Dallas Cowboys make crucial addition to coaching staff

After losing a promising young talent on the defensive coaching staff, the Dallas Cowboys moved quickly to upgrade themselves with their latest hire.

As you probably are already aware, there has been a lot of shuffling as it pertains to the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff.

With a few positions still left to fill, it looks as if Dallas might have just made its best offseason hire yet. The Cowboys have apparently chosen Kris Richard as their new defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator, according to reports.

The pending hire is a clutch move for several reasons.

First and foremost is Richard’s pedigree.  He’s only been with one NFL team but that one team has been dominate defensively.

From 2010-2017, Richard was with the Seattle Seahawks.  Starting as an assistant defensive backs coach, he went on to be the defensive coordinator over the last three seasons.

In case you’ve been residing under a rock the last decade, the Seahawks have been a great defense, in large part due to their secondary play.  Some people will inevitably point to the talent on the field, which is fair.  You still need someone to cultivate that talent, however.

It’s not like the Seahawks were investing major draft capital or free agent money in building the defense either. All-Pro’s Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor were chosen in the fifth round in back-to-back drafts.

Brandon Browner went from undrafted and out of the league to NFL Pro Bowler under Richard’s tutelage. Byron Maxwell, a sixth round pick, had his best year during his stint in Seattle with Richard as his coach.

Beyond development of players, there is, you know, actual results.

In 2015, the Seattle defense finished first in points allowed, second in yards allowed, second against the pass and first against the run.

In 2016, they finished third in points allowed, fifth in yards allowed, eight against the pass and seventh against the run.

Last year, even though the defense was decimated by injuries, they still were a decent unit.  Seattle was still able to finish sixth against the pass and eleventh in total yards allowed.  This was despite Sherman and Chancellor missing most of the year.

Another big reason this hire is a huge coup for the Cowboys is that it brings another young, aggressive mind in the building.  At just 38 years of age, he’s thirty years younger than Rod Marinelli.  He’s also almost ten years younger than the recently departed Matt Eberflus.

Lastly, this hire should be a perfect match for the young and hungry secondary the Cowboys are trying to build.  Dallas has a first round draft pick invested in safety Byron Jones.  They have a second and third round pick invested in Chidobe Awuzie and Jourdan Lewis.

There are also the up and coming guys like Kavon Frazier and Xavier Woods.  To have a coach like Richard around these guys should only help blossom their careers.  I would expect a major step forward in the Cowboys pass defense in 2017.

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There is also the bonus that if Dallas does fail to make the playoffs again, there is a strong candidate to replace Jason Garrett now in the building.  For all of these reason, you should be ecstatic about this hire.

In my opinion, I believe this move will be one of the biggest additions for the 2018 season.