OPINION:
The Washington Commanders introduced their new coordinators Tuesday — David Blough on offense and Daronte Jones on defense, both newbies to the high-profile roles.
If owner Josh Harris had written bigger checks, the team might have been introducing Mike McDaniel and Brian Flores instead.
McDaniel, the celebrated offensive guru and coach of the Miami Dolphins for four years, was a former coordinator under Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco. He took the same job in Los Angeles with the Chargers. His wife is a California native.
McDaniel told reporters he took the job in Los Angeles in part because, “the spirited attitude of my daughter and my wife made things pretty easy — as a girl dad and a husband — to have your family in a place they can get behind too.”
Here’s betting a big enough check, though, might have helped attract the family to Ashburn, where McDaniel and his wife were married when he was a young assistant in Washington.
Flores is the former Dolphins coach McDaniel replaced. A proven defensive play-caller in Minnesota, he was given a $6 million annual multi-year deal to stay with the Vikings.
But again, a big enough check might have convinced him to leave Minnesota.
There is no salary cap on owners spending on coaches. So the Commanders’ ownership limits for spending are self-imposed.
Everyone was reminded of that during Super Bowl week when stories about Seattle’s championship coach, Mike Macdonald, reported that Washington zeroed in on hiring him as their new coach in 2024, only to see the Seahawks win the auction. Like all of these choices, there were likely other circumstances in the decisions, but probably none that couldn’t be trumped with dollar signs.
No one outbid the Commanders for Dan Quinn.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Washington’s reluctance to pay the top dollar cost them. It seems like a lifetime ago after an excruciating 5-12 season, but Quinn led a Commanders team out of the muck in 2024 to a 12-5 record and a trip to the NFC title game. He was one step away from where Macdonald was Sunday.
Like job decisions, there were circumstances that led to the success of 2024 and the failure of 2025 that weren’t necessarily related to the coaching staff — the success in 2024 coming thanks to the arm of star rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and a weak schedule; the failure of 2025 because of the absence of Daniels and an all-time injury-plagued roster.
Which begs the question — if Quinn is still the right guy, why wasn’t offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and his under-center adverse offense — good enough to carry the franchise in 2024 — still part of the mix for 2026?
In the Tuesday press conference, Quinn was asked why Kingsbury was fired.
“Yeah, changes are hard,” he said. “As you’re going through, you build these relationships that are strong with people and players. And so, when there’s time for change, those are difficult conversations, discussions, but at the end, you just keep going back, what’s the best thing for the team moving forward?”
There were no such questions about fired defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr., who was in charge of some of the worst defenses we’ve seen in years here (the Commanders had three symbolic empty seats at the press conference to note the absence of Washington Post reporters and the shutting down of their sports section. No empty seats for Kingsbury and Whitt, though).
No Flores to replace him, but they did land one of his assistants in Jones, 47, who was the defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator in Minnesota under Flores and, despite 25 years in coaching, has never been an NFL defensive coordinator until now.
“I connected with him instantly about a vision for defense and how you’d play, the ability to create takeaways, the ability to have disguises.” Quinn said. “And so, I felt alignment even before we got to know each other well. We’ve all had those experiences where you meet somebody, you just hit it off. I think from a football standpoint we hit it off quickly and then that’s what made the difference to me knowing that there were excellent veteran coaches and guys who didn’t have as much experience but … I came back to him time and time again.”
His connection with the 30-year-old Blough grew over the two years the former NFL practice squad quarterback has been here, from assistant quarterbacks coach to now Daniels’ play-caller.
“I know he hasn’t been coaching a long time, but he has, obviously, when you’re the backup quarterback at different stops, you had different experiences, much like a younger coach coming up,” Quinn said. “This guy’s absolutely ready to go attack. And so, it was evident to see that. But when you’re around somebody a lot, you know that too.”
Apparently, others felt the same way, too, because Blough was reportedly sought after for other jobs around the league. The story is that Washington didn’t want to lose him, so there was no entertaining the idea of McDaniel — who worked for Quinn in Atlanta and who has professed a close personal bond with the coach — for the job.
Blough is seen as the latest version of Sean McVay — a head coach-in-waiting.
There have always been regrets about letting McVay leave the building after his three-year stint as Washington offensive coordinator after the 2016 season. He went on to guide the Los Angeles Rams to a Super Bowl championship in 2021 and become the winningest coach in franchise history. But to keep McVay would have meant firing head coach Jay Gruden, who had promoted McVay to offensive coordinator.
If Blough is successful, will that mean an empty seat for Quinn? Maybe only if Josh Harris writes a big enough check.
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