OXNARD, Calif. — After a two-year absence from the NFL, Mike Zimmer has resurfaced as the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator. He had been head coach of the Minnesota Vikings for eight seasons before being fired after the 2021 season.
Zimmer, who previously served as the Dallas DC from 2000 to 2006, seems pleased to be back in his element. Taking over for Dan Quinn, who left to be head coach of the Commanders, Zimmer is putting his stamp on a Dallas defense that played well during the regular season in 2023, allowing 18.5 points a contest. But in the postseason, the Dallas defense was shredded in an embarrassing, 48-32 loss to Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers.
“We’ve kept some wrinkles in what they’ve had in the past,” Zimmer said. “Obviously, we’re asking them to do different things than what they’ve done before. I’ve tried to be demanding on what they’re doing. I’ve tried to be demanding of myself with doing that.
“But so far, I’ve been very impressed with the way they’ve gone about their business, the way they’re trying to do what we’re asking them to do in really all three areas of the defense.”
One of the things Zimmer is focused on is getting the most out of uber-talented edge rusher Micah Parsons. No, that doesn’t mean playing him at running back. It could mean going back to how Quinn used Parsons in his rookie season three years ago, with the Penn State product playing more off-ball linebacker and moving around the formation.
During his rookie season, when he earned Defensive Rookie of the Year honors, Parsons lined up as an off-ball linebacker 50.3% of the time according to Next Gen Stats. Since then, Parsons lined up along the defensive line 82.6% of the time in 2022 and 92.7% last season.
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Quinn wanted Parsons to go after the quarterback, and his 40.5 sacks over the past three seasons rank No. 4 in the NFL. According to Next Gen Stats, Parsons also generated the most pressures (99) and the second-highest pressure rate (21.4%) last season.
So Zimmer must balance moving Parsons around while still allowing him to be one of the most effective pass-rushers in the league.
Zimmer said he’s had regular breakfast meetings with Parsons, cornerback Trevon Diggs and defensive run game coordinator Paul Guenther to create a holistic approach to the Dallas defense and how offenses will attack it.
“I’m not just learning the D-line stuff for the front,” Parsons said. “I’m learning the back end, the corners, the safeties. Why we want to show this way, why we want to send the pressure over this way because the safety is over there. It’s interesting, and it’s a perspective I never had before.”
Zimmer said he sits in those morning meetings with Parsons and Diggs, talking through the protections and schemes of different offenses, what they are trying to do and how they’re going to attack them. Zimmer is trying to be very specific in what he wants defensively, and making sure the players understand it.
Parsons appears to have taken information from those meetings and quickly translated it onto the field. That was on display in a joint scrimmage against the Los Angeles Rams last week, as Parsons would have had a handful of sacks if the two teams were playing a real game. Parsons lived in the backfield during the scrimmage.
“Wherever he is, you find him, and you slide to him,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “We didn’t game plan. We didn’t know. But I thought they did a really good job of having him in a variety of spots. It’s a good test.
“DeMarcus Lawrence is an excellent player, and they have some good players on the interior. They have excellent players on the second and third level. Any time you’re able to get into these settings where Coach Zimmer does a great job mixing it up and you don’t really have film to go off [it’s a test].”
During the offseason, the Cowboys signed free-agent inside linebacker Eric Kendricks, who played with the Los Angeles Chargers last season after eight years with the Vikings. Kendricks will serve as the defensive playcaller and brings familiarity with Zimmer’s scheme from his time in Minnesota.
Kendricks was active in the joint practice against the Rams, making a handful of plays in the running game.
“It’s a mentality, especially since this is where we practice,” Kendricks said. “We’ve got to consider this kind of like our home. We can’t let anybody come in here and get too physical with us. We’ve got to be aggressive. We’ve got to be a hard-hitting defense. That’s the kind of style we want. And I think we showed it.”
Zimmer said it helps to have a familiar veteran like the 32-uear-old Kendricks on the field.
“He settles guys down,” Zimmer said. “He makes the calls, gets guys lined up. If we have to make checks and adjustments, things like that, it helps.”
While having an experienced player in the middle of the defense helps, how Zimmer deploys Parsons will have a more significant impact on how Dallas plays defensively, particularly against the run.
The Cowboys allowed 112 yards per game (No. 16 in the NFL) during the regular season last year and 143 in the team’s postseason loss to the Packers. According to Next Gen Stats, Parsons lined up on 819 defensive snaps as an edge defender last season. Zimmer plans to move Parsons around more, which should lead to improved run defense numbers.
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And at least against the Rams in the team’s first preseason game, Zimmer showed that the Dallas defense will still take the ball away. In a 13-12 loss to L.A. on Sunday, the Cowboys picked off second-year Rams QB Stetson Bennett four times. The Cowboys also held the Rams to 101 rushing yards. Parsons did not play in the first preseason game, as most starters watched from the sideline for Dallas.
“When we hired Mike, we were clearly committed to a system change, and we’ve done that,” Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said. “This is Mike’s system, something that’s been built over decades of highly successful football in our league.
“I really like the transition that they’ve made from the old system to his system. There is carryover, so I think the coaches and players have done a good job of carrying that forward. But at the end of it, the objective is to be part of complementary football that puts us in a position to win a championship. Mike’s clearly one of the toughest playcallers I’ve gone against. So I look forward to him calling it for us on Sundays.”
Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.
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