The Dallas Cowboys ushered in a new era by hiring Christian Parker as their defensive coordinator. Parker is widely regarded as one of the NFL’s top young assistant coaches, and the reaction out of Philadelphia only makes the hire even sweeter.
Eagles All-Pro cornerback Cooper DeJean posted on X that the Cowboys got a "great" one and that he wouldn't be the player he is today without Parker, who was Philly's defensive backs coach and pass game specialist the last two seasons.
The Eagles are in a pretty dark place right now, and Anthony Miller of Inside the Iggles summed up how fans are feeling after losing Parker.
"What a horrible way to lose such a great coach as Parker has been a rising star in the NFL over the last few years."
Parker is credited with molding Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean into All-Pro players in just their second seasons, but he did a lot more than that with the Eagles, as Miller highlighted.
"Besides the work that Parker did with Mitchell and DeJean, he was able to navigate through a tough situation at CB2 and turned Adoree' Jackson into a respectable starter by the end of the season. Parker also helped Andrew Mukuba develop into the starting safety in his rookie year and helped Reed Blankenship improve his pass coverage down the stretch."
Eagles fans' devastation makes Cowboys' Christian Parker hire even sweeter
Parker undoubtedly deserves credit for Mitchell and DeJean's respective ascensions. On top of coaching them up, Parker is a big reason the Eagles drafted Mitchell and DeJean with their first two picks last year.
However, it says a lot that Parker was able to turn Adoree Jackson, whom the Cowboys picked on in both Eagles matchups this season, along with safeties Andrew Mukuba and Reed Blankenship, into passable starters.
Philadelphia’s defense was a wagon in 2025, and the secondary’s growth from one of the NFL’s worst units before Parker’s arrival in 2024 was a major reason.
READ MORE: Christian Parker hire just made Jerry Jones’ first offseason move painfully obvious
The hope is that Parker will be able to work similar magic with the Cowboys, who ranked 31st in EPA per pass (0.22), 32nd in passing yards, 30th in completion rate (68.53 percent), 31st in passing touchdowns, 23rd in average depth of target, and 31st in interception rate (0.95 percent) this year, per Sūmer Sports.
The Cowboys undoubtedly need to upgrade their personnel, but those numbers were far more a reflection of poor coaching than a lack of talent. It won’t be an overnight fix, but Parker’s ability to teach and earn buy-in can speed up the turnaround.
It was only a matter of time until Parker earned a DC opportunity. He interviewed with other teams this cycle, and there's growing belief around the league that he'll be a head coach someday.
Making a slam-dunk hire is a huge step for Dallas. Weakening the Eagles in the process is just icing on the cake.