Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Who are your favorite defensive players in the 2025 NFL Draft? Earlier we shared our thoughts on offensive prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft that make sense for the Dallas Cowboys at each offensive position. Now we flip over to the defense for the same exercise. DT – Alfred Collins, Texas (6’5″, 320) With only Mazi Smith currently on the roster at defensive tackle, the Dallas Cowboys are in desperate need for some more DT depth as well as another starter or two. Alfred Collins is someone who will hopefully be in play for them in the second-round (44th overall). At 6’5″, 320 pounds with nearly 35″ arms, Collins is exactly the type of DT Dallas needs to upgrade the middle of their defensive line. He is surprisingly disruptive and agile for his size and his anchor in the running game would significantly upgrade Dallas’ run defense. #Texas DT Alfred Collins is great example of an NFL prospect who has made $$$ by his play in 2024. 6055v, 319v, 34 3/4 arms. His disruption and effort show up consistently on tape, including this FF that locked up the win Saturday. Day 2 grade. pic.twitter.com/VA1DGxxC4y — Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) November 18, 2024 EDGE – Mike Green, Marshall (6’3″, 250) Defensive end is an underrated position of need for the Dallas Cowboys with both DeMarcus Lawrence and Carl Lawson hitting free agency. Whether it’s with the 12th overall pick or in a trade-down scenario, DE could very much be in play for the Cowboys in the first round. Mike Green is a good choice if they trade down. He brings to mind the Houston Texans second overall pick a few years ago, Will Anderson Jr. Both are surprisingly stout against the run despite their slim frame and are tenacious as pass rushers. Several newcomers in my updated top-50, including Marshall edge rusher Mike Green (6-3 1/4, 250). Explosive off the snap, relentless motor and more physical vs. the run than expected. Stock player. Full top-50: https://t.co/nEyXyI7OXY pic.twitter.com/gX8OuVNNfp — Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) November 13, 2024 LB – Carson Schwesinger, UCLA (6’2″, 233) Former UCLA LB Carson Schwesinger is flying somewhat under the radar right now, but is a Top 5 player at his position. If the Cowboys are looking to draft a linebacker early, he’s someone they could target with their 44th overall pick. He is similar to former Cowboys LB Sean Lee because of his read-and-react skills and his sideline-to-sideline ability. He’s also no slouch when dropping into coverage. He could challenge for a starting job from Day 1 as a rookie if drafted by the Cowboys. UCLA #49 LB Carson Schwesinger He. Can. Do. It. All. Former Walk-On. Sideline-to-Sideline motor. Good read and react ability. Possesses the change of direction needed inside the box, including for zone coverage. Good foot quickness. 2025 #NFL Draft Prospect pic.twitter.com/yEJz6v5qa1 — Colton Edwards (@coltonedwardsFB) January 10, 2025 CB – Maxwell Hairston, Kentucky (6’1″, 186) Trevon Diggs will be working himself back from yet another season-ending knee injury, Jourdan Lewis is now a free agent, and DaRon Bland is entering the final year of his rookie contract. The Cowboys don’t really have a healthy CB other than No. 26 who can be considered a starter, making this a position of need. Maxwell Hairston could fix all that. He is smooth in coverage, has a high football IQ, has the prototypical size/length combo for an outside CB. Might not be a more underrated CB in the 2025 NFL Draft than Kentucky’s Maxwell Hairston (#1). Really smooth from off coverage with recovery. Huge fan. pic.twitter.com/ja2QL2NJAq — Ryan Roberts (@RiseNDraft) December 5, 2024 S – Nick Emmanwori, South Carolina (6’3″, 227) Both Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson could potentially be salary-cap casualties for the Cowboys, making safety potentially an underrated roster need for them this offseason. Nick Emmanwori is a Top 5 safety prospect in the 2025 draft class and someone who could immediately upgrade the backend of Dallas’ secondary as a rookie. At 6’3″, 227-pounds, he is capable of being both an enforcer and ball hawk due to his rare athleticism for his size. He’s another player for the second round (44th overall) for the Cowboys. Quite simply… safeties at 6-3 and 227 pounds shouldn’t be able to change direction as smoothly as South Carolina’s Nick Emmanwori (#7). Stud athlete… leads the Gamecocks with 52 total tackles, 4 interceptions, and 6 PBUs. pic.twitter.com/JAFP8hjOCe — Ryan Roberts (@RiseNDraft) November 8, 2024

Photo by Jane Gershovich/Getty Images The latest buzz around the Dallas Cowboys. Jerry Jones has reached out to Pete Carroll about Cowboys’ head coach opening – SportsDay Staff, Dallas Morning News While the Cowboys’ head coaching search seems to have a frontrunner in Brian Schottenheimer, a new possible candidate emerges. A person with knowledge of the Cowboys coaching search told The Dallas Morning News’ Calvin Watkins that Jerry Jones has had a conversation with the former Super Bowl champion about the organization’s opening, but have not set up anything formal about a potential job interview. Carroll has officially interviewed with the Chicago Bears and Las Vegas Raiders about their head coach openings in recent weeks. The 73-year-old Carroll is looking to return to the sideline after moving into an advisory role with the Seahawks at the end of last season. He led Seattle to its lone Super Bowl championship during a 14-year run that included 10 trips to the playoffs. He also won a national championship at USC, making him one of three coaches to win the top NFL and college prizes along with former Cowboys coaches Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer. Carroll had a 137-69-1 record in the regular season with the Seahawks, leading them to five NFC West titles and 10 playoff victories. Alongside his defensive coordinator at the time Dan Quinn, Carroll became the first coach to bring the Lombardi Trophy to Seattle with the Seahawks’ Super Bowl 48 victory over Denver. The Seahawks got back to the Super Bowl the following year, but Russell Wilson threw a goal-line interception in the final seconds of a loss to New England. Cowboys head coach interviewee Robert Saleh is returning to the 49ers. Report: Robert Saleh headed back to San Francisco as defensive coordinator https://t.co/XSPYTAqJn0 — John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) January 24, 2025 Trevon Diggs has surgery on his left knee – Nick Eatman, DallasCowboys.com CB Trevon Diggs has surgery to repair his left knee after missing the latter part of the season. The timetable for return may extend into training camp. Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs, who missed the last six games of the season with a knee injury, had surgery on Thursday. Diggs battled through the injury during the mid-to-late part of the season and eventually went to IR. The surgery, which is called a chondral tissue graft procedure requires considerable time from the initial injury. Still, the Cowboys are hopeful Diggs can return next season at some point, even if he’s not ready to start practicing at the beginning of training camp. Diggs, a two-time Pro Bowler, played in 11 games this past season, recording two interceptions. Diggs missed most of the 2023 season with an ACL injury, also on his left knee. Brian Schottenheimer’s HC potential gets strong endorsement amid Cowboys buzz – Koby Skillern, Sports Illustrated Michael Lombardi and Pat McAfee had high praise for the potential new head coach for the Dallas Cowboys. Fans had hoped for a more high-profile, dynamic hire—someone with head coaching experience to help turn the team’s fortunes around. However, not everyone shares the same skepticism. On The Pat McAfee Show, UNC general manager Michael Lombardi expressed his belief that Schottenheimer is ”more ready to be a head coach now than he ever was” and that he is ”rooting for Brian to carry on his father’s legacy.” Lombardi went on to say that Schottenheimer would be a ”great hire” and a ”great leader” for the Cowboys. These comments offer a fresh perspective, countering the doubts from fans and analysts alike. “I think Brian Schottenheimer is a really good football coach.. I’m sure he’s ready to be a Head Coach and I think he would be a great hire for the Dallas Cowboys” @mlombardiuncgm #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/fOyI767c4Y — Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 23, 2025 Pat McAfee also chimed in, adding, ”We had Schotty in Indy, I loved him.” McAfee’s endorsement carries weight, considering his firsthand experience with Schottenheimer during his time with the Indianapolis Colts. What’s Next? Cowboys’ LB unit has tough road due to DeMarvion Overshown injury, Eric Kendricks’ free agency – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com What will the Cowboys LB room look like in 2025? Kendricks helped Zimmer save the day by swerving from his agreement to join the San Francisco 49ers and instead sign on with the Cowboys — the most important free agent signing last spring. Liufau being added in the draft was first met with a “why?” from those outside of the building, seeing as Overshown was slated to make his debut, but it all made sense before it was all said-and-done, as Overshown’s injury thrust Liufau to the forefront to become Robin to Kendricks’ Batman and, at times, looking like Batman himself. Nick Vigil, another Zimmer addition, became a special teams’ ace and, on the whole, the linebackers’ corps took huge strides forward in 2024 (mostly). But that was then, and this is now, and now there are new problems. Damone Clark is entering Year 4 and he’d like to take Year 3 out back and burn it, his season under Zimmer devolving into a string of healthy scratches that led to his worst season as a professional, cascading from 17 starts and 109 tackles in 2023 to only two starts and 28 tackles in 2024. That makes you wonder if he and the Cowboys will remain together for the year to come or if the former fifth-round pick will seek and be granted a fresh start elsewhere. Future: Overshown suffered a torn ACL to his other knee that not only ended his outstanding debut season, but all but guarantees he misses the start of the next one, and likely a chunk of the entire 2025 campaign. What that means is Liufau not only serves as the saving grace, but also that he might need help due to Kendricks heading to free agency. There will also be depth issues that could come to the surface due to free agency, seeing as both Vigil and practice squad linebacker

Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images The latest on the injured left knee of Trevon Diggs The Dallas Cowboys took a big blow to their defense in 2024 when Trevon Diggs was shut down for the rest of the season in December with an injury to his left knee. It marked the second consecutive year that Diggs had to be put on the shelf with a knee issue. The All-Pro went under the knife on Thursday. The procedure he had done is called chondral tissue graft surgery. Per ESPN’s Todd Archer, Diggs will have a recovery time that could likely spill over into training camp as well as the regular season. Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs had chondral tissue graft surgery Thursday on his left knee and the recovery could keep him until parts of training camp if not longer, according to multiple sources. — Todd Archer (@toddarcher) January 23, 2025 With back-to-back major knee surgeries, the future for Diggs in Dallas now has some question marks. There’s no doubt that Diggs is a great player when he’s healthy and at his best, but availability is the ultimate trait for any athlete, and he hasn’t been able to be relied for a few seasons now. This also brings the cornerback position even more to the forefront in terms of the NFL draft for the Cowboys. DaRon Bland returned from a foot injury after missing two months of the season, but he wasn’t quite the same All-Pro performer he was in 2023. Also, veteran Jourdan Lewis is a free agent, and rookie Caelen Carson has his fair share of struggles. Hopefully, Diggs can have a speedy recovery and get back to action once the 2025 campaign begins.

Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images Jerry Jones has reportedly reached out to Pete Caroll about the open Cowboys job. The Dallas Cowboys have been looking for a new head coach for almost two full business weeks and it both feels like they are very close to an answer and like one will never come. Thursday brought with it a few pieces of notable information. Early in the day it was reported that the team could “cross the finish line” with Brian Schottenheimer by the end of the week, but as the day wore on another report emerged that Dallas had had an informal conversation to this point with someone other than Deion Sanders. That was new information. It seemed as if the informal candidate in question may have been former special teams coach Rich Bisaccia, and it very well may could have been. But later in the afternoon Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Jerry Jones has had contact with Pete Carroll. The Star-Telegram has confirmed that Jones has made contact with former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll regarding the opening. The conversation has been described as informal, although the interest is legitimate enough to be reported, according to another source. There are no set plans for a formal interview as of Thursday afternoon. As this coaching cycle has gone on it has seemed as if Carroll, who coached the Seattle Seahawks forever and led them to victory in Super Bowl XLVIII, wanted to get back into the game. Time will tell if that is ultimately the case. Before we go on getting more excited than we should be, it is worth noting that Carroll has a history with the perceived favorite in Brian Schottenheimer as the latter worked for the former in Seattle. It is possible that the “informal” conversation, to use Harris’ wording, could have been a vetting process for an eventual Schottenheimer hire. But there have been reports that Dallas is considering Schottenheimer as an offensive coordinator as well, the role that he held for the last two years with the Cowboys, so maybe Dallas wants to reunite the band so to speak. A world where Pete Carroll is setting the culture at head coach, Brian Schottenheimer is finally getting to call plays as the offensive coordinator and Jason Witten (if it really must be done) is learning from it all for the future doesn’t sound like the worst thing ever. For what it’s worth here is what Mookie Alexander from Field Gulls had to say about the idea when we asked him. He was kind enough to respond very quickly! If Carroll is hired by the Cowboys I would anticipate Schottenheimer and Mike Solari being retained due to his prior working relationship with them in Seattle. Schottenheimer helped produce Russell Wilson’s best passing seasons as the Seahawks offensive coordinator, and presumably he would regain playcalling duties after not having them under Mike McCarthy. I think Schottenheimer got a bad rap because of the 2018 playoff game against Dallas (not that criticism was unjustified given the decision to repeatedly run into brick walls), plus the late-season collapse of the “Let Russ Cook” season might have been just as much about Wilson than Schottenheimer. Carroll is still a good coach in that he won’t produce a low-floor team and he’s not inflexible in terms of his defensive schemes or even his run-pass tendencies on offense. Unfortunately, he’s also had way too many bad defenses over his final several seasons in Seattle, including below-average DVOA marks every year from 2019 until 2023. That’s all despite enormous draft capital and cash resources spent. I also believe his 4th down decisions are too conservative for the modern NFL. One dynamic that I do wonder about is Carroll working with Jerry Jones. Carroll famously had final say over personnel and roster decisions even though John Schneider was the general manager. Perhaps Carroll is better served just being a head coach, because I believe Front Office Pete is a big reason why Head Coach Pete is looking for a job. That said, nothing about Jerry and Stephen Jones would give me confidence in their ability to build a serious Super Bowl contender regardless of who’s the coach. Mookie notes the connection to Schottenheimer and even to Mike Solari so all of this tracks from a smell test perspective. We will see.

Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images Rich Bisaccia may have been (or might be) a candidate for the Dallas Cowboys head coaching position. As of Thursday afternoon all signs around the Dallas Cowboys coaching search seem to have been pointing in the direction of Brian Schottenheimer. It was even reported that it could “cross the finish line” by Friday. Interestingly, as the day wore on, there came a report from Josina Anderson that Dallas had a potential candidate they had a discussion with an informal sense. It was noted that this was not Deion Sanders. Keep in mind the #Cowboys have also had informal* conversations with at least one other head coach prospect (that I’m aware of) regarding their head coach vacancy. Deion Sanders is not the only one in said category. — JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) January 23, 2025 Many began to wonder exactly who the subject of this informal conversation could have been. To be clear, the formality of things involves conducting an interview and to date Dallas has done so only with Schottenheimer, Kellen Moore, Robert Saleh and Leslie Frazier. As people were wondering a report emerged from Pro Football Post that the person in question was Rich Bisaccia, a former Cowboys staffer. DLLS’ Joe Hoyt confirmed that Dallas has had “some level” of interest in Bisaccia. Can confirm, via a source, that the Cowboys have had (emphasis there) some level of interest in Rich Bissaccia, who spent five seasons in Dallas as special teams coach (2013-17). Another person the Joneses like. Not sure how much far that interest could go, however. https://t.co/eElpEmGlVS — Joseph Hoyt (@JoeJHoyt) January 23, 2025 For what it’s worth Ed Werder noted that a request has not been made, just from a factual standpoint. Per multiple sources: #Cowboys have not made a request to the #Packers regarding an interview with Rich Bisaccia, assistant head coach and special teams coach in Green Bay. HC Matt LaFleur in recent conversation told me Bisaccia would be exceptional HC. He’s demanding but… — Ed Werder (@WerderEdNFL) January 23, 2025 This would be yet another former staffer (obviously) of the Cowboys that they have had alleged interest in their head coaching position. Schottenheimer is coming off of two years as the offensive coordinator, he joined the staff the year before that, and Kellen Moore has obviously spent the majority of his career in the league to date with Dallas. Overall this idea suggests that the Cowboys are not exactly casting a wide search and are truly living out their creed of liking their guys. It is important to note that there is a bit of speculation involved here and that even if it were true it is about an informal process surrounding Bisaccia. This remains one of the more unique coaching searches to happen in recent history, even as far as the Cowboys are concerned. The FWST’s Nick Harris reported that it may not be close to coming to an end either. “Far from the end, I fear.” – a source just told me regarding Cowboys HC search Of note, this source is the only one I have left that has remained consistent in Schottenheimer remaining OC. The noise hasn’t affected their thinking. Catch me at the end of all of this, fellas. — Nick Harris (@NickHarrisFWST) January 23, 2025 Around and around we go.

Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images Sonny Styles is a name to keep in mind. The Ohio State Buckeyes have won the College Football National Championship. The Buckeyes have one of the most loaded rosters in college football, with several playmakers on all levels. The offense gets much of the attention with premier receivers and running backs, but their defense has fueled their national championship. Their linebacking corps, in particular, has been outstanding. One linebacker is the feature of today’s prospect profile, Sonny Styles. The big linebacker has football in his blood. His father, Lorenzo, played in the NFL for six seasons and won a Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams. Sonny Styles is a second-team All-American with an enticing athletic profile the Cowboys should be interested in. Here’s the scoop on the junior linebacker. Strengths The first thing that stands out about Styles is his size. Styles is listed at 6’4 ”and 235 lbs. He and Cody Simon work well together to give Ohio State a formidable tandem with great versatility. Styles has the upper body strength in the running game to hold up offensive linemen at the line of scrimmage. As an athlete, Styles is exceptionally fluid in defending the run from sideline to sideline, and his quickness to get around offensive linemen allows him to make big plays in the running game. He routinely makes himself skinny in pursuit of the ball carrier to get around blockers. As a tackler, Styles can also fill the gap and meet the running back in the hole. Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson is one of the premier runners in the nation. It’s one-on-one in the hole, and Styles takes him down. He also fits the proper gap to make the tackle and stop Johnson dead in his tracks. In coverage, Styles is very alert. He understands when to pass off receivers through his zone and retrace back to his area. Styles is very light on his feet and effortlessly glides from his backpedal to playing downhill to close in on would-be receivers. In man coverage, he can easily carry running backs and tight ends up the field. Weaknesses As for negatives, when Styles carries receivers and tight ends, he can be handsy for an extended time when playing near the line of scrimmage. When rushing from the interior, Styles needs to get under his pads more. He comes in to rush upright, and it gives interior linemen a clean strike zone to reroute him off his track. With his change of direction, he could be more effective as a rusher. Also with his traits, you wonder if there’s some upside with him as a speed rusher in select sub packages with his length and quick first step. Fit Some draft boards have Styles listed as a safety. However, with his physicality near the line of scrimmage and ability to cover underneath patterns, a permanent move to linebacker in the NFL makes a lot of sense. He started for the Buckeyes as a Will linebacker. DeMarvion Overshown and Marist Liufau are good starting blocks and possess terrific athleticism. However, Overshown is in recovery from another ACL injury and Liufau is still developing. Styles would give Dallas immediate depth at an area of need with traits a defensive coordinator could develop.