FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker said Thursday that his cornerbacks have spent the offseason retooling their technique and his linebackers will be “prepared and confident and play fast,” three days before Dallas opens the season against the New York Giants.
Kickoff at MetLife Stadium is Sunday at 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC. Dallas carries five cornerbacks and four linebackers on its initial 53-man roster, according to DallasCowboys.com.
How loose or tight the rotation is at each position will change from game to game, depending on packages and situations, Parker said.
“That’s a game-to-game thing,” Parker said. “Some games it’s more than others relative to packages, situations and those type of things with how loose or tight your rotation is. So we just take that every Sunday and kind of see what’s best to win.”
Christian Parker On DaRon Bland, Shavon Revel Jr., And Cobie Durant
Parker credited the coaches in the secondary room: pass game coordinator Derrick Ansley, cornerbacks coach Ryan Smith, and assistant secondary coach Robert Muschamp, all hired this offseason.
“Good,” Parker explained of the cornerbacks. “Those guys have been working hard, kind of just retooling their technique. They’re all smart guys that have put a lot of work in. I think between D.A., Smitty, Rob Muschamp, they’ve done a phenomenal job with that room in terms of just giving them the preparation and also the confidence they need to perform on game day. So we’re looking forward to seeing them in action.”
DaRon Bland was an All-Pro in 2023. That season, he had nine interceptions and returned five for touchdowns, an NFL single-season record. A fifth-round pick out of Fresno State in 2022, he played 12 games last season before the Cowboys placed him on injured reserve Dec. 20. Dallas restructured his contract this month.
Dallas signed Cobie Durant on March 13 to a one-year deal worth up to $5.5 million. The Los Angeles Rams drafted him in the fourth round out of South Carolina State in 2022. Last season, he started 15 of 17 games and had three interceptions, including a pick-six against Tampa Bay. His three interceptions in the playoffs were the most in the NFL, and two came in a divisional-round win over Chicago, according to the AP.
Shavon Revel Jr. was a third-round pick out of East Carolina in 2025, 76th overall. He tore his ACL at East Carolina in September 2024, opened his rookie season on the non-football injury list, and played seven games. In August, Dallas listed Revel and Durant with an “or” designation at the cornerback spot opposite Bland on its depth chart, Dallas Sports Journal reported.
Christian Parker On The Cowboys Linebackers
The Giants want to run the ball behind a physical line with good blocking tight ends and fullbacks, Parker said earlier in the same news conference.
“I think that’s definitely exciting,” Parker said. “I got a lot of confidence in those guys, and they put a lot of work in. Scott and JJ, the work they put in, in individual and in the meeting room, out of the meeting room. So they’re going to be ready. I think that they all have different skill sets that we’re going to lean into at different moments in the game, but they’re definitely going to be prepared and confident and play fast.”
Scott Symons is the Cowboys’ inside linebackers coach.
Dallas traded a fifth-round pick, 152nd overall, to the San Francisco 49ers on April 24 for Dee Winters, the AP reported. Winters, a 2023 sixth-round pick out of TCU, started all 17 games for San Francisco last season and had 101 tackles, eight tackles for loss, and a pick-six.
DeMarvion Overshown, a third-round pick out of Texas in 2023, missed his rookie season with a torn ACL. He opened 2025 on the physically unable to perform list after another knee injury and played six games. He has 19 career games and five sacks.
Dallas drafted Jaishawn Barham out of Michigan in the third round in April, 92nd overall. Shemar James, a 2025 fifth-round pick out of Florida, had 91 tackles in 14 games as a rookie. Linebacker Marist Liufau is on injured reserve and designated to return.
