Dan Quinn hired as Cowboys DC

It’s official. After news broke this morning that former Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn spent several hours virtually meeting with Dallas Cowboys’ brass over the weekend, the team has decided to hire him as their new defensive coordinator.

It was announced by NFL Network’s Ian Rapaport on Monday morning that Quinn was the top candidate for the job and that a deal could come as early as today. The deal came and now Quinn will look to take over a less-than-stellar Cowboys defense which allowed the 5th most points scored in 2020.

Quinn coached the Falcons from 2015-2020 recording 43 wins and 42 losses. The highlight of his six years in Atlanta was making the Super Bowl during the very exciting 2016 season. That magical season obviously ended poorly, and it was practically downhill for the team ever since.

It can’t be ignored what type of person Quinn was. The players loved him, and went to bat for him several times which played a part in the team keeping him during the 2020 offseason. He remains tied with Dan Reeves for most playoff victories in franchise history (3).

In 2021, the Falcons will see Quinn as the team is scheduled to go on the road and face the Cowboys, although the exact date won’t be known until later. Overall, we wish Quinn the best of luck in his position with the Cowboys.

Original story below

It’s going to be a busy week for former Falcons coaches and soon-to-be Falcons coaches. Raheem Morris has interviewed for multiple openings already, and now we’re seeing reports that Dan Quinn could be the favorite for the open Cowboys defensive coordinator job.

The Cowboys going from one former Falcons guy to another is kind of hilarious, frankly. Dallas shockingly hired Mike Nolan, who had last been a defensive coordinator with the Falcons from 2012-2014 and flamed out spectacularly in that role. Nolan lasted just a season in that role amidst a disastrous year for Dallas, and now Quinn is apparently the frontrunner to replace him.

This is a bit surprising. Quinn was hired in Atlanta because of his work with the Seattle defense, where he built on Gus Bradley’s tutelage and had the #1 defense in football for a year. In Atlanta, however, Quinn cycled defensive coordinators (Richard Smith, Marquand Manuel, himself, Raheem Morris) and saw the D crater when he took over running it. Throughout his tenure as the Falcons head coach, the team had a quality offense and a defense that rarely was more than mediocre.

Dallas is clearly betting on that being related more to talent in Atlanta than DQ’s coaching ability if they’re bringing him in. It’s well-known that Quinn’s work as a motivator and player’s coach is respected around the league, which is probably part of the issue here after players were clearly unhappy with Nolan, but do the Cowboys have the personnel necessary for DQ to make them great? Obviously after the past several years I have my doubts about that one, but I hope he fares well there until they play Atlanta.

On an unrelated former Falcons coach side note: You may have seen a rumor circulating that Dirk Koetter is off to Boise State, but it turns out that he is not. At this moment, Koetter is still under contract with the Falcons.