According to a post at CowboysGab.com (read the post here), today’s edition of the Fort Worth Star Telegram newspaper has employees at Valley Ranch reporting that Dan Reeves has moved into Todd Grantham’s old office, while Grantham has moved into former Defensive Coordinator Brian Stewart’s office.
This is the first sign of any movement by the Cowboys to name a new defensive coordinator since Stewart’s termination a few weeks ago. Todd Grantham has fared well thus far in in Dallas. He has been the defensive line coach only, up until now, and while the line could have used some help throughout the season, he’s done a solid job of preparing his unit.
2009 will be his tenth year as a coach in the NFL, though he spent another eight coaching at the collegiate level for both Virginia Tech and Michigan State. What concerns me about him is that in his first 9 years as an NFL coach, though he’s been a coordinator with the Browns in 2005-2007, is that he has been with four teams already.
He started out in Indianapolis under then Head Coach Jim Mora and when Mora was fired, Grantham moved to Texas to coach the defensive line for the Texans. He again got solid production from his line in all three seasons he spent there, solid enough that Romeo Crennel wanted him to coach the Browns’ defense.
He increased the performance of an already solid defensive unit in Cleveland, but made a few errors in judgment. He held secret meetings in which he assumed Crennel would be fired and that he would be the new Head Coach. After the end of a 2007 season in which the Browns’ defense dropped within a few spots of last place in various defensive statistics, he came to Dallas.
He’s familiar with the 3-4, as the Brown’s ran it under his tenure. But has yet to prove that he can be consistent beyond just handling the defensive line.
If he is indeed the new coordinator in Dallas, it’ll be interesting to see if he’s good enough to allow Phillips to be the Head Coach, and Head Coach only.
While we wait for some kind of announcement from Valley Ranch about the status of both Grantham and Reeves, it looks like the best we’re going to get is an unofficial word based on who is which office. Personally, I would have thought Reeves would get the bigger office, even if Grantham did get promoted.
