Supporters of the Commanders analyze Quinn, Kingsbury, and Whitt’s employment
In this week’s Reacts survey, we asked Hogs Haven readers to rate the hiring decisions for the head coach and both coordinators.
The selections to appoint head coach Dan Quinn, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, and defensive coordinator Joe Whitt received remarkably comparable reviews.
In each example, around 30% of respondents gave the hires a “A” rating, 50% gave them a “B,” and 15% gave them a “C.” No more than 5% of respondents awarded any of the hires a bad score.
Dan Quinn
Quinn’s hiring appears to be the’safe’ decision when opposed to choosing a younger and less experienced candidate, which may be riskier. Quinn symbolizes the “anti-Sean McVay” move, which is the choice not to pursue the next hot young offensive coordinator, as many clubs have done since the Rams hired McVay in 2017 at the age of thirty.
It’s January 14, 2012. We are at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. With 14 seconds remaining, down three, and facing a third down, the 49ers need a touchdown to keep their playoff chances alive – without going into overtime. Meanwhile, the Saints can finish this with a takeaway and travel to the NFC Championship Game themselves. To understand how we got here and appreciate what this moment signifies, we must backtrack.
On the ‘positive’ side, Adam Peters stated that he was seeking for a leader, and Dan Quinn seemed to meet the criteria. In the aftermath of Quinn’s hire, we’ve heard testimonies from former players, past employers, and previous coaches from various teams and time eras, all of whom praised his leadership abilities. Quinn’s career also includes a Super Bowl triumph as a defensive coordinator and an NFC Conference Championship as a head coach, demonstrating his ability to win on the field. His record as a defensive coordinator is strong, having enjoyed success in both Seattle and Dallas over the last decade.
On the other hand, the Falcons’ fourth-quarter collapse resulted in their sole Super Bowl loss this decade, as well as Quinn’s apparent lack of on-field success without Kyle Shanahan as offensive coordinator.
But identifying and hiring good staff is also part of Quinn’s accepted skill set, so his decisions to hire Kingsbury and Whitt to run the offense and defense, respectively, are intriguing choices that have been generally well-received, albeit with some reservations, particularly in the case of Kliff Kingsbury.
Kliff Kingsbury
Kingsbury has minimal success as an NFL head coach. He won five, eight, and eleven games in his first three seasons, with the Cardinals falling in the wildcard round in his sole postseason season in 2021. Kingsbury was supposedly given a 6-year contract extension in early 2022, but after a 4-13-1 season, he was dismissed, leaving him with a 28-37-1 record in his sole NFL head coaching job.
We all know that head coaches and coordinators have distinct responsibilities, and while Kingsbury’s stint in Arizona ended in upheaval, his offensive performance won him the job in Washington.
Joe Whitt
Whitt had made it apparent, even while Dan Quinn was still working in Dallas, that he wanted to be wherever Dan was. While Whitt has a relationship with Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy, he was on Quinn’s Atlanta staff and accompanied him to Dallas when Quinn was promoted as defensive coordinator in 2021. Now he’s followed Quinn again, this time to Washington, where Whitt will be the DC.
As a first-time coordinator, it appears like Washington supporters are just trusting Whitt’s abilities. Dallas had a far superior overall defense and secondary than the Commanders, and if Quinn attributes much of that success to Whitt and trusts him, Washington supporters appear to be willing to believe in him.
Position coaches and the Special Teams coordinator
More information regarding Washington’s coaching staff became available later in the week, after the majority of respondents had completed the poll.
Brian Johnson, who served as the Eagles offensive coordinator in 2023, has joined the offensive coaching staff. His specific title has not yet been published, although it is expected that he will work with the quarterbacks, maybe as the passing game coordinator. The current quarterback coach, Tavita Pritchard, will continue with the team, which is the sticking point in his job title. In the same way that Kingsbury’s struggles as head coach of the Cardinals do not necessarily dim his prospects for success as OC in Washington, Brian Johnson’s dismissal from the Philly staff at the end of the ’23 season does not diminish what he had done in his career to get to that point. Many people have viewed the pairing of Kingsbury and Johnson as evidence that Quinn is assembling an impressive offensive staff, though some have expressed concern that Kingsbury, Johnson, and Pritchard may result in a young Washington quarterback having too many competing voices in his ear.
Jason Simmons is arguably a lesser-known name among Washington supporters. He is a member of the Raiders’ coaching staff and works on defense. He was the defensive passing game coordinator in Las Vegas and will allegedly play a similar position in Washington.
According to reports, Larry Izzo will succeed Nate Kaczor as Special Teams coordinator. Kaczor had initially joined Jay Gruden’s coaching staff but was retained when Ron Rivera arrived in town. He has not survived a second coaching change. Izzo was the Seahawks’ ST coordinator and was obviously effective. He appears to be available since the Seahawks changed head coaches this summer, replacing longtime coach Pete Carroll with former Ravens defensive coordinator Peter Carroll.
Izzo won three Super Bowls as a player for the New England Patriots, and his special teams units in Seattle were rated fifth, fourth, and eighth in DVOA during the previous three NFL seasons.
Final thoughts.
Reading through comments on Hogs Haven, listening to podcasts, and scrolling through what used to be Twitter, I get the impression that Washington fans were taken aback early on by how the coaching search ended, and that the early response to Dan Quinn was muted because his hire felt like something of a consolation prize; his hire wasn’t the expected result, and his age and NFL history were the polar opposite of what fans had been anticipating.
As the days pass and some of the shock wears off, I get the impression that supporters are warming up to the hire, and that this process is aided by every addition to the 2024 coaching team.
While supporters aren’t dancing in the streets, I believe a sense of positive acceptance is already forming, and some quiet optimism is emerging. We may not have received what we expected, but the coaching staff looks to be coming together beautifully.
With veteran free agency beginning in just over 4 weeks, it’s time to focus on the roster as we enter the next potential era of Washington football.
