Are the Dallas Cowboys looking towards the future with Kris Richard hire?

With the long term future of defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli in doubt, the Dallas Cowboys may have already found his successor in Kris Richard.

On Monday, it was reported that the Dallas Cowboys intend to hired former Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Kris Richard to join their coaching staff. It has since been announced Richard will be joining the staff as their defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator; the latter position being left vacated by the recently departed Matt Eberflus.

Current defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli is reportedly privately contemplating retirement even though the widespread belief is that he will ultimately return to coach the defense next season. The Cowboys had long term plans regarding the retention of Eberflus and even offered him their currently “unavailable” defensive coordinator position; a move that would have shifted the 68-year old Marinelli to the role of assistant head coach.

Eberflus is considered by many to be a very promising up and coming coach in the NFL and, after losing him, the Cowboys apparently went out and brought in another young standout defensive coach with an impressive track record to help bring along the young talent the Cowboys have on defense. See the trend here?

For as much criticism as owner Jerry Jones is receiving for retaining head coach Jason Garrett and his accompanying coordinators, this has the potential of being the best move made by this organization so far this offseason.

Richard was one of the principle architects of the formidable Seattle Seahawks secondary which played a huge role in their championship season in 2013. The Cowboys appear to have hit a home run with their draft this past year with the young talent they have added to their secondary with three possible starters coming out of this year’s rookie secondary class.

Richard is certainly a guy that will get the most out of their young secondary, which could be the most important unit on the defense going into next year based on the real estate already invested.

I find it very hard to believe that Richard was brought on to the staff just to simply coach the secondary. Not only will he be heavily involved in week to week game planning, but he could certainly be the front runner to take over for Marinelli once he decides to call it a career. I would also not be surprised to see Richard stepping in as the man responsible for relaying the defensive play calling throughout the game; a role also left vacated by Eberflus.

It is not very often that Jerry Jones receives credit for coaching decisions, but we must give credit where credit is due here. After losing the heir apparent to head up the defense in the very near future, Jerry and company were able to effectively fill the void left by the departure of Eberflus. The move by Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll to release Richard is a decision that caught many by surprise even in the Seahawks organization.

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In what will be a temporary “demotion” for Richard going from a defensive coordinator to defensive backs coach, I cannot see this temporary step down lasting for very long within the Cowboys organization as I believe there could be a bigger plan in store for their new defensive assistant.