Cowboys’ chief scout Will McClay: ‘There’s alignment and there’s vision’ on team
The Dallas Cowboys’ front office and scouting department touched down in Mobile, Alabama, on Monday night for the annual Senior Bowl scouting event to get a hands-on look at some of the players who will be available in the upcoming draft.
Of those, chief scout and vice president of player personnel Will McClay is among the front-facing figures for a scouting department that has seen him stand at the forefront of the operation since 2015 and be a part of the department since 2002.
McClay serves a lot of responsibilities that stretch far beyond scouting the upcoming draft class. One of the more important roles he’s served as of late is being part of the interview process that saw the Cowboys land on Christian Parker as their new defensive coordinator on Jan. 22. As he did his part and his own research during the process, it was clear to him why Parker should be the choice.
“Everybody you talk to, nobody said anything negative about him,” McClay said. “That was No. 1. Then, when we got the chance to meet him and talk to him, he was wise beyond his years. But the way he puts things together and the way he talks about his defense, his awareness about the front end and the back end, it’s exciting to work with him and the staff he’s going to put together ... He’s going to put us up front on the defensive side.”
Throughout Parker’s career, he has helped develop multiple first-team All-Pro cornerbacks, including the Broncos’ Patrick Surtain II and the Eagles’ Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell. The vision he enacted for those guys is already starting to manifest in the beginning stages for players like Shavon Revel Jr. and DaRon Bland on the Cowboys’ roster.
“He’s talked about the young guys, he talked about Revel,” McClay said. “The ability and what he sees and what he can help him with, young players are going to be better. The guys in the secondary — Bland, the safeties — he’s got a vision for those guys. When you develop Patrick Surtain, [Quinyon] Mitchell and [Cooper] DeJean and have those guys under his tutelage, it gives us good hope knowing that he’s a hell of a football coach.”
However, outside questions still rightfully exist with Parker’s hire. At 34 years old, he’s not only the youngest defensive coordinator in team history, but it’s also the first time he will be calling plays at any level. How did the Cowboys answer the question of inexperience on that front?
“It was the exhaustive search that [head coach Brian Schottenheimer] has done, and all of us having a piece in it,” McClay said. “Just that whole process, it was incredible to be able to go and dig and find out stuff that you maybe didn’t know. It was just the way we went about it in finding that guy as well as putting together the staff is an exhaustive process. I’m proud to be a part of it, because we have some good guys.”
McClay commended the process that Schottenheimer went through to find the new defensive coordinator multiple times Tuesday. In the search, the Cowboys conducted nine interviews with potential candidates. In the 13 previous hirings of the position in franchise history, the team had conducted a total of just 14 interviews.
The thorough nature of the search and the cohesiveness between Schottenheimer and the front office is a big reason why McClay has confidence in not only the hire they made, but the offseason ahead in general.
“There’s alignment and there’s vision,” he said. “As long as all of the contingent pieces are connected, we have an opportunity to continue to grow and do good things. I think the alignment helps us say things, hear things and look for things the same. That’s exciting as we’re building with this new staff and a collective group what we’re looking for. We’re excited to get the rest of the staff together.”
This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 2:51 PM.
