The Dallas Cowboys are going on their third defensive coordinator in as many years entering 2025. Dan Quinn departed Dallas to become the head coach of the Washington Commanders after the 2023 season, Mike Zimmer held the role in 2024, and now former Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus will assume the title on new Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer’s inaugural staff in 2025.
Naturally, Eberflus brought some of his Bears staff with him including linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi, which led to the Cowboys prioritizing signing linebacker Jack Sanborn to a one-year deal this offseason.
Sanborn was scooped up as undrafted free agent out of Wisconsin in 2022, and he developed into a regular part of Eberflus’ game plan, playing in 48 games the last three seasons with 19 starts. Sanborn, who will turn 25 years old on July 29, has produced 164 tackles, 14.0 tackles for loss, five passes defended, 4.5 sacks, one interception and one fumble recovery in his three-year NFL career.
“I’ve obviously been with Coach Eberflus and then Coach Borgonzi and really some of the other guys on the staff too for the past three years, and I think a lot of it, a lot of it does excite me as I’ve gotten a lot of experience in [that defense],” Sanborn said on a conference call Tuesday. “I’ve played multiple positions in it, too, and just kind of what he’s about and what he wants to accomplish. He’s aggressive, he wants to stop the run, he wants to get up to the quarterback and he wants to make game-changing plays and get the ball back for the offense, help us overall win games. I’m excited to be with him and everyone else with the staff as well.”
Across the last two seasons of Eberflus’ and Sanborn’s time with the Bears in 2023 and 2024, Chicago surrendered 111.3 rushing yards per game, the 11th-fewest in the NFL in that span. That’s notable for a Cowboys squad that has struggled mightily in that same area across the last two seasons. Dallas allowed an average of 124.7 rushing yards per game in that time, which ranked 24th in the league — and stands as the ninth-most in the NFL since 2023.
“It’s definitely for sure about flying around and having an aggressive mindset and being downhill. Just making and causing problems for the offense, but at the same time, everybody’s got a job,” Sanborn said. “He’s [Eberflus] really big into that: Making sure that you not only know your job, but why you’re doing your job and by doing your job that leads to other people making plays or vice versa. So very much do your job, but at the same time, make plays, be aggressive and make sure to tackle.”
Given how much he saw the field with the Bears since 2022, Sanborn was a little surprised he wasn’t tendered and maintained as a restricted free agent in Chicago, but he’s excited to continue his NFL career in Dallas.
“I don’t know. It was my first time going around with stuff like that, going into free agency. As a player you always think the best of yourself, and obviously would love to have been tendered but at the same time … I didn’t really know what to expect by what was going to come out it. All I can say is that I’m really excited for the future and to be in Dallas and have this opportunity and win a lot of football games as a Cowboy.”
Sanborn called playing for his hometown Bears “definitely a dream come true.” At the same time, he’s now ready to take the next step away from home and make a name for himself, something Sanborn envisioned for his career before it even began.
“Originally from Chicago, so just having the opportunity to be a part of the organization, the team I grew up around the most, definitely a dream come true, but at the same time, I never expected to be playing for the Chicago Bears,” Sanborn said. “I always thought I would be away playing somewhere else, and I can’t help but kind of be excited to go branch out. Leave my hometown and make a name for myself somewhere else. Once again, I’m going to reiterate it, I can’t be more excited to join Brian Schottenheimer and everybody in Dallas and to be a part of this great organization.”
Sanborn felt it was fair to categorize the Bears letting him walk as a “wake-up call” of sorts, but he maintains he feels level-headed about it all. Shortly after he was allowed to test the open market, Eberflus made contact and got his guy in Sanborn. Eberflus heading to Dallas was on his radar as an immediate fallback option, and the Cowboys made it clear the feeling was mutual, contacting him early the first week of free agency.
Now, Sanborn will compete with newly acquired, 2020 first-round pick Kenneth Murray to start at linebacker alongside Marist Liufau, a 2024 third-round pick, in the injured DeMarvion Overshown’s absence. Overshown tore his ACL for the second time in as many seasons in 2024. Despite an open competition for play time with the Cowboys, Sanborn plans to be an open book in teaching his fellow Dallas linebackers what they need to know about Eberflus’ scheme.
“I’m pretty much an open book, easy to talk to, very approachable, I’m willing to do anything to help everyone else learn,” Sanborn said. “Relatively we have kind of decently young (linebackers) room, so just doing whatever to help Dallas, the defense, right now. Help guys get up to speed and help each other because at the end of the day we’re all in this together as one.”
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