FRISCO, Texas – For the third time in his career, Marcus Dixon is back in Dallas.
The Cowboys officially hired Dixon to be their new defensive line coach on February 3, joining new defensive coordinator Christian Parker’s staff and taking over the room he once played in, and also coached.
“I’m going to keep it real man, it’s a dream come true,” Dixon said of returning to the Cowboys. “This is a place I’ve always considered home. It was the start of my career as a player in ’08, and then I came back in ’15 and did the Bill Walsh [Diversity Coaching Fellowship] as the intern d-line coach, and then now I’m back to be the d-line coach. It’s a special place for me, has always had a special place in my heart. Love the Joneses, Mr. and Mrs. Jones, I’m just excited to be back.”
In his new role as the defensive line coach, Dixon will have some strong core pieces to work with at defensive tackle with Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark and Osa Odighizuwa. He recognizes that, and now it’s about putting them in a position to succeed.
“They play hard, they play physical, they’re athletic, they play the game the right way. It’s what I’ve been hearing, and then following these guys just from afar, they are great human beings, great leaders as well,” Dixon said.
“So with guys like that, you’re able to move them in different spots, create one-on-one matchups where you know they’re going to win those. It’s a win-win for us up front, I’m super excited to work with those guys, can’t wait to get them in the building. We’re very blessed and fortunate to have players like that up front.”
The two most important things that Parker outlined for his defense are stopping the run and affecting the quarterback. Both of those aspects of the game begin at the line of scrimmage on the defensive line.
In Dixon’s previous two seasons with the Vikings as defensive line coach, Minnesota finished top-five in sacks both years and is looking to replicate similar things with the Cowboys. How? Placing the responsibility on his players after setting them up to succeed.
“Creating those one-on-ones, and then putting ownership on them to understand, ‘Hey, we’re doing this for you to go win,'” Dixon said. “And then coaching style, I played the game. Maybe not at their caliber, but I understand some of those situations and how we’ve got to play up front, and it’s all a mindset, and we have the guys for that… you put them in position, and understand we’re still attacking.”
“Now we’re attack reacting, we’re playing with our hands, we’re not allowing vertical seams up front on those early downs, and then what it does to get back on track is third down, now let’s go hunt. You’ve earned that right now, you’ve owned that to where now you can go and do what you do best.”
Getting to catch up with draft prospects is one of the key elements for every team at the combine each year. What kind of players is Dixon looking to coach on the defensive line?
“I want to see energy,” Dixon said. “It can be mentally taxing on the guys, but you want to see guys that can go out there and perform and not be all up-tight. It’s a blessing to be able to do this thing, and that’s what I always tell these guys that I do informals or formals with, at the end of the day it’s a blessing to do this. It’s still a kids game, just go out there and let it loose. As far as technique stuff, that’s what we do as coaches. We’ll coach all that up. Go have fun and perform.”
Not only is Dixon making he return to the Cowboys, he’s doing so while reuniting with Parker. They spent two years together on the Broncos staff in 2022 and 2023, where Parker served as the defensive backs coach and Dixon was the defensive line coach.
They weren’t together long, but Dixon could tell Parker was a special coach.
“[Parker] is built for this,” Dixon said. “He’s been ready for this. You can tell he’s rolled into it. Being able to work with him those two years in Denver, you knew he was going to be a DC at some point. And then at some point, he’s going to be a head coach. It’s just one of those guys that has an “it” factor, and he has that “it” factor.
In the last few weeks, Dixon has gotten to know the rest of the defensive staff around him as well, and feels everyone is on the same page about the task ahead of them.
“We’re all like-minded. Everybody wants to win. There are no egos,” Dixon said. “There’s a collaboration amongst us, and it’s all about how can we help the players be the best version of themselves, and us as coaches, he’s allowing us and coaching us to be the best version of ourselves as well.”
