Dallas Cowboys’ historic defensive draft tailor-made for new coordinator Dan Quinn

Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn has no interest in calling what transpired over the three days of the 2021 NFL Draft as the “Dan Quinn Draft.”

Never mind that Quinn’s influence was reflected in the team choosing eight defensive players among its 11 picks, including a franchise-record six straight to start the draft as well as the types of players they took in terms of size and body build.

“It’s a Dallas Cowboys draft,” Quinn said matter-of-factly in an effort to take the focus off him and put it back on the team where it belongs.

What can’t be denied and what’s been evident since he was hired in January to replace the-fired Mike Nolan is that this will be a Dan Quinn defense. The Cowboys are doing everything they can to help him fix a unit that set a team record for points allowed in 2020 and gave up the second most yards and rushing yards ever.

It started in free agency when the Cowboys signed seven players on defense and continued with the eight defensive draft picks.

Linebacker Micah Parsons and cornerback Kelvin Joseph, picked in the first and second rounds, respectively, are both dynamic athletes who are expected to be Day 1 starters and instant impact performers.

Coach Mike McCarthy readily acknowledges that the Cowboys switched their personnel boards and player profiles to match up with what works best in Quinn’s defense.

“We’ve always tried to do that,” owner Jerry Jones said. “It isn’t always the case in clubs around the league, but we’ve always tried to do it. When you have people of the stature of Dan Quinn, and you have Mike [McCarthy] then they are very impactful [in your decision-making].”

As a result, the Cowboys under Quinn will be bigger, faster, stronger and longer on defense.

Longer?

Consider the three defensive linemen the Cowboys added in free agency in Tarell Basham, Brent Urban and Carlos Watkins and the three they added in the draft in Osa Odighizuwa, Chauncey Golston and Quinton Bohanna.

All six are at least 6-foot-2 and have arm lengths of 34 inches or longer.

“First, let’s talk first with the big guys in the run game,” Quinn said. “When you get a chance to lock somebody out, now you can create that separation to go defend and make a tackle. A guy like Brent Urban has that ability to get somebody locked out or Carlos in that space.

“As a pass rusher, obviously, whoever you’re going against are some guys with long arms. Certainly, a tackle. That’s no big secret. That type of hand-to-hand combat, when you have the length, you can do that.”

That length is also important to Quinn at linebacker and safety in their ability to cover big tight ends, he said.

Bohanna, at 6-4, 327 pounds, gives them a wide body, run stuffer that Quinn likes in the middle of the defense.

Given Quinn’s history of liking long and lean cornerbacks who can play press coverage and run, dating to his days as a Super Bowl champion defensive coordinator with the Seattle Seahawks, it’s no surprise that the Cowboys took the only two cornerbacks in the draft who were 6-4 or taller — Oregon State’s Nahshon Wright in the third round and South Carolina’s Israel Mukuamu in the sixth round.

The Cowboys plan to use Mukuamu at safety.

“I figured it up that our draft class averaged 6-foot-3 and 7/8 inches,” said Jerry Jones, the noted mathematician.

“A basketball team,” vice president Stephen Jones chimed in.

“A basketball team. It’s that long,” Jerry Jones quipped.

Quinn is leaning on his history and roots to help remake the Cowboys defense.

But he is also open to trying new things after a thorough self examination of his methods following his firing as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons midway through last season.

It concluded an up-and-down six-year stint as head coach, most known for the Falcons blowing a 28-3 lead in a 34-28 loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI following the 2016 season.

Quinn had other options to return to coaching. But he said the Cowboys won out because of the whole package that came with it.

“It’s Jerry. It’s Stephen. It’s Mike. It’s the defense. It’s what I think the type of program and place that I’d like to be a part of,” Quinn said. “It was really a no-brainer for me when the opportunity was presented to me to come and be a part of this. I’ve been really impressed with the process of how it’s going. I’m pumped to be here.”

And the Cowboys are clearly pumped to have him.

So what are the Cowboys getting in Quinn?

“Well, much like a player, I guess, I have to prove it,” he said. “What you can count on from me is somebody that’s real specific in how we’re going to go about it and get after it and I’m very much looking forward to proving it. The very best competitive moments in my life have come from prove-it moments. So I guess we’ll have to see.”

The Cowboys are certainly betting mightily on Quinn after turning the defense, if not the draft, over to him.