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How Cowboys defensive players might fit into Mike Nolan’s defense

Last week Mike McCarthy confirmed that while new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan will be bringing a more multiple look to the defense, they will remain a defense with four down linemen. This lines up with earlier projections we gave based on Nolan’s defensive playbook from his days as the 49ers head coach and based on how his multiple 4-3 defense in Atlanta worked.

But how would these pieces fit into Nolan’s defense? There won’t be any drastic changes, since the bare bones will still involve four linemen, but it’s reasonable to expect the Cowboys to routinely feature one of their defensive ends standing up, as well as incorporating a lot more two-gap principles for their interior defensive linemen.