Cowboys Best 'Signing'? Coach Dan Quinn Already a Jerry Jones Win

Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn tells CowboysSI.com that he is returning to the team in 2023, with another season of improvement on the agenda.

Dan Quinn is returning to the Dallas Cowboys as defensive coordinator in 2023. ... and while Cowboys Nation obviously wants this team to gobble up great talent via free agency and the NFL Draft, we should not ignore this "signing'' ...

Quinn is a massive "win'' as a free agent "get.''

Seemingly destined to be a head coach once again, the fact that Cowboys Jerry Jones was able to "convince" Quinn to remain is something special.

After taking over from Mike Nolan's 2020 "historically" bad defense, coordinator Quinn's ability to turn the unit around is among the things that have made him a viable head coaching candidate.

Nolan's only season as coordinator for Dallas doesn't make for good reading. The Cowboys allowed 29.6 points per game (ranked 28th) as eight times opposing teams scored 30+ points, ranked ninth in takeaways (23) and 20th in sacks (31).

Meanwhile, each season Quinn has been the defensive coordinator, there have been signs of improvement - big signs.

He took the league's 28th-ranked defense in terms of points allowed to seventh in 2021 (allowing 21.1 points per). They led the NFL in takeaways (34), only three times allowing 30+ points, and their sack total increased from 31 to 41, ranking 14th in the NFL.

Again, signs of improvement.

BREAKING: #DanQuinn tells https://t.co/XpImtdZWO4 - 'I'm staying (with the #Cowboys ) ... we've still got unfinished business at The Star!' BIG STORY - FULL STORY ... pic.twitter.com/A3t7BgSd1g

— fishsports ✭ (@fishsports) January 26, 2023

Then we get to this season. The Cowboys' defensive unit became one of the best in the NFL and was a significant reason Dallas could win games in Dak Prescott's injury absence.

Again, Dallas ranked first in takeaways (33) and became just the second NFL team to do so in back-to-back years since Pittsburgh's famous "Steel Curtain" in 1973-74. Dallas also managed to concede only 20.1 points per game (ranked fifth) and catapulted its sack total to 54 (ranked third).

So, in a nutshell, since Quinn took over the Dallas defense, in two years, he has dropped the points per game allowed from 29.6 to 20.1, improved from 23 takeaways per season to 34 and 33, achieved more sacks (from 31 to 54) and has made the unit a force again.

That isn't all Quinn, as several coaching assistants also get credit, even ones that have been "let go", but he is the leading man - and with what we believe will be a "head-coach salary,'' the Cowboys front office deserves credit for "leading'' him back to The Star.

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