The other coach in charge of rewiring the Cowboys secondary

While fans of the Dallas Cowboys have spent the last few months buzzing about the hiring of defensive coordinator Christian Parker, there is another secondary savant in the building who no one is really talking about. Everyone loves the bright young coordinator hire, but you cannot overlook the arrival of Derrick Ansley, who joined the staff in January as the team’s new defensive pass-game coordinator and defensive backs coach.

This is not some wide-eyed newcomer looking for his big break. He comes to Frisco with two decades of coaching experience, having refined his craft under the legendary Nick Saban at Alabama and most recently serving as a primary architect for a dominant Green Bay Packers secondary. His extensive resume is built on a very specific defensive philosophy that’s about to change how the Cowboys play on the back end.

Ansley is a beast when it comes to running split-field safety looks. Instead of just having guys drop to a spot on the field like in a basic zone, he uses a quarters-style system where defenders will match patterns, converting to man-to-man once the receivers cross a certain depth. And he uses his outside guys to read the offense’s first steps to get the right positioning. It’s a really smart way to take away those big, explosive home-run plays and keep everything in front of the defense. In other words, no more guarding grass. They are strictly hunting jerseys now.

He is obsessed with the details when he’s prepping for a game. He breaks down the offense’s film to figure out exactly where they’re weak and what they like to do in certain situations. Instead of just guessing, he uses a massive checklist of the opponent’s favorite route combinations. This helps his defensive backs know exactly what’s coming before the ball is even snapped. He also looks for the quarterback’s tells, like if the guy struggles to throw to his left or panics under a specific blitz. Basically, he does all the heavy lifting during the week to simplify the assignment by Sunday so his guys don’t have to overthink, and they can just play fast and react.

The hallmark of an Ansley defense is that they are obsessed with hunting for the ball. They don’t just wait for the ball to fall into their lap. They’re coached to be violent, poking and ripping the ball loose, and jumping in front of receivers to take what they rightfully feel belongs to them. He trains his secondary to go get the ball at its highest point. By teaching them how to break on the ball aggressively and time their jumps, he maximizes their chances for takeaways. Bottom line, he wants his guys to stop playing it safe and start snatching the ball out of the sky.

Even though he’s a genius with all the coach speak and complex playbooks, Ansley is a teacher at heart. He’s great at taking these massive, complicated defensive schemes and breaking them down into simple either/or choices for his younger guys. He uses specific teaching methods to clear the mental clutter, so players aren’t standing around overthinking things. And he’ll streamline things by using simple, direct signals, using a single word that tells every player exactly where to line up and what their one job is for that play. In high-pressure moments, he relies on binary decision-making trees.

Example: “If the receiver goes inside, you stay on his hip. If he goes outside, pass him off.”

By simplifying the game plan, he keeps his guys from getting paralysis by analysis, which keeps them playing at full speed. To put it plainly, he turns long-winded, complex instructions into straightforward, easy commands that anyone can follow. That’s the Ansley way.

The front office understands the assignment this offseason by providing Ansley with a fresh crop of secondary talent to play with. The Cowboys went out and brought in five new defensive backs to their roster, adding talents like Caleb Downs and Jalen Thompson to solidify the back end. They bolstered the perimeter by bringing in Cobie Durant and Devin Moore, while adding the versatile P.J. Locke to ensure they have enough veteran savvy to handle the new scheme.

This specific group of defenders was selected because they possess a unique set of skills that perfectly align with the new defensive vision. Here is a list of traits associated with the Ansley defensive scheme from various sources.

• Explosive short area burst to close windows
• High-level football intelligence for rapid route recognition
• Natural ball skills to generate frequent interceptions
• Versatility to play both single high and split safety looks
• Physicality in run support from the secondary
• Elite recovery speed when challenged vertically
• Disciplined eye contact to avoid being fooled by play action
• Fluid hip transitions to stay sticky in man coverage
• Relentless competitive drive to win every jump ball situation

With the combination of Christian Parker’s vision and Derrick Ansley’s technical expertise, the Dallas defense is looking like a very exciting improvement project. Ansley brings the perfect blend of high-level coaching pedigree and the ability to connect with a young, hungry roster. If you like watching a secondary that plays fast, has its head in the game, and attacks everything in sight, then you are going to love what this coach is cooking up.