Matt Eberflus has a clear vision for what the Dallas Cowboys defense will become in 2025.
Just over 60 days since being summarily dismissed as the Chicago Bears’ head coach, following a dreadful finish in the Bears’ Thanksgiving Day loss to the Detroit Lions, Eberflus arrives as Brian Schottenheimer‘s defensive coordinator armed with a bevy of talent looking to spark a renaissance on that side of the ball.
Getting the chance to mold a defense around the likes of Micah Parsons and Demarcus Lawrence up front, and a secondary anchored by the likes of DaRon Bland and Trevon Diggs, Eberflus has a lot of star power at his disposal.
The 54-year-old suggests that creating takeaways is going to be what fuels the Cowboys’ defense in 2025, and beyond.
“Yeah, pretty simple,” Eberflus told reporters recently. “We take the ball away. “That’s what we do. We stop the run. And we want to make exciting plays for our football team. That’s really what we do.”
Last season, the Cowboys were just middle of the pack, finishing 13th in takeaways, averaging 1.3 per game, so Eberflus may have his work cut out for him in terms of climbing those rankings.
Dallas has some marquee personnel at all three levels, and it will be fascinating to see what Eberflus can do to leverage it into more consistency in 2025.
Few players are going to play a bigger role in a defensive turnaround in Dallas than Parsons, who has posted 52.5 sacks through his first four seasons since being chosen No. 12 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.
“Micah’s a premier pass rusher. We’re going to use him that way certainly,” Eberflus said. “And he’s a heckuva athlete and can do a lot of different things for us on defense. When you have a guy like that you want to be able to utilize his skill set, and as we’re around him more, we’ll be able to see what that skill set is and really take advantage of that.”
