Todd Grantham was hired Thursday as the defensive line coach for the Dallas Cowboys, less than two weeks after the Cleveland Browns unexpectedly fired him from his job as defensive coordinator. Grantham has nine seasons of NFL coaching experience and spent the last three as defensive coordinator under Romeo Crennel in Cleveland. He is familiar with the 3-4 alignment favored by Cowboys coach Wade Phillips, having coached it under Crennel and former Texans coach Dom Capers.
. "His familiarity with many of the things we do up front was important to the Cowboys, but his experience as a coordinator is what elevated him in our eyes Cowboys coach," Phillips said. "He knows and understands how one position group on the defense affects everything else that goes on in the scheme. You can only gain that type of knowledge of the big picture by actually creating a game plan and coordinating a defense, and I think it's a huge plus." Grantham replaces Kacy Rodgers, one of four Cowboys coaches who left in a mass exodus to the Miami Dolphins. Also leaving Dallas for Miami to reunite with former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells were Paul Pasqualoni, Todd Bowles and Tony Sparano, the Dolphins' new head coach.
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