- Josh McDaniel proved to be a good offensive coordinator, but has flamed out twice as a head coach, first in Denver, and this year in Las Vegas. The players won’t accept him trying to emulate the disciplinary approach of Bill Belichick.
- Wade Phillips has had multiple shots at being head coach in Denver, Buffalo, and Dallas, and interim head coach in New Orleans, Atlanta and Houston. But his forte was being an excellent defensive coordinator. He won a Super Bowl ring with the Broncos as a defensive coordinator in Super Bowl 50. The reason he kept getting opportunities to be a head coach was his stellar record as a defensive coordinator. He returned to the Super Bowl with the Rams against the Tom Brady led Patriots as a coordinator and his defense held the Patriots to only 13 points in a 13-3 loss with Jared Goff as QB of the Rams.
Now let’s talk about Dan Quinn and Ron Rivera. Both of them have taken teams to the Super Bowl as head coaches in Atlanta and Carolina. But both lost to HOF QB’s in Brady and Peyton Manning, although the Carolina loss was really a defensive win by the Broncos. So, unlike McDaniel and Phillips, both have shown they can be successful as head coaches in the NFL in a way neither McDaniels or Phillips ever did. But it is unlikely that when the Commanders fire Ron Rivera at the end of this season that another team is going to hire Rivera immediately as their next head coach. On the other hand, Dan Quinn may be the hottest head coaching candidate on the market in 2024.
McCarthy, who has earned a contract extension, has shown the humility to be able to work with former head coaches, and his ego doesn’t require him to be overly dominant – as he showed by allowing Kellen Moore to remain as OC, even though circumstances have shown that McCarthy is better at being the play caller than Moore has been. It would be interesting to see Ron Rivera bring some of the "Buddy Ryan, 46-defense" philosophy that the 1985 Bears used to be one of the most dominant defenses in NFL history. It might also result in getting some better coaching for the linebackers, and perhaps some better talent evaluation for the linebacker spot.
Going into the next draft, the priorities have to be Defensive Tackle and Linebacker on defense for the Cowboys. The Cowboys are well set up in the defensive backfield, and with pass rushers. Getting a guy like Rivera, someone who has been successful as a player, coordinator and head coach, would potentially set the Cowboys up for success, if Dan Quinn chooses to take advantage of what many believe will be multiple opportunities to become a head coach again in the NFL. Potentially, bringing back Matt Eberflus as DC, who has flamed out as a head coach in Chicago, is another option, if Chicago jumps at Ron Rivera coming home to be head coach of the Bears. Or, the Cowboys could bring in both Rivera and Eberflus as the DC and linebackers coach.
