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Cowboys fire DC Matt Eberflus after 1 season
Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Cowboys fire DC Matt Eberflus after 1 season

Originally posted on Inside The Star  |  By Shane Taylor  |  Last updated Jan 6, 2026 10:31 AM ET

Yes, you read that correctly, the Dallas Cowboys have fired Matt Eberflus, and finally, Jerry Jones did not wait two weeks to make an important decision after the season ended.

Dallas gave up 30.1 points per game, the most in the NFL, and finished 30th in yards allowed per game at 377 yards. The Cowboys’ defense also did not create turnovers or get to the passer consistently.

They gave up a team record 511 points, the sixth worst in NFL history.

Trading Micah Parsons a week before the season started surely did not help, but not a single person can defend bringing back a defensive coordinator that could not stop me if I was out there. Okay, I am kidding, but you get the point.

Possible Names?

With Jerry Jones making this move early, he has a chance to bring in a lot of very good and respected defensive coordinators to interview for this job.

The main issue is the roster. Of course, it is not the greatest, but you have a very good defensive line to work with. Clark and Williams are two studs, and you have two first round picks that can be used on defense.

The first guy at the top of the list should be Brian Flores. What he has done with the Vikings defense is truly incredible, and if he can even make the Dallas defense average with the offense they have, I am sure he would be willing to take the risk.

I am not sure if he will be looking for a head coaching gig, but over five teams are looking to fill that role, and I am sure he will at least get one or two interviews.

One other guy that I would love to have back but probably won’t happen is Al Harris. He is currently the defensive backs coach & defensive pass game coordinator for the Chicago Bears. A job he took just this season.

Yet, I bet he would come back to Dallas if he was offered the defensive coordinator job in a heart beat. I am just not sure if Jerry will even think about reaching out to him.

Harris turned the Bears’ defense into a turnover machine as they lead the league in that department.

Jonathan Gannon is also a coach that I would keep a very close eye on. He was fired as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals yesterday, but has ties to the Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams from their time in Arizona.

A lot of other coaches are going to be around, and I have missed plenty, but these are the guys that jump to my head first.

Let me finish talking about this by going back to what I said before. Credit Jerry for not dragging this firing out and allowing all of these other coaches to get interviews with other teams before he could contact them.

This is the first step in actually doing what is needed to help this team heading into 2026. This might be the fastest he has moved off a coach in the offseason in a long time.

The last thing I ask for is to please allow Brian Schottenheimer to have a say in who HIS defensive coordinator is. He is the head coach of this football team, he is the guy that has to work with him every single day of the year.

Don’t make this about you again, Jerry, like you did with Flus. Allow the head coach of your football team to make this call. You stay up in the booth and in your office, let the head man make the call on who runs his defense in big D.

This article first appeared on Inside The Star and was syndicated with permission.

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