Dallas Cowboys: 5 Coaches to replace Mike McCarthy in 2021

4. Todd Bowles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Defensive Coordinator

Another name that was on the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff back when Sean Payton was there is Todd Bowles. From 2005 through 2007, Bowles was the defensive backs coach and there didn’t seem to be a single player on the defense that didn’t sing his praises.

Bowles left Dallas in 2008 and at that time, he was still following Bill Parcells. The former Cowboys head coach took a job as the Miami Dolphins executive vice president of football operations and hired several Dallas assistants, including Bowles who became the assistant head coach and secondary coach. In 2011, he had his first shot as a head coach, filling in as interim when another former Dallas assistant, Tony Sparano, was let go.

In Miami, he was 2-1 and many players wanted him to stick around. That didn’t happen, but Bowles finally got his crack at a full-time coaching gig with the New York Jets in 2015 — after a stint with Philadelphia and Arizona as a secondary coach and defensive coordinator respectively.

His time in New York ended poorly as he was 24-40 but as we see now, the team seems cursed. Judging him solely on those four seasons seems unfair. What we should be paying attention to is the work he’s done now as the defensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bowles has turned that unit around and looking past him as a head coaching candidate could be a mistake.