Cowboys should do everything possible to keep this coach on staff

With the Dallas Cowboys 2024 season now over, we can probably expect a handful of changes both with the personnel and the staff.

I am sure many think the entire coaching staff should be gutted, and to be honest, I would be okay with getting some young minds in the building and going that route, but one guy that is already in the building should stay there.

If I am Jerry Jones, I do whatever you can to make sure Al Harris, the current secondary coach, and assistant head coach, should stay exactly that or if Mike Zimmer gets the boot, be promoted to defensive coordinator.

Al Harris and Jourdan Lewis.

Two of the biggest looming #Cowboys free agents. pic.twitter.com/9yz8zpqkk2

— Patrik [No C] Walker (@VoiceOfTheStar) January 5, 2025

Why, You Say?

Harris has been one of if not the main reasons why this Cowboys secondary has been so successful over the last few years.

After retiring in 2012 and moving into coaching, Harris spent many years as an assistant for Kansas City. He joined McCarthy in Dallas as an assistant coach in the secondary and has returned for that role in 2021.

Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland both became All-Pro corners. Guess who has been coaching them both since they arrived in the NFL? Al Harris.

The relationship Harris has with the defensive backs is like the one they had with Dan Quinn, but better. He played up until 2013.

He saw the game from both angles, and continued to perform the backend of the Cowboys defense this season, injured and all they looked pretty decent after the rough patch during the year whenever the entire team was awful.

The season Daron Bland is having is truly mind-blowing. 4 interceptions for touchdowns is hard to do in a career let alone 1 season.

Cowboys Defensive Backs coach, Al Harris, needs a raise. He’s going to have 2 different All-Pro corners in 3 years.

pic.twitter.com/HBOAyX3Uif

— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) November 19, 2023

He was the guy who was there for Diggs, tying the franchise record 11 interceptions, and Bland setting the NFL record for most pick-sixes in a single season with 5.

Front Office

I understand that Harris may want to take a job if offered the defensive coordinator position somewhere, but before he can get to that point, Jerry Jones should make sure he gets a deal done with him to stay.

He and Jourdan Lewis are both set to hit the open market, and the way they both looked to end the season, they need each other.

It would be another let down if the front office let’s Harris walk into another coaching job. He very well could be the Cowboys defensive coordinator if Mike Zimmer walks away after 2025 or is let go here soon.

With the contracts of Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and soon-to-be Micah Parsons, I still think they could make things work, but losing a guy like Al Harris who has been around every great defender on that team would be a huge loss.

Remember all the changes Jerry said he was going to make when they lost to Green Bay in the playoffs, yet here we are again, another year down the drain, and if they let Mike McCarthy come back they better make sure the best defensive coach they have stays in the building.

It’s 9:30 CT in Dallas and no news on Mike McCarthy and the future of his staff here’s what we know and don’t know right now. I’ll be updating through the day and week on NFL Network #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/086CPSzqkA

— Jane Slater (@SlaterNFL) January 6, 2025

Jerry Jones has been talking out of his you know what again one day after the season ended.

If Mike McCarthy has to come back to Dallas on an incentive-based deal, is stripped of play-calling & has his OC picked for him, he has to ask himself what real power does he have?

Look, I am in the same boat as the rest of you, but if they are going to keep some old faces around Harris should be one of the few that stick around. I understand that both sides of the ball were beat up by injuries, but they didn’t look very good when they were healthy.

It is going to a wild couple of months for this football team, and fans are going to hate it one way or the other.