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3 Cowboys defenders who could thrive under DC Mike Nolan: Is LB Jaylon Smith due for bounce-back season?

These players in particular should be excited to play in Nolan's scheme.

The Cowboys’ defense is going to look different in 2020 under new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan.

The COVID-19 pandemic has prevented the Cowboys from taking the field for organized team activities and minicamps, leaving the media in the dark when it comes to specific changes to the structure and scheme of the defense.

While the specifics of the changes Nolan is implementing are still unknown, we can make educated guesses based upon his coaching history, specifically his time as Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator (2012-14). Bigger defensive tackles, more blitzes and a more diverse coverage scheme are just some of the changes to expect based on Nolan’s previous stops.

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While it’s unclear whether the Cowboys’ defense will improve overall, there are a few defenders who should be licking their chops to play under the scheme changes.

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Who are they? Let’s dive in.

Jaylon Smith, LB

It’s clear that after an outstanding 2018 campaign, Jaylon Smith came crashing back down to Earth last season. Nevertheless, things are looking up for the 6-2, 245-pound linebacker because Nolan’s style of defense should fit Smith’s skill set better than the previous regime’s did.

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One of the most underutilized skills on the Cowboys’ defense is Smith’s pass rushing. In college, Smith was so athletic and such a talent getting after the quarterback that Notre Dame experimented with employing him in an edge-rush role. Smith’s pass-rush ability translated well to the NFL, where he’s proven to be a potent blitzer for Dallas.

Despite his ability to pressure passers, the Cowboys didn’t use Smith in that role nearly enough -- Dallas finished 26th in overall blitz percentage (23.2%) in 2019. In fact, Smith finished 27th among off-ball linebackers (all linebackers excluding outside linebackers in a 3-4 defense) in pass-rush opportunities with 75, which is unacceptable given his skill set.

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Nolan should put Smith in more situations to pin his ears back and get after quarterbacks. Dating back to 2010, Nolan’s defenses have consistently finished above league average in blitz percentage. During Nolan’s last year as defensive coordinator for the Falcons in 2014, Paul Worrilow finished 10th among off-ball linebackers in pass-rush opportunities (115). Worrilow can’t hold Smith’s jockstrap as a pure pass rusher.

Expect to see Smith blitz much more under Nolan than he did the three previous years. Here’s an example:

On this play, the Falcons use a Cover 1 Dog scheme, which is a five-man pressure with man coverage behind it. The blitz itself is simple, but Nolan disguises it beautifully.

Pre-snap, Nolan has the slot corner (No. 28 to the right of the screen) creep toward the edge as if he’s going to blitz. Because the Ravens are in an empty formation, this forces them to slide their protection left (watch the center post-snap) to pick up the potential corner blitz.

But it’s a trap!

Nolan had the slot corner bluff his blitz for that exact reason. By sliding the protection left, the Ravens left just two offensive linemen on the right to pick up three defenders. Nolan sent Worrilow (No. 55) on a disguised blitz from depth to attack that specific protection void, creating an unblocked sack opportunity for the defense.

This is just one example of Nolan disguising things to manipulate an offense into a specific look he wants to take advantage of. It’s a key reason why Smith should thrive with more frequent blitz opportunities.

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On top of being used more frequently as a blitzer, Smith should have an easier time defending the run with bigger defensive tackles in front of him to occupy blocks.

While Smith’s struggles in coverage last season were likely due to opponents attacking his weakness (change of direction), his inconsistency against the run was largely due to inept defensive tackle play that usually made things more difficult for him.

The fact of the matter is interior offensive linemen were able to climb to the second level with little-to-no resistance on a way too consistent basis, putting Smith in tough spots where he had to read his keys and immediately beat blocks before he could even begin to pursue ball carriers.

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Having bigger defensive tackles who can occupy blocks better means Smith will have more room to read and react to what offenses are doing. This should allow Smith to be more consistent with his run fits and pursuit angles.

More blitzing opportunities and better help from defensive tackles in front of him could lead to a bounce-back year for Smith.

Xavier Woods, S

Xavier Woods is on the precipice of becoming a true difference-maker at the safety position, but he’s not quite there yet.

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Last year, Woods appeared to be destined for stardom after an outstanding training camp campaign down. Woods was all over the place in Oxnard, California, showing off his impressive range and coverage ability as both a down and deep safety.

Many, including me, thought that a Pro Bowl berth was on the horizon for the 5-11 and 202-pounds safety. Woods did play well, especially in coverage, as he finished 12th among NFL safeties in passer rating allowed when targeted (56.4), 11th in yards allowed per reception (8.4) and 15th in yards allowed per coverage snap (0.28), per Pro Football Focus; however, he still failed to meet the sky-high expectations placed on him coming out of camp.

My theory is that the Cowboys scheme was one of the biggest reasons why Woods didn’t quite reach his Pro Bowl expectations in 2019.

Under the previous staff, Dallas opted to play a vast majority of their defensive snaps in a single-high structure, as the Cowboys played Cover 3 at an extremely high clip. This made the Dallas defense predictable, which allowed opposing QBs to anticipate the location of the Cowboys defenders based on the likely coverage, making it easy for opposing QBs to consistently target the voids in Dallas’ Cover 3.

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Nolan has stated that he likes to mix up his looks and coverages to keep opposing quarterbacks uncomfortable. Expect the Cowboys to use a much higher percentage of split-safety coverage along with more pre-snap disguise from the Cowboys defense.

A less predictable scheme should create more turnover opportunities for Woods on the backend, as QBs won’t be able to so easily identify and track the voids of the Dallas DBs, which will lead to more post-snap mistakes from opposing QBs.

With more opportunities to create turnovers, Woods will be in a great position to fulfill his expectations coming out of camp last season, even if it is a year later than most of us believed.

DeMarcus Lawrence, DE

Don’t get it twisted, even with a reduced sack total in 2019, DeMarcus Lawrence thrived as a part of the Cowboys defense. Nevertheless, a regime and scheme change could enable him to take his game to another level moving forward.

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Anyone who watched the Cowboys last year understands how much attention the 6-3, 265-pound defensive end received from opposing offenses last season, as he finished fifth among edge defenders in the percentage of snaps he faced a double team.

Lawrence was also triple-teamed at times, as offenses kept their tight end in to chip (which effectively blocks any speed rush) while also sliding their protection toward Lawrence (meaning the tackle has the guard’s help on any inside move). While this does create one-on-one pass-rush opportunities for his teammates, it renders Lawrence completely ineffective when utilized (above clip).

The extra attention is a huge reason why Lawrence’s sack total was limited in 2019. However, you can expect that total to climb into the double-digits this season, as Nolan will make sure to scheme up as many one-on-one pass-rush opportunities for Lawrence as possible.

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As noted in the Jaylon Smith section, the Cowboys will likely blitz much more frequently with Nolan running the defense than in the past, which should only create more advantageous pass rush opportunities for Lawrence off the edge.

At this year’s Von Miller pass-rush summit, an invite-only camp (though it was done virtually this year due to the pandemic) for the top pass-rush minds in football, Baltimore Ravens defensive lineman Calais Campbell remarked about how much he loved playing on defenses that regularly blitz because it’s much more difficult for offenses to double team a particular defender when there are extra defenders blitzing.

This is the reason why, despite leading the league in sacks, Shaq Barrett was only occasionally double-teamed, as Tampa Bay finished second among NFL teams in blitz percentage.

For this exact reason, expect Lawrence to be doubled much less frequently in 2020 as Nolan utilizes a more blitz-heavy scheme. More one-on-one opportunities should only lead to more production from someone who finished third among edge defenders in ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric in 2019.

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