirrored the mistake that cost Matt Eberflus his job in Chicago.

Fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers were on a seemingly never-ending emotional rollercoaster in the first half of the team’s Week 13 contest against the Cincinnati Bengals. After an awful missed call by the officials gifted Cincinnati a pick-six, fans were able to witness an impressive Steelers’ offensive resurgence, which put Pittsburgh up 27-21 at halftime.

However, a similar mistake that cost HC Matt Eberflus his job in Chicago almost repeated itself with poor time management to end the first half by none other than HC Mike Tomlin.

QB Russell Wilson led an impressive drive with less than two minutes in the first half, but poor usage of timeouts not only prevented the offense from scoring a TD, Tomlin’s last-second timeout call had fans thinking they’d see shades of Eberflus.

Some could argue that Tomlin’s poor time management skills cost the Pittsburgh Steelers their Week 12 matchup against the Cleveland Browns. However, the Black and Gold were fortunate to walk away with a Chris Boswell field goal to end the first half in Week 13.

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Former Wisconsin football assistant is now the Chicago Bears interim head coach

Former Wisconsin running back coach Thomas Brown was named interim head coach of the Chicago Bears on Saturday.

Former Wisconsin running back coach Thomas Brown was named interim coach of the Chicago Bears on Saturday.

The move follows the Bears firing of coach Matt Eberflus.

Brown, who had been serving as Chicago’s offensive coordinator since the team relieved Shane Waldron of his duties on Nov. 12, now inherits the most important responsibility on the team’s sidelines.

The decision to let go of Eberflus was nowhere near difficult for the Bears. The former Indianapolis Colts’ defensive coordinator went 4-8 with Chicago this season, including six straight losses.

The latest defeat — a 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving — prompted fans and leadership alike to scratch their heads. Eberflus failed to call a timeout in the final 30 seconds of Chicago’s last drive, a sequence that ultimately resulted in an incomplete pass to end the game.

Brown will take over a Bears team that entered the season with lofty expectations. After drafting former USC quarterback Caleb Williams with the No. 1 pick of the 2024 NFL draft, it appears the team has a franchise quarterback.

That, coupled with wide receivers DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze, was enough to convince the fan base that Chicago could wind up as a wild-card playoff team.

The opposite occurred. Chicago is fourth in the NFC North with an uphill battle ahead.

Brown’s connection to Wisconsin goes back to 2014. Under former Badgers coach Gary Anderson, Brown captained a running back room featuring 2014 Heisman Trophy runner-up Melvin Gordon and future NFL running back Corey Clement.

Following his tenure at UW, Brown spent time as the running backs coach at Georgia (2015), Miami (Florida) (2016-18) and South Carolina (2019) before making the jump to the NFL level. There, he served Los Angeles Rams’ running backs coach in 2020 and assistant head coach from 2021-22 before being hired as the offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers in 2023.

Brown assumed duties as the Bears’ passing game coordinator in 2024. Over the past month, he has been promoted twice.

The Bears are next on the field on Dec. 8 against the San Francisco 49ers.