byDallas Cowboys Mailbag,Nick Eatman&Kurt Daniels

(Editor's Note: Time to check the mail! The DallasCowboys.com staff writers answer your questions here in 'Mailbag' presented by Miller Lite.)

The biggest problem, I feel, is defensive substitutions, meaning players come in only for certain situations. How can a defensive scheme be implemented if there are 20-25 different players participating? How do you keep communication, availability and knowledge a constant? I realize the value of rotating for freshness or subbing for injury, but how does consistency happen when players only play 20-25% of the snaps?David Farina/Trenton, NJ

Kurt:We hear on a regular basis how the offensive line needs to play together in order to build communication, and if you ask any running back, he'll tell you he's got to have consistent reps to get into the flow of the game. So it only makes sense that, although perhaps to a lesser degree, the same can be said for the defense.

And as we saw last year, that was indeed a problem for the Cowboys. Consider that only three players in the team's secondary played at least 50 percent of the snaps in 2025, Donovan Wilson (83.2), DaRon Bland (67.4) and Malik Hooker (53.7), and even they all missed games due to injury. And just one linebacker, Kenneth Murray, played more than half the snaps (78.9) on the way to Dallas finishing last in the league in points allowed (30.1).

Conversely, Seattle's defense, which led the NFL in average points given up (16.6), had six defensive backs see at least 60 percent of the Seahawks' snaps with five linebackers getting in on 50 percent of the plays. They also had 17 defensemen overall play at least 20 percent of their snaps while the Cowboys had a whopping 24 top 20 percent, if you count DeMarvion Overshown coming in at 19.7.

That kind of turnover makes finding any kind of cohesion so much tougher. There's just no denying that injuries, general poor play and, in turn, a lack of significant depth were key factors in the unit's struggles with communication.

So yes, a new defensive coordinator was needed to straighten out some of this mess, but if they run into the same injuries and even talent evaluation next season, the Cowboys defense could be in for another tough campaign.

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