The Dallas Cowboys are no strangers to hiring former players of the franchise to be coaches. On Monday night, we just saw the latest example of it as new defensive coordinator Christian Parker builds out his staff.

In the light of defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton heading to the Tennessee Titans as defensive coordinator, Dallas is reuniting with a familiar face to replace him.

Cowboys hire former player as DL coach

The Cowboys are hiring Marcus Dixon to be their defensive line coach ahead of the 2026 NFL season, via ESPN’s Todd Archer. Dixon started coaching in 2017 but not before playing at the NFL level for seven years, a career that started as an undrafted free agent in Dallas.

However, Dixon only saw playing time in the preseason while in Dallas. Later in his career, he played 22 games across three seasons for the New York Jets.

Since 2017, Dixon has coached defensive line, starting in Hampton University (where he played college football) and jumping to the NFL in 2021 as an assistant defensive line coach for the Super Bowl-winning Los Angeles Rams.

By 2022, he landed a defensive line coach position with the Denver Broncos, where he was in the same staff as Parker, who is now the Cowboys DC. Most recently, Dixon coached the Minnesota Vikings defensive line under Brian Flores, though his contract expired earlier this month.

Dixon did a solid job in Minnesota

Dixon’s rise as a coach has been fast, but I wondered where did Minnesota feel his impact the most, so I reached out to our very own Vikings expert at A to Z Sports, Tyler Forness for his insight.

Forness: “Dixon has been with the Vikings for the last two seasons, and the growth of the unit is a testament to his work. Jalen Redmond went from a back end of the roster player to being one of the best emerging three-techniques in the NFL. Seventh round pick Levi Drake Rodriguez has become a very solid rotational player with more upside. He knows how to coach players up, and he gets some serious talent in Osa Odighizuwa and Quinnen Williams to work with. The Cowboys DL could be a force in 2026.”

More new hires to follow

As expected, Parker is sweeping house as most coaches from Matt Eberflus’ staff from the 2025 Cowboys aren’t returning, per multiple reports. The first-year coordinator will build his first career staff his way. Dixon is only the start.

Dixon joins Ryan Smith (secondary coach) and Derrick Ansley (pass game coordinator) under Parker.

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