The Christian Parker conversation keeps getting louder among Dallas Cowboys fans, and opinions on the defensive coordinator are all over the place. Some of the criticism is fair. Some of it is unfair.

If you’re not on Cowboys Twitter, I envy you. But you might have missed the debate that has raged since Cowboys insider Clarence Hill Jr. of DLLS Sports posted his take on Parker and the Dallas defense via X:

“Christian Parker was set up to fail from the jump by the Dallas Cowboys,” Hill Jr. wrote on social media. “Unrealistic expectations. Didn’t go get the personnel needed to make a real difference. Didn’t get him the support he needed and apparently wanted, yet called him a rising star and coaching savant before he called a play. Set him up to be a difference maker without difference-making pieces. Everything was a hope, projection, and a wish.”

Plenty of fans took issue with it. But I think we’re seeing both extremes of the argument on social media while the truth is somewhere in the middle.  Let’s break it down.

The support argument doesn’t hold up

People have pointed out, rightfully so, that the Cowboys allowed Parker to pick his own staff. That sounds like the support he wanted, right?

I assume Hill is referring to Mike Pettine, whom Parker apparently wanted. It seems Dallas made Pettine an offer earlier in the year, and he turned it down because he had recently retired and wanted time away. Maybe a stronger offer would have changed his mind.

Still, I’d struggle to argue Parker lacked support when he got to cherry-pick his staff. He built it himself. I’m not cutting him much slack on that front.

The personnel argument is where it gets messy

Most of the controversy comes from the personnel part of the tweet. Fans are responding with a simple “of course they did.”

Some have noted the Cowboys signed safety Jalen Thompson to the largest contract they’ve given an outside free agent since Brandon Carr. That’s true. It’s also true they didn’t sign a top-10 safety, since Thompson’s deal sits outside the top 20 at his position. It was a solid signing. But surpassing a Carr contract from over 10 years ago isn’t a big deal. It’s only expensive in Dallas’ eyes.

They also traded a fourth-round pick for Rashan Gary, tried to trade for Maxx Crosby, and signed cornerback Cobie Durant to a $5 million deal, which isn’t crazy for a starting-caliber player.

To be fair, Parker is working with better personnel than Matt Eberflus had last year, and better than what Mike Zimmer had. Remember, Dallas banked it all on Kenneth Murray and Jack Sanborn at linebacker and on Kaiir Elam at cornerback. Eric Kendricks wasn’t an expensive addition, if we’re being honest.

But saying the Cowboys did everything right building this defense would be nonsense, and we know it.

Did we or did we not spend the entire offseason assuming Dallas would add another inside linebacker? By August, we were staring at the room wondering who the heck would play the Mike. We figured they’d surely sign Bobby Wagner or someone like him. They never did.

The questions were everywhere. Can DeMarvion Overshown play the Mike? Can rookie Jaishawn Barham make an impact? Can Dee Winters be the answer? He started 17 games for the 49ers, but that doesn’t mean he was great in them.

The pass rush carried the same concerns. Gary is good, but is he someone who will get after the quarterback consistently, or a well-balanced edge who plays the run? We hoped Donovan Ezeiruaku would break out. We hoped first-round pick Malachi Lawrence would develop, though nobody expected an instant impact. Von Miller was here as a rotational piece, and we can argue whether he’s even achieving that.

And you’re not going to tell me we were confident in the cornerback room. Durant looked good in training camp and Shavon Revel Jr. was rising, but they were both question marks. Can Revel Jr. play zone? Where exactly is Durant lining up? And heck, we’ve worried about DaRon Bland’s decline for two years.

So Hill’s point isn’t terrible, even though social media acts like it is. This roster was known to have holes in it. 

The truth sits in the middle

Saying Parker was set up to fail from the jump is an exaggeration, in my book. Sure, the Cowboys hyped up their hire. But most of that hype came from outside, and it came because Dallas tried something different.

I loved the hire for that reason. It wasn’t the Cowboys recycling a former head coach or coordinator, as they did with Zimmer and Dan Quinn. (How do we not miss the Quinn years? I’d take a defense that works in the regular season right now.) Players like Cooper DeJean and Patrick Surtain II raved about Parker. Sources around the NFL called him a future head coach.

That might still happen. We’ve seen five weeks of Parker with a defense that has personnel issues and a secondary, the heart of his scheme, that has been severely banged up. It’s also his first time calling plays.

However, he should be doing better. You watch these games and wonder whether this defense can manufacture pressure, generate a turnover, or elevate anything on the field. Caleb Downs, Quinnen Williams, and Kenny Clark are strong foundational pieces. Malik Hooker is a good safety too.

Yet Parker keeps going back to stunts and four-man games up front that are consistently slow and unproductive. The Cowboys call among the most stunts in the NFL, and they’re among the worst at it. That falls on Parker and the coaching. 

I’m not trying to play Parker’s advocate. But acting like it’s all his fault, or all the front office’s fault, is crazy. A defense doesn’t get this bad with one guilty party.

This is a multi-faceted problem. It’s time we started talking about it like one.