Cowboys Rumors: Former Dallas DC emerges as candidate to replace Dan Quinn
After the way the Dallas Cowboys defense was able to dominate this season - outside of the loss to the Packers in the Wild Card Round of course - you knew Dan Quinn was going to land several head coach interviews. Quinn is now in Washington, leaving Dallas behind to join an NFC East rival.
Because of that, it’s time for head man Mike McCarthy to find a new defensive coordinator sooner rather than later. Several candidates have emerged, but there’s now a new name out there that perhaps a lot of people in Cowboys Nation were not expecting: Mike Zimmer.
According to Cowboys beat reporter Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News, Zimmer is eyeing the open spot on McCarthy’s staff. Would this move make sense for the Dallas defense?
Former Vikings HC and Cowboys DC Mike Zimmer is interested in the current vacant Cowboys gig a person with knowledge of his thinking said.
— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) February 2, 2024
Mike Zimmer reportedly has interest in the Cowboys defensive coordinator job
Zimmer has been out of the league for a couple of years, but the 67 year old has boatloads of experience under his belt. He also knows what it takes to work under the one and only Jerry Jones, as Zimmer was previously in Arlington on the Dallas staff.
The veteran coach was with the Cowboys from 1994 to 2006. During that time, he served as a defensive assistant/nickel coach, defensive backs coach and finally he was the team’s defensive coordinator from 2000-2006.
Following his time with the Cowboys, Zimmer was DC for the Falcons and Bengals before taking over as head coach of the Vikings from 2014-2021. Zimmer, who won Super Bowl XXX with Dallas, was fired by the Vikings in January of 2022 after Minnesota had just wrapped up an 8-9 campaign. He took the Vikings to the playoffs three times, culminating in a NFC Championship Game appearance during the 2017 season.
It’s unknown at this time if McCarthy will be bringing in Zimmer for an interview, but other DC openings have filled up fast across the league. Names of intrigue to replace Quinn include ex-Chargers head coach Brandon Staley, former Commanders coach Ron Rivera, Rams DBs coach Aubrey Pleasant, Daniel Bullocks and others, but we can add Zimmer to the list as well.
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