Report: Dallas Cowboys to name Aden Durde as their new defensive line coach

The Dallas Cowboys have shuffled around a few coaches following their disastrous 2020 campaign and they were both on the defensive side of the ball.

Defensive coordinator Mike Nolan was let go after one year of service with the club as was defensive line coach Jim Tomsula. The Cowboys landed a new coordinator a week ago in former Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn, brought in Joe Whitt to run the pass defense and secondary (Maurice Linguist is headed to the University of Michigan) and it appears as if Quinn has brought a friend with him to man Tomsula’s old gig.

When a coordinator joins a team with a lot of the staff in place, they don’t get a whole lot of opportunities to bring a few people with them. As noted, the Cowboys did bring Joe Whitt in when they hired Dan Quinn and there is a former Falcons staffer following him to DFW.

The Dallas Cowboys are hiring Aden Durde to be their new defensive line coach

While the Cowboys did get some notable production from defensive linemen this past season (Trysten Hill came along early on, Aldon Smith and Randy Gregory both performed well in their returns to the game, Neville Gallimore also developed nicely) there is no question that more effort is needed there.

ESPN reported on Wednesday morning that the Cowboys would be hiring Aden Durde to be their new defensive line coach. He has spent the last few years working with Quinn and the Atlanta Falcons.

The Cowboys will name Aden Durde as their defensive line coach, according to multiple sources. He was with new coordinator Dan Quinn in Atlanta for three seasons, spending the 2020 season as outside linebackers coach. An England native, Durde spent a year with the Cowboys coaching staff as an intern when Jason Garrett was head coach. He replaces Jim Tomsula, who was let go with defensive coordinator Mike Nolan.

As you can see in the report, Durde does have some history with the Cowboys organization prior to his time with the Falcons. Prior to that, Durde did spend time in London, in fact he spent that time in the game of football. While it wasn’t the NFL, he has served as a defensive coordinator before.

Durde was the London Warriors’ defensive coordinator for six seasons. In 2014, his interest turned back to the NFL by possibly getting some coaching experience through an internship. After taking some international players to a workout in Dallas, he happened to bump into a coaching contact he knew, who helped set him up with an interview with the Cowboys. Not long after, Durde became a coaching intern for the Cowboys.

Durde actually played a role in the Cowboys discovering fellow Londoner Efe Obada as Obada played for the Warriors defense that Durde coordinated. Hopefully his eye for talent translates to his new role with the Cowboys organization.

Welcome aboard, Aden Durde.