Cowboys DC Dan Quinn turns down Cardinals, stays with Dallas

Despite the way his tenure as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons ended up, there is still a ton to like about Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn if you’re an NFL team in need of a new leader. Quinn may not have an offensive background, but his defense was ferocious this season.

Instrumental in the development of Micah Parsons and the biggest reason for Dallas standing out as a top-ten unit across the league, Quinn has reestablished himself as a defensive savant. Naturally, teams across the league were trying to give him more responsibility as the leader of their pack.

The Denver Broncos have coveted Quinn during their last two head coach cycles, but he was drawing a particular level of interest from the Arizona Cardinals. Instead of trying to get Kyler Murray back to his Pro Bowl form, Quinn is staying right where he is comfortable.

Quinn informed the teams he interviewed with that he is going to turn them down and remain the defensive coordinator of the Cowboys. Considering all the turmoil around him, getting Quinn back is a massive win for a Dallas team that faces immense pressure heading into next season.

Dan Quinn is staying with the Dallas Cowboys.

Quinn went 43-42 with the Falcons, going 3-2 in the postseason and making it to the Super Bowl before…28-3 happened. Quinn’s defense was poor to end his tenure with the Falcons, but even Vince Lombardi would have a hard time slowing down modern offenses with the personnel he was handed.

While Quinn is a defensive head coach, the fact that he hired offensive minds like Kyle Shanahan and Steve Sarkisian to keep Matt Ryan playing at a high level shows that he knows how to win games with a veteran quarterback. He’s not completely clueless on that side of the ball.

In addition to the fact that stars like Parsons will get another year of continuity in the same system, Quinn is also the team’s best failsafe if Mike McCarthy goes belly-up. The master tinkerer’s voice is clearly valued on that team, and his defense will once again make Dallas an NFC contender.

Quinn knows that he has leverage when picking head coaching jobs. Rather than join two laughably dysfunctional organizations (Houston, Indianapolis) or get saddled with some nasty quarterback situations in tough divisions (Denver, Arizona), Quinn chose to run it back with Dallas. The rest of the NFC East has to be furious.