Going into the 2025 season, it was clear that the Cowboys would have to do some reconfiguring on the defensive side of the ball. That’s only natural when you lose one of the best pass-rushers in the game, Micah Parsons, via a trade with the Packers. But for team owner Jerry Jones, the loss of another key Cowboys star–nickel cornerback Jourdan Lewis–was just as difficult.
Lewis signed a three-year, $30 million contract last March to bolt the Cowboys after eight seasons in Dallas, and sign with the Jaguars, where he was part of a vastly improved defensive backfield this season. Lewis, though, suffered a season-ending foot injury in December and will miss Jacksonville’s playoff run.
Still, he got a shout-out from Jones, who admitted the team missed Lewis, during the team’s season-ending press conference on Wednesday. When Lewis saw that mentioned on social media, he responded, “You know it’s all love!”
Jourdan Lewis Loss ‘Hurt Us More Than We Thought’
Jones did not necessarily name Lewis, but he clearly referenced him. The Cowboys made the decision to let Lewis walk with the thinking that DaRon Bland could handle a dual role, sliding inside to play nickel at times and sliding outside at others. Bland had played nickel before, but the foot injury that he suffered last year cost him on the field this year, as he was never really 100%.
Said Jones: “We lost the nickel, and it hurt us more than we thought. The nickel was a serious loss for us. It made a big difference not having [Lewis] out there. And, so, we have got to get better there.
Jones did not pay Lewis, but he gave Bland four years and $90 million on an extension. “The number one thing was we thought —when we lost our nickel last year — we could Bland in and out, and get him going back and forth,” Jones said. He wasn’t quite as suited to getting inside and being a nickel as we thought he would be.
“So that was a little planning that didn’t work out on the plan.”
Cowboys Secondary Woes Went Beyond Jourdan Lewis
While the Cowboys will need to address the nickel position, either in free agency or the draft, they will also need to address the rest of their defensive backfield. The Cowboys released Trevon Diggs before the season ended, and will have Bland again coming back from a foot injury–he is getting surgery to fix the issue.
This year’s class of draft prospects at cornerback is not as strong as past draft classes have been at that position, but there should be three or four worthy of first-round picks–and the Cowboys have two first-rounders this season.
Cowboys Defensive Coordinator Work Begins
But before that, the Cowboys need to find a defensive coordinator, and that process is starting on Friday, as the team interviews its first round of candidates for the job to replace Matt Eberflus.
Coach Brian Schottenheimer gave a bit of a tip on what he is looking for in a new DC: “Good coaches take their players and they fit their players into the model that fits what they do well. You’re looking for a guy that has the ability to instruct and get guys to believe and get guys to buy in. We’re salesmen. When you’re up there in front of players, you’re selling them on why (what you’re doing) is going to work.
“Part of that is your personality, part of it is your ability to communicate. But when we cast this wide net and go find the right guy for this job, which we will find, no question about it, it’s going to be the things that Jerry talked about, but also the flexibility of, ‘Hey, we can do different things,’ because those are the things that cause us problems (on offense). The flexibility and some of the unknowns and things like that.”
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