Cardinals candidate Dan Quinn staying on as Dallas Cowboys DC, per report

Dan Quinn is reportedly returning to the Dallas Cowboys as the team’s defensive coordinator and has informed interested teams of his decision, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

Quinn returns to a Cowboys team that made notable coaching moves on Thursday, parting ways with offensive line coach Joe Philbin, running backs coach Skip Peete and senior defensive assistant George Edwards. Assistant head coach Rob Davis, quality control and analytics coach Kyle Valero and assistant defensive line coach Leon Lett are also not returning to Dallas.

It takes Quinn out of the list of candidates for the head-coaching job open at the Arizona Cardinals, who according to reports are meeting with former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton on Thursday. The DC had interviewed with Arizona on Saturday over the vacancy.

Arizona’s list of candidates is reduced to Payton, Pittsburgh assistant Brian Flores, Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, Denver defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero and in-house option Vance Joseph, who served as defensive coordinator under former coach Kliff Kingsbury. The Cardinals interviewed all of those candidates and also had interest in San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans, but he canceled a scheduled meeting.

Quinn got his NFL coaching start as a quality control coach with the 49ers from 2001-02 before taking over as the team’s defensive line coach from 2003-04. He held the same position with the Miami Dolphins (2005-06) and New York Jets (2007-08).

From there, Quinn took a job with the Seattle Seahawks where he served as the team’s DL coach and was assistant head coach to Jim Mora from 2009-10.

Quinn spent two seasons in Seattle before heading to the college ranks as Florida’s defensive coordinator and defensive line coach from 2011-12.

He would eventually make his way back to the NFL, signing on with the Seahawks as the team’s defensive coordinator under Pete Carroll.

Quinn helped produce one of the toughest defenses in the NFL during that span and was a part of Seattle’s Super Bowl XLVIII run.

After yet another two-season stint with the Seahawks, Quinn was handed the keys to be the head coach for the Atlanta Falcons in 2015.

Quinn was with Atlanta from 2015-20, posting a 43-42 record that included a Super Bowl LI loss to the New England Patriots before he was fired amid an 0-5 start to 2020.

During his time with the Falcons, Quinn posted two seasons with double-digit wins and took home the NFC South title once.

He then joined the Cowboys in 2021 as their defensive coordinator.

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