Dan Quinn follows Cowboys' Matt Eberflus firing by axing former Dallas assistant

The Dallas Cowboys dropped the hammer on Matt Eberflus on Tuesday, firing the defensive coordinator after one year on the job. It looked for a while this season that Jerry Jones was going to spare Eberflus in the name of maintaining continuity on a defense that's had three DCs in as many years.

When push came to shove, though, there was no way to justify keeping Eberflus. The 2025 Cowboys defense will go down as the worst in franchise history. If you really dive into the numbers, it's a miracle they managed to win seven games.

Incredibly, Dan Quinn has followed his former team's lead on the firing front. The Commanders have fired defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr., who had a prominent influence over Dallas' defense from 2021 to 2023 as the team's defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator.

Quinn and the Commanders completely cleaned house after a 5-12 finish one year after they appeared in the NFC Championship Game. They also fired offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who morphed Washington into one of the league's top offenses in Jayden Daniels' rookie year.

It'll be interesting to see who Washington hires to replace Kingsbury, but Whitt is obviously the more recognizable name. In fact, a large contingent of Cowboys fans advocated for Whitt to get the Dallas defensive coordinator job last year after it was learned that Mike Zimmer wouldn't return.

READ MORE: Cowboys already linked to best DC imaginable after firing Matt Eberflus

A longtime assistant under Mike McCarthy with the Green Bay Packers, Whitt came over in McCarthy's second season with Dallas in 2021 after the team fired defensive coordinator Mike Nolan and several members of his staff.

Quinn hired Whitt to be his defensive coordinator in Washington. While the defense was serviceable last year, it flirted with the Cowboys as one of the worst defenses in the NFL this season, finishing 31st in EPA per play and total EPA, and 27th in defensive success rate, per Sumer Sports.

They need an infusion of talent and youth, but it was evident early on that Whitt was not cut out for the job. He was stripped of play-calling duties after Washington allowed 44 points and 546 total yards against the Detroit Lions in Week 10. Whitt had just moved from the booth to the sideline for that game, so the writing had been on the wall for a while.

Now that Whitt is back on the market, it's fair to ponder if he'll make his way back to Dallas in an assistant capacity. That'll likely be up to whoever the Cowboys hire as their own DC, but the familiarity with Brian Schottenheimer and the Joneses makes it a possibility.