Exactly what Cowboys fans wanted to hear.
The Dallas Cowboys have a new defensive coordinator for the third time in as many seasons after they hired Matt Eberflus to replace the retired Mike Zimmer.
Eberflus has a lot to prove this year after he was fired as head coach of the Chicago Bears. Fortunately for Dallas, he is much better suited as a defensive coordinator than overseeing an entire operation.
It is still remarkably early in the offseason program, but Eberflus has made a number of tweaks that have Cowboys fans’ full attention. On top of playing ballhawk DaRon Bland in the nickel position at OTAs, Eberflus also has Israel Mukuamu playing snaps as a slot cornerback.
Cowboys’ Israel Mukuamu is finally playing slot CB thanks to DC Matt Eberflus
Highlight plays from OTAs don’t really mean much in the grand scheme given that no contact is permitted. However, these practices reveal a lot about what coaches think about players. It says a lot that Eberflus has Mukuamu, who Dallas re-signed this offseason, playing the nickel early on.
Though he has largely played safety over his first four seasons, Mukuamu was drafted as a cornerback out of South Carolina in 2021.
Israel Mukuamu is one player that’s been working in the slot. So have DaRon Bland and Kemon Hall. pic.twitter.com/dcYrQc3cID
— Joseph Hoyt (@JoeJHoyt) May 29, 2025
While Mukuamu saw some reps in the slot under Zimmer and Dan Quinn, the Cowboys’ former defensive coordinators never fully took the training wheels off even though Mukuamu played lights-out during the 2022 playoffs.
You might remember Mukuamu shutting down Buccaneers star slot receiver Chris Godwin in the first round. He allowed four catches for 49 yards on eight targets with one pass breakup, per PFF (subscription required). He followed that up by drawing just one target on 17 coverage snaps against the 49ers. He allowed a 61.8 passer rating in the two games.
That was seen as Mukuamu’s coming out party, but, much to fans’ chagrin, he played just 77 snaps the following season under Quinn.
Zimmer actually played him a career-high 201 snaps last year, but he saw fewer than 10 defensive snaps in nine games and played more than 20 snaps just three times even though Dallas’ cornerback depth was tested seemingly all season due to injuries.
This all isn’t to say Mukuamu is a star in the making. Don’t get that twisted. But he has flashed serious potential in the past and has rare size for the position at 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds.
With the CB room in flux once again due to the injury bug, Mukuamu deserves a chance. It seems Eberflus is prepared to give him just that.