By Wes Long | Published | No Comments
The Washington Commanders are turning the page on the short lived Ron Rivera Era and are turning to Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to become their next head coach.
Rivera was fired just one day after the season ended and the Commanders undertook an exhaustive search to find his replacement.
The Commanders interviewed a number of possible candidates, including Mike MacDonald, who took the Seattle head coaching job. Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Green and Baltimore Ravens associate head coach and defensive line coach Anthony Weaver were also interviewed.
Sources had connected them to Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson from the very beginning, but Johnson indicated last week that he was staying put in Detroit.
The Commanders interviewed Quinn earlier in the week and Washington’s general manager Adam Peters indicated that they were looking for a coach that had “leadership, great communications, and being able to be honest, direct and upfront, according to a report from ESPN.
Quinn served as the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys the last three seasons. The Cowboys finished each of the last three seasons with a top ten ranked defense in all major statistical categories under Quinn.
Quinn has a long history of building stout defenses. He was the defensive coordinator in Seattle from 2013 through 2014, during the Seahawks Super Bowl run.
Quinn also has head coaching experience with the Atlanta Falcons. He coached the Falcons from 2015 – 2020 leading the Falcons to the Super Bowl in 2016. The Falcons would lose 34-28 to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI.
Quinn will take over a Commanders team that is young in a lot of areas, including at the quarterback position. The Commanders starting quarterback last season was second year QB Sam Howell. Howell had an up and down season last year, but did show some glimpses of the potential that he has to someday become a franchise quarterback.
Quinn and the Commanders will have the second overall pick in this years Draft, set to take place in April. Quinn and general manager Adam Peters will have to decide whether to build around Howell or replace him with one of the top quarterbacks prospects in the draft.
The Commanders went 4-13 this past season and will have approximately $70 million in cap space.
