The Dallas Cowboys need to fix their defense. That much is clear after a rocky few weeks, and Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer says the team has a plan to do it.

We don’t know every detail. Dallas brought in Mike Pettine as a senior defensive assistant. The Cowboys are also considering moving defensive coordinator Christian Parker up to the booth to give him a bird’s-eye view of the defense.

Schottenheimer did share some of the personnel plans, though. The biggest one involves first-round rookie EDGE Malachi Lawrence, and the short version is that he is going to play more. That shouldn’t be a surprise given how Lawrence has been playing.

He got his first sack last week versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His pressure rate of 14.3% in 2026 ranks him fourth among qualified NFL rookies per PFF, behind David Bailey (16.4%), Sonny Styles (15.0%) and Cashius Howell (14.8%).

But the Cowboys’ plans to play him more raise a question I find fascinating: Where are Lawrence’s new snaps coming from?

Cowboys edge rusher snap counts

Here’s how the snaps break down at edge rusher:

• Donovan Ezeiruaku: 71%
• Rashan Gary: 67% 
• Malachi Lawrence: 35% 
• Von Miller: 22%

Right away, one thing stands out. The Cowboys aren’t rotating their edge rushers nearly as much as they suggested they would back in the preseason. I expected the snap leaders to land somewhere around 60%. Seeing Ezeiruaku and Gary on the field for almost seven out of 10 defensive snaps caught me by surprise.

The biggest clue, though, is Miller’s week-by-week snap share.

In Week 1, he played just 16% of the snaps. I didn’t make much of it at the time. The Giants weren’t dropping back much, leaning on the run, quick game, and plenty of screens. Nobody had a real chance to get after QB Jaxson Dart, and it was a bad matchup for Miller.

His snap count nearly doubled to 30% in Week 2. It settled at 25% in Weeks 3-4, roughly what I expected. With the Commanders in 2025, Miller played 37% of the snaps, and his role in Dallas was supposed to look similar: come in on obvious passing downs and chase the quarterback.

The results haven’t followed. The Cowboys dropped him to 14% in their loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Von Miller is the obvious place to start

The No. 1 place I’d expect Lawrence’s extra snaps to come from is Miller.

Let’s call a spade a spade. Even in limited playing time, Miller has failed to make an impact. He’s had one or two rushes on film that remind you why Dallas brought him in. And yet, he hasn’t stacked positive plays, as the Cowboys like to say.

Lawrence’s snap count going up likely means Miller’s is taking a hit. And if he needs to a avoid a conversation about landing in the inactives, he must show something ASAP.

That only takes you so far, though. I don’t think Dallas shuts down the Miller project entirely and hands his 22% share to Lawrence, which would push the rookie past 50%.

Lawrence needs to eat into Ezeiruaku’s snaps, too

On early downs, the Cowboys’ plan with Gary and Ezeiruaku seems clear. They want Gary to be the plus run defender while Ezeiruaku gets after the quarterback more aggressively.

Ezeiruaku is winning early in his rushes, but he isn’t finishing. I know we like to say sacks are a quarterback stat. In this case, a high pressure rate paired with a low sack rate isn’t on the quarterback. Ezeiruaku has too many missed opportunities where he’s right there and somehow fails to make the play. A lot of times, I think he’s gaining too much depth and struggles to get back to the passer.

Gary hasn’t been a premium run defender either. He has failed to set the edge pretty much every week. Until we see otherwise, I’m not convinced Ezeiruaku or Lawrence are strong run defenders right now, so putting the two of them out there on early downs could get the Cowboys blown up in the run game.

Still, I’d let Lawrence take some of those early-down snaps from Ezeiruaku. On late downs, maybe forget about Gary entirely and let Ezeiruaku and Lawrence attack the quarterback.

As for Miller, lowering his snaps considerably makes sense. Dallas signed him to a cheap deal, so the money isn’t holding anyone back. Playing him this much just hasn’t worked, which explains why fans keep looking at James Houston on the inactive list and wondering why he isn’t taking Miller’s place.