Matt Eberflus' tenure as Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator was so dreadful that it pushed Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones to step back and empower Brian Schottenheimer to pilot the search.
After a diligent search, the Cowboys landed on 34-year-old Christian Parker, who is now the youngest DC in franchise history. More importantly, Parker seems like the total package. There's natural concern that comes with this being his first rodeo calling a defense, but if Dallas sought to hire the antithesis of Matt Eberflus, Parker checks every single box.
It's been impossible to poke holes in Parker's vision. One or two bad performances in the regular season will change that, but you get the sense that the Cowboys made a slam-dunk hire.
It took nearly six months, but Parker's first red flag has come to light. Appearing on the Schrager Hour podcast with Peter Schrager (38:00 mark in the video), Parker revealed that he grew up a Washington Redskins fan.
"I was a Redskins fan," Parker said. "My first jersey I ever got, even though I was a Redskins fan, the first two jerseys I got were a white Deion Sanders Cowboys jersey and a white Darrell Green (Washington) jersey."
Contrary to popular belief, Parker is not perfect.
Dallas Cowboys DC Christian Parker grew up a Washington Football fan
Though Parker grew up in New Jersey, he moved to Virginia at a young age and played football at the University of Richmond. Much of central Virginia and the surrounding region has long been Commanders country, so it's easy to see why Parker gravitated toward Dallas' rival despite his Jersey roots.
As yucky as it is that Parker once cheered for the enemy, all Cowboys fans can appreciate that he bought a PrimeTime jersey smack in the middle of his Washington fandom. Some superstars are so magnetic that even bitter rivals can't help but admire them, and Deion was one of them.
The big takeaway, though, is that Parker wasn't exactly the most devoted football fan. Is that not a red flag? Sanders was a larger-than-life superstar at the time, but Cowboys fans would sooner wear a brown paper bag than willingly sport the colors of the Commanders, Eagles, or Giants.
Following through on a fantasy football punishment or a lost bet is one thing, but voluntarily buying a rival's jersey is the kind of betrayal Cowboys diehards would never consider, making it fair to question just how deep Parker's Washington fandom really ran.
There's more than a little comedy in Parker buying a Deion Sanders Cowboys jersey while rooting for Washington. In hindsight, maybe becoming Dallas' defensive coordinator was written in the stars.
It took Parker taking us through his journey to the NFL, but we finally found a red flag.
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