There was some hope–maybe more desperation–among those around the Dallas Cowboys in 2025 that the team’s porous and injured collection of defensive backs could be rescued down the stretch of the season by Shavon Revel, the third-round draft pick out of East Carolina who began the season in the injured reserve as he recovered from ACL surgery, an injury he suffered during the 2024 season with the Pirates.
If Revel played up to the potential that the Cowboys saw when they decided to pick him in that third round despite the injury, then the woebegone secondary had a chance to pull itself up to at least passable. If Revel played like a third-round rookie dropped into a mostly clueless defense when he returned to the field in Week 11, then it would all be for naught.
Revel came back. And he looked even more clueless than his predecessors. He allowed a quarterback rating of 126.1 when he was targeted by passes, and when he was graded out by Pro Football Focus, he came in with a grade of 35.2. Out of 112 corners who were graded by PFF last season, Revel ranked … 112th.
Shavon Revel Badly Needs Improvement
OK, so an argument can be made that Revel was the worst cornerback in the league last year, but again, the context for the Cowboys matters. He had no training camp, no real work with his teammates before taking the field in Week 11, and even for a veteran, that would be tough. It was too much for Revel as a rookie.
But no one should be happier with the Cowboys’ choice of new defensive coordinator Christian Parker, whom Dallas hired in part because of the reputation he forged working with Patrick Surtain in Denver and more recently, Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean with the Eagles.
According to Cowboys personnel man Willie McClay, there is some excitement, because Parker has already seen how he can help Revel.
Christian Parker Ready to Help Cowboys From Within
Speaking at this week’s East-West Shrine Bowl, McClay said the secondary will be a special concern of Parker’s.
“He’s talked about some of the young guys. He did talk about [Shavon] Revel and the ability of what he sees, some of the things that he can help him with,” McClay said. “Young players and making them better, the guys in the secondary, [DaRon] Bland and our safeties, and so he’s got a vision for those guys.”
That has McClay licking his chops. The Cowboys will need to bolster their personnel defensively, through the draft and in free agency, but pulling more from the players on the roster is Job 1 for Parker. And Revel stands to benefit.
“When you develop Patrick Surtain and [Quinyon] Mitchell and [Cooper] DeJean, and they’ve all been under his kind of tutelage, it gives us good hope in knowing that he’s a hell of a football coach and he’ll improve that part, as well as the whole defense.” McClay said.
There’s still time needed to acclimate to Parker, of course.
“We’re going to sit around and talk about what we think,” McClay said. “Just that whole process has been incredible to be able to go and dig and find out maybe stuff that you didn’t know. The way that we went about it and finding that guy, as well as putting together the staff, it’s an exhaustive process that I’m proud to be a part of because we’ve got some good guys.”
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