After spending a week feverishly working behind the scenes, Mike McCarthy has revealed most of his coaching staff (still needs a strength and conditioning coach and a few more assistants).

After Jason Garrett experimented with a young coaching staff during his final years, McCarthy has decided to go in the completely opposite direction, building a staff that collectively has a ton of experience.

Most members of the staff had a previous working relationship with the Cowboys’ new head coach, but McCarthy deserves credit for moving out of his comfort zone to get the best men for the job even if he didn’t have a prior relationship with them, which is what happened with special teams coach John Fassel, tight ends coach Lunda Wells and defensive backs coach Maurice Linguist.

With that in mind, let’s dive into McCarthy’s defensive coaching staff in an effort to grade each hire. See grades for the offensive coaching staff here.

Defensive coordinator: Mike Nolan

While McCarthy wanted to build off of the offense’s success last year, it’s obvious a change in defensive philosophy was necessary.

Enter Mike Nolan, who will likely make some major changes to what the Cowboys do defensively.

Nolan’s resume as defensive coordinator isn’t pristine, but he has had some great success at a few stops. In his three-year stint in Baltimore (2002-04), Nolan improved the Ravens’ defense from ranking 22nd in yards allowed and 19th in points allowed in his first year to ranking in the top six in both categories in his second and third seasons.

But it was the opposite in his last stint as defensive coordinator, when the Falcons ranked 32nd in total yards allowed and 27th in points allowed in 2014 (his final year as defensive coordinator).

McCarthy has mentioned that Nolan will retain Dallas’ even front but should be much more multiple in the types of fronts used, which should enable the defense to adapt and adjust to any offense it may face.

Also, don’t be surprised if the Cowboys use more two-gap principles up front in an effort to steal gaps and make life easier on the linebackers. Take this page from Nolan’s playbook in San Francisco as an example:

Basic responsibilities for the front seven in an Under front from Mike Nolan's SF playbook. One example of DL using 2-gap and 1-gap principles on same play. #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/CeWe35m6Nd — John Owning (@JohnOwning) January 13, 2020

While this was made with a 3-4 defense in mind, it can easily be translated into a 4-3. Just imagine the WILL linebacker is a right defensive end. The two-gapping defensive end gives the TED linebacker more time to read and react to any potential run.

Expect the Cowboys to be much more versatile in terms of their coverages used on the back end. While they ran a ton of Cover 1/3 with a sprinkling of Cover 2, the Cowboys will be much more diverse in the coverages run, including more quarters and quarter-quarter-half coverages.

It's a subpackage world right? Well, here's an example of a fire zone blitz (and 3 different blitz patterns) Mike Nolan likes to use from his subpackages. #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/ZhMXIkxnnO — John Owning (@JohnOwning) January 18, 2020

And after Dallas finished 25th and 26th in blitz rate the past two seasons, don’t be surprised if Nolan cranks up the pressure more frequently, using both zone blitzes (above) and man pressures.

Nolan’s presence also means the previous regime’s propensity to not value the nose tackle position should go with it. Don’t be surprised if Dallas invests more in the nose tackles moving forward.

While he doesn’t have the best track record of improving defense, his modernizing of the Cowboys’ schemes could lead to improved play as a whole. Dallas has the talent to succeed on defense, it just needs someone who can optimize the talent.

Hopefully, Nolan is the man for the job.

GRADE: B-

Defensive line coach: Jim Tomsula

One of McCarthy’s most exciting hires was his selection of Jim Tomsula as defensive line coach.

Throughout his time with Washington and San Francisco, Tomsula has developed a reputation as one of the best defensive line coaches in the NFL. Most of his experience came with teams with a 3-4 base defense, but he should have no problem transitioning to a 4-3 base.

Tomsula has a long resume of developing effective and production defensive linemen.

While in San Francisco (2007-15), Tomsula deserved a ton of credit for helping turn Justin Smith into one of the most dominant defensive linemen in the game. Before he joined the 49ers in 2008, Smith had yet to be voted to a Pro Bowl or All-Pro team. In his seven seasons with Tomsula, Smith was voted to five Pro Bowls and two All-Pro first teams. Smith even called Tomsula “the best D-line coach in the NFL.”

In Washington, Tomsula oversaw the development of Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne and Matt Ioannidis, all of whom became quality players under his tutelage. Ioannidis’ development is the most impressive, as he came to Tomsula as a fifth-round draft pick while Payne and Allen were first-rounders. This season, Ioannidis finished with an impressive 64 tackles, 11 for loss, 55 total pressures and 8.5 sacks.

As Allen said, Tomsula is a technician who harps a great deal on leverage, angles, block destruction and hand combat. The Cowboys’ defensive line should be much more equipped to take on and defeat blocks with greater frequency under his instruction.

While Rod Marinelli prevented the Cowboys from investing too many resources in the nose tackle position, those barriers will disappear under Tomsula, who was a big reason Washington invested a first-round pick in a nose tackle (Payne) in 2018. More talent should lead to more effectiveness for Dallas’ interior defensive line.

The Tomsula hiring is just what the doctor ordered for Dallas’ front.

GRADE: A

Linebackers coach: Scott McCurley

The biggest unknown on McCarthy’s staff is without a doubt linebackers coach Scott McCurley, who spent a great deal of time with McCarthy in Green Bay.

A linebacker in college at Pittsburgh, McCurley joined the Packers as an intern in 2006 and slowly rose through the organization to become an assistant linebackers coach in 2014. He was jettisoned from Green Bay once Matt LaFleur took over.

It’s kind of worrisome to hand the keys of the Dallas’ linebackers to a coach who has zero experience as the main position coach. Previously he’s been, at most, the linebackers coach’s top assistant. McCurley does, however, get credit for helping Clay Matthews transition from outside linebacker to inside linebacker.

This is worrisome because Leighton Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith are entering a crucial stage in their development after taking a slight step back in 2019 from their outstanding 2018.

Fortunately for the Cowboys, defensive coordinator Nolan is a linebackers coach by trade who has a history of improving the linebacker play at his previous stops. Just look at how he helped develop Demario Davis into a first-team All-Pro in 2019 while coaching linebackers for New Orleans. While his responsibilities as DC won’t let him spend quite as much time with the linebackers, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he took a more hands-on approach to coaching them than he does with other positions.

Nolan’s presence makes this hire a bit more appetizing than it seemed at first, but no one is wrong for feeling a bit uneasy about handing Vander Esch and Smith’s development to someone who’s never been a position coach at any level.

GRADE: C

Defensive backs coach: Maurice Linguist

"A trained defender makes immediate right decisions." I'm honestly very impressed by Maurice Linguist. https://t.co/9iOPJfrvg8 — John Owning (@JohnOwning) January 12, 2020

Maurice Linguist comes from the college ranks with a reputation as one of the best secondary coaches in the country, evidenced by the fact that he was the fifth highest-paid secondary coach in the country, according to 247Sports.

He spent the past two seasons at Texas A&M, where he coached Cowboys safety Donovan Wilson. While this doesn’t mean Wilson is suddenly going to slide into the starting lineup, it is good that Linguist will enter the defensive backs room with some familiarity.

Now Maurice Linguist breaks down his teaching philosophy, which includes the 4 C's of communication. https://t.co/qPOpjPCqGj — John Owning (@JohnOwning) January 12, 2020

Linguist is a detail-oriented coach who has all the makeup of a future defensive coordinator. He is a great communicator who takes pride in giving his players the tools they need to succeed, providing the “why” to every single technique and concept he teaches.

While he obviously focuses a great deal on coverage, Linguist also makes sure his defensive backs are great tacklers who take pride in defending the run. He also overemphasizes in tackling from space using a technique called “hard balance match” (above clip).

This should be incredibly beneficial for the Cowboys’ safeties, who struggled mightily in making sound tackles from space.

The only question surrounding Linguist – and the main reason this hire didn’t receive an A grade – is how his teaching style translates to the NFL level. While he had a great deal of success coaching college athletes, that success doesn’t always translate to the next level.

GRADE: B+

Special teams coordinator: John Fassel

It’s quite possible that McCarthy’s best hire was making John Fassel the new special teams coordinator, as he should provide a huge upgrade over Keith O’Quinn.

For the Cowboys’ special teams, there’s nowhere to go but up. They had some of the league’s worst units in 2019, finishing 30th in Special Teams DVOA, according to Football Outsiders. Fassel’s units, even when dealing with injuries to key special teamers, have never finished that low, ranking top-10 in Special Teams DVOA in five of his eight seasons as special teams coordinator with the Rams.

While Fassel has developed a reputation for his trick plays, it’s his ability to create effective and consistent special teams play that makes him such a great hire. But don’t get it twisted, the trick plays will be a nice addition as well, even if they just give opposing teams something extra to prepare for.

Incompetent special teams play hurt the Cowboys’ ability to win multiple games this season, so even if Fassel improves their special teams to the point where they’re merely average, it would still be a huge win for the team as a whole.

GRADE: A