Cowboys News: Dl Coach Aaron Whitecotton Moves On To The Titans

Titans hire Aaron Whitecotton as defensive run game coordinator/DL coach – Charean Williams, PFT

Cowboys doing a full defensive makeover.

The Titans are hiring Aaron Whitecotton as their new run game coordinator/defensive line coach, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.

Whitecotton interviewed with the Cowboys for their defensive coordinator opening before they hired Christian Parker.

He rejoins Robert Saleh in Tennessee. The two coaches have spent eight seasons together, including from 2021-24 when Saleh was head coach of the Jets and Whitecotton was the defensive line coach.

Hiring Christian Parker could help recruit free agents to Dallas – Shane Taylor, Inside The Star

If the Cowboys really want a quick turnaround on defense under a new DC, they’ll need to seriously use free agency to change the roster.

Free Agents?

The first step in getting this thing right is doing exactly what Jerry Jones did. Do the process like everyone else, get young names in the building, stop using old head coaches as your DC. That doesn’t work as we have seen.

Now, with getting Parker in the building, this could be great for their backend and maybe bring some guys in through free agency.

Patrick Surtain II: First-team All-Pro; Quinyon Mitchell: First-team All-Pro; Cooper DeJean: First-team All-Pro.

He knows how to coach the secondary. Dallas does not currently have one of those types of guys in the building, but some could be very soon.

Reddy Steward, Caelen Carson and Josh Butler are decent depth pieces, but that cannot be your starting room heading into next year.

DaRon Bland just had his second foot surgery in as many years. They say he will be good to go for the start of camp and everything else, but like Trevon Diggs who they released, his best year(s) might be behind him.

Here are names to keep an eye on. These are free agents. Tariq Woolen, Jamel Dean, Eric Stokes, Greg Newsome, Roger McCreary, Alontae Taylor and Cam Taylor-Britt.

One other guy that I would keep a very close eye on is Nakobe Dean. He is a free agent and would be a huge upgrade for Dallas at the second-worst spot on their defense.

8 Cowboys Steelers Mike McCarthy might trade for, poach in free agency – K.D. Drummond, The Cowboys Wire

Mike McCarthy is the first former Cowboys HC to become a HC elsewhere since Wade Phillips (Texans interim).

Here’s a list of guys who were on the Cowboys’ 2025 roster but also make a ton of sense for McCarthy to try and add.

WR Jalen Tolbert (Free Agency)

Tolbert was a 2022 third-round pick who led the Cowboys in TD receptions in 2024, McCarthy’s final season. He was basically frozen out of the offense in 2025 under Brian Schottenheimer and Klayton Adams. The former South Alabama star makes way too much sense for a team that is lacking in wideout options and he probably won’t cost much, but could end up in the Cowboys’ comp pick ledger.

OG TJ Bass (Restricted Free Agency)

It’s debatable what level the Cowboys were planning on tendering TJ Bass. The former UDFA is an RFA, which means the Cowboys could tender him at one of three different compensation levels. The game is that the more protection Dallas puts on Bass (and another player we’ll discuss in a few), the more it costs them.

RB Malik Davis (trade)

Another idea we’re adding here that was floated from Marcus Mosher and Landon McCool, was that McCarthy was pretty high on the talents of Davis as a running back and could come sniffing to see about adding him to their RB stable. Receiving back Kenneth Gainwell is an unrestricted free agent.

Cowboys 2026 draft: Senior Bowl prospect news – Mike Poland, The Cowboys Wire

The odds are very high that at least one player playing in the Senior Bowl will be drafted by the Cowboys in April.

Top-10 Prospects Watch List:

David Bailey, EDGE, Texas Tech

Bailey is maybe the top-ranked invite on most people’s rankings. He’s an explosive, high-level pass-rush specialist whose acceleration, flexibility, and arsenal of moves lets him win in multiple ways while still playing with enough edge-setting strength to stay on the field.

T.J. Parker, EDGE, Clemson

Parker is a pro-ready, three-down edge with the anchor and spatial awareness to set the edge versus the run, plus enough burst and power to collapse pockets.

KC Concepcion, WR, Texas A&M

Concepcion is the prototype offensive-starter kit in Mobile, bringing legitimate receiver production plus return value on special teams, and high-end run-after-catch ability.

DeMarcus Lawrence’s words to the Cowboys sting more than ever, but there’s an obvious lesson to be learned from his Seahawks – Mauricio Rodriguez, A to Z Sports

A lot of people doubted that DeMarcus Lawrence would be part of a Super Bowl team for the Seahawks, but he got there in his first season.

Now, Lawrence is headed to Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California after the Seahawks beat the Los Angeles Rams in a dramatic 31-27 showdown. And all I can think about right now is how the Cowboys can learn something from the Seahawks, and how it’s time to do things differently if they want to prove Lawrence—and other former players with similar messages—wrong.

Cowboys need to replicate Seahawks’ free agency approach

Before we really dive into it, a quick sidebar: Good for Lawrence, man. For years, he flew under the radar as a standout yet not elite pass rusher despite consistently playing as one of the most complete defenders at the position. In head coach Mike Macdonald’s scheme in Seattle, Lawrence has been a perfect fit.

It’s okay to be happy for D-Law despite his words aimed at the Cowboys in the offseason. Which, to be fair, came after Dallas happily let him walk in free agency.

As for what the Cowboys can learn from the Seahawks, one thing stands above all else: They built that team by spending a lot in free agency. The Seahawks had the fourth-highest spending in free agency in 2025, per Spotrac. And they gambled in the process.