February 02, 2024
Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports
Dan Quinn yells into his walkie talkie from a distance rather than speaking directly into it in at lower volume.
As you're aware, in the wake of the Philadelphia Eagles' epic collapse to close the 2023 season, Nick Sirianni kept his job as head coach, while Brian Johnson, Sean Desai, and Matt Patricia all lost theirs as coordinators. The Birds then hired Vic Fangio to run the defense, and Kellen Moore to run the offense.
The Eagles are basically set at the most important roles on their staff, but the rest of the NFC East still has some work to do. Let's take a peek around at what's going on with the Washington Commanders', Dallas Cowboys', and New York Giants' coaching staffs. We'll start with the Commanders, since they are the only team that fired their head coach.
Quinn has been coaching in the NFL since 2000:
• San Francisco 49ers (2001–2002): Defensive quality control coach
• San Francisco 49ers (2003–2004): Defensive line coach
• Miami Dolphins (2005–2006): Defensive line coach
• New York Jets (2007–2008): Defensive line coach
• Seattle Seahawks (2009–2010): Assistant head coach & defensive line coach
• Florida (2011–2012): Defensive coordinator & defensive line coach
• Seattle Seahawks (2013–2014): Defensive coordinator
• Atlanta Falcons (2015–2020): Head coach
• Dallas Cowboys (2021–2024): Defensive coordinator
He won a Super Bowl with the "Legion of Boom" Seahawks and then quickly landed a head coaching job with the Falcons. His tenure in Atlanta started out well enough, but it unraveled over his final three seasons, and he was fired after a 0-5 start in 2020:
• 2015: 8-8, no playoffs.
• 2016: 11-5, 2-1 in the playoffs, Super Bowl appearance, blew a 28-3 lead to the Patriots.
• 2017: 10-6, 1-1 in the playoffs, lost to the Eagles in the divisional round, 15-10.
• 2018: 7-9, no playoffs.
• 2019: 7-9, no playoffs.
• 2020: 0-5, fired.
The following season, Quinn was hired to be the Cowboys' defensive coordinator and over the next two seasons (both in 2021 and 2022) his defense led the NFL in takeaways. In 2023, the Cowboys were the fifth-ranked defense in the NFL by DVOA during the regular season, but they were helpless in the playoffs against the Green Bay Packers, who racked up 48 points in a wildcard-round blowout.
Prior to the Cowboys' one-and-done playoff loss, Quinn was thought of as a near lock to land a head coaching job. After it, many wondered if the Cowboys' abysmal defensive performance would sour teams on him.
It certainly didn't appear as though Quinn was the Commanders' first choice. They were on their way to Detroit to interview offensive coordinator Ben Johnson for a second time, when they received word that Johnson was choosing to stay with the Lions.
An offensive-minded head coach would have made more sense for a Commanders franchise that is nearly certain to select a quarterback with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 draft. Instead, they seem to have settled on Quinn, a competent coach but one who will not fire up their fan base, especially since it's easy to draw parallels to the coach he is replacing, Ron Rivera. Both Quinn and Rivera are defensive-minded, player friendly coaches with near 0.500 records who both lost Super Bowls with NFC South teams. (Insert Spider-Man pointing at himself gif here.)
It's fair to wonder if the Commanders still have residual stink on them from the Dan Snyder era, and whether or not prospective hires were wary of hitching their wagon to new owner Josh Harris. Last offseason, the NFLPA released "NFL Player Team Report Cards," and unsurprisingly the Commanders finished dead last overall in the NFL, with the following grades:
Most of that stuff can't get fixed overnight.
It will be interesting to see who the Commanders can find to be their new offensive coordinator, who will be tasked with developing a young quarterback while also likely having full command of the offense. The Commanders are behind in that pursuit since they were the last team to hire a head coach.
Chip Kelly is rumored to be in consideration:
UCLA head coach Chip Kelly is a potential candidate for #Commanders OC under new head coach Dan Quinn, per sources. Kelly, a two-time NFL head coach, is believed to have interest in returning to the league and Washington will consider talking with him.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) February 2, 2024
There's perhaps a place for Kelly in the NFL, but his remedial offense is not going to be helpful for the long-term growth of a rookie quarterback.
The ripple effect of Quinn being hired by Washington is of course that the Cowboys need to find his replacement. One of the possibilities... Ron Rivera!
The Insiders on @NFLGameDay: Kliff Kingsbury is likely to be an OC in the NFL in 2024; The #Ravens coaching staff is in demand this coaching cycle; If Dan Quinn gets a head coaching job, could Ron Rivera replace him with the #Cowboys? pic.twitter.com/neYoudGk4H
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 28, 2024
That would be a downgrade, in my opinion. If they promote from within, it'll likely be defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach Joe Whitt taking over.
When the Giants fired a couple of Wink Martindale's closest assistants, Martindale reportedly cursed out Brian Daboll and stormed out the Giants' facilities, never to return again. That was more than three weeks ago, and the Giants still haven't found Martindale's replacement.
They interviewed Dennard Wilson twice, but Wilson accepted the Titans' defensive coordinator job. They also reportedly had interest in the Bills' Bobby Babich who instead got promoted from linebackers coach to defensive coordinator. So, we'll see.
Jalen Hurts won't miss Martindale.
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