Cowboys schedule first three interviews for open defensive coordinator position
The Dallas Cowboys have requested to interview three candidates for their defensive coordinator opening, according to a report from ESPN’s Todd Archer.
The Cowboys are in line to speak with Broncos defensive pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard, Vikings defensive pass game coordinator Daronte Jones and Browns safeties coach Ephraim Banda. The team also requested to speak with Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, but that request was denied by Atlanta as the franchise seeks a new head coach that could retain Ulbrich on staff.
Here is more information on each interview request.
Jim Leonhard
Leonhard, 43, was on the same New York Jets team that Schottenheimer was offensive coordinator for from 2009 to 2011 during a 10-year career at defensive back, and he has since made his own name in the coaching world.
After retiring in 2015, Leonhard returned to his alma mater, Wisconsin, to be the defensive backs coach in 2016 and defensive coordinator for the Badgers from 2017 to 2022. In 2024, he made the jump to the NFL to be the defensive pass game coordinator for Denver, where he has excelled in his two seasons.
This season, the Broncos’ secondary allowed the seventh-fewest passing yards in the NFL and the fourth-fewest passing touchdowns. It was a top-three scoring defense for the second season in a row under Leonhard, and it put together the second-best defense in total yards allowed as well.
“I saw Jim before we played Denver,” Schottenheimer said. “Jim’s a heck of football coach. You talk about a great football player, man. We had some great years together in New York. Again, I would not say we’ve stayed in touch. This business is hard. You get going a million miles [an hour]. You got to speak to what Sean [Payton] and what that entire staff has done there. Vance Joseph is a guy I have a ton of respect for. Jim’s an excellent coach.”
Scheme: Disguised blitzes, complex pressure looks, match zone coverages
Daronte Jones
The Cowboys have had an infatuation with Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores over the course of the last month. And while he may not be on the open market at the moment, Daronte Jones is a guy who could show similar intrigue in an interview.
Jones, 47, has coached cornerbacks and defensive backs for a total of nine seasons in the NFL and has been partially responsible for the Vikings’ second-ranked pass defense in the league in 2025. He has not been a defensive coordinator in the league, but he did have one season at LSU as the defensive coordinator in 2021.
While Dallas is the first team to put in a request to speak with Jones, he is expected to draw interest around the league in this hiring cycle. The Jets have also put in a request to speak with him about their defensive coordinator opening.
Scheme: 4-2-5 at LSU with heavy nickel usage, but could adopt Flores’ scheme of disguised pre-snap looks and heavy blitz usage
Ephraim Banda
A native of San Antonio, Banda just completed his third season as the safeties coach in Cleveland under defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. Schwartz is another example of a defensive coordinator that Dallas would like to speak with if he ever hit the open market, but Banda could offer some intrigue coming from the same system.
Like the other two candidates, Banda has not been a defensive coordinator at the NFL level, but has had experience at the college level. He was the co-defensive coordiantor (not the play-caller) at Miami in 2019 and 2020 and the defensive coordinator at Utah State in 2021 and 2022.
Banda began his career at Incarnate Word before stops at Texas and Mississippi State. His time in Starkville, Mississippi, in 2015 overlapped with quarterback Dak Prescott’s senior season with the Bulldogs.
Scheme: Focus on physicality and creating turnovers
As a note, Banda and Jones fulfill the two required interviews to minority candidates, a stipulation that has been in place as a result of the NFL’s Rooney Rule. If the Cowboys find their next defensive coordinator in these interviews, they will be free to make the hire.
The Cowboys will interview Jones and Banda on Friday, while Leonhard will interview on Saturday. All three interviews will be virtual.
This story was originally published January 8, 2026 at 6:06 PM.
