Cowboys Request Interview With Eagles' Defensive Coach

The Cowboys have cast a wide net after moving on from veteran DC and former Chicago head coach Matt Eberflus after just one season. 

Last week, the Cowboys held interviews with Minnesota defensive pass game coordinator Daronte Jones, Browns safeties coach Ephraim Banda, and Broncos defensive pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard.

Early this week Dallas had set up interviews with their current Cowboys DL coach Aaron Whitecotton, as well as Baltimore DC Zachary Orr and former Arizona head coach and Eagles DC Jonathan Gannon.

Ascending Star

Parker, 34, is regarded as a fast-rising young assistant who has already generated DC interviews in the past.

He joined the Eagles in 2024 for a reunion with Vic Fangio, who hired Parker as his secondary coach during his final season as the head coach in Denver in 2021.

In Philadelphia, Parker is best known for the rapid development of second-year cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, who were both named All-Pros this season.

"I can say a lot of things about him," DeJean said earlier this week when discussing Parker. "What he's meant to me and Q too. We've had a routine of me and Q go meet with him two or three times a week just to go over the team we're playing, talk about different looks. I don't think I'd be the player I am or have had the success that I've had without him.

"He's poured a lot into me and Q too every since we got here and I appreciate him for that. Not everybody notices him and his doesn't get the recognition that I think he should but him and [safeties] Coach [Joe] Kasper, what those guys mean to us in the DB room and how they coach, the intensity they bring, the passion they have for the game, it means a lot to us and it doesn't go unnoticed."

A Flemington, N.J. native, Parker started his coaching career with Virginia State in 2013 when he was just 22 years old. 

By 2017 and 2018, he was a defensive analyst at top-tier programs Notre Dame and Texas A&M before transitioning to the NFL as a defensive quality control coach for two years (2019-2020) in Green Bay.

Fangio gave Parker his first position coach job with the Broncos in 2021, and the young mentor spent two more seasons in the Rockies after Fangio was replaced.

When Fangio got the DC job in Philadelphia, he again brought on Parker.

Around the league, it’s considered just a matter of time before Parker gets a DC job of his own. 

In-house the Eagles have solid depth on the coaching staff in the secondary with Kasper and cornerbacks coach Roy Anderson.