Seven months ago, not long after he was named the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys–his first time as an NFL coordinator job, for a franchise that long preferred retreads in coordinator positions–Christian Parker was asked about his plans for the defensive front of Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark, two players the team had viewed as the run-stopping reward for the Micah Parsons trade.
Parker saw big things for both players, saw them thriving in the system he was looking forward to implementing. He’d been on the Packers‘ defensive staff when Clark was starring in Green Bay, and had high praise, too, for Williams, an All-Pro with the Jets.
Speaking on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Parker said: “When I was in Green Bay with Kenny Clark, he was the best nose [tackle] in football, in my opinion, at doing this style because he plays with good length and he has a good anchor. Quinnen Williams, this is how he played at Alabama.”
Cowboys’ Christian Parker Has Not Gotten Much From Quinnen Williams
We’re only two games into the Parker defensive implementation for the Cowboys, but already, there have been significant questions raised as to why the versions of Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams described by the DC in February have looked nothing like the ones we’re actually seeing on the field. The Cowboys rank 30th in rushing yards allowed, and the players’ Pro Football Focus grades are abysmal: 49.1 for Williams, which ranks 88th in the NFL, and 53.9 for Clark, which is 73rd. That’s out of 120 defensive linemen.
Cowboys analyst John Owning wrote on Twitter/X, as part of a deeper dive into Williams’ struggles, “Obvious caveats given the small sample of only 2 games this season, BUT I’m starting to wonder whether this scheme is the BEST fit (doesn’t mean it’s a bad fit) for Quinnen Williams.”
For Cowboys, ‘Kenny Clark Is Nowhere Near What Christian Parker Talked Him Up to Be’
The folks at 105.3, too, remember the Parker conversation from February, and raised questions about why the Parker vision for Clark has been so vastly different from the Cowboys’ Clark reality this year.
“Kenny Clark is nowhere near what Christian Parker talked him up to be,” the station’s Bobby Belt said. “That’s one Christian Parker is gonna have to answer for if he is bad. Like, you traded Osa Odighizuwa, you had better hope he is not good in San Francisco this year. Because if he is, you’re gonna have to answer for that being the guy you didn’t choose over Kenny Clark. Maybe early on, your first decision, you went with a friend, and that was a bad call.”
Scheme Changes Must Help Kenny Clark, Quinnen Williams
But, again, it is Williams, too, that is a problem for the Cowboys. He has not approached how good he was last season, when he was rated the No. 2 defensive lineman in the league between the Cowboys and Jets.
Former NFL safety and current CBS analyst Adam Archuleta noted, “Quinnen is a penetrating 3-technique. He wants to get off the ball and play the run on the way to the QB. He is not a 2 gap or gap1/2 DL. He is a good football player and will still make plays, but this scheme significantly limits his upside and impact.”
But the question was raised–and this is still the key issue here–can and will Parker adjust and unlock his critical interior linemen?
Wrote Archuleta: “Any good coach should.”
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