It’s a new era for the Washington Commanders.
Nearly a month after the team fired former coach Ron Rivera, Washington is hiring former Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to be the team’s 31st coach in franchise history, according to multiple reports Thursday.
Quinn had been available to hire once the Cowboys were eliminated from the playoffs after a wild-card round defeat against the Green Bay Packers, though the Commanders had still been interested candidates from teams that were still alive.
Quinn has widely been considered one of the top assistants available for the work he had done in building the Cowboys into a ball-hawking defense. Dallas ranked fifth in scoring defense, allowing an average of just 18.5 points per game. He unleashed star edge rusher Micah Parsons, helping him become one of the highest-impact defenders in the NFL.
Dallas’ defense struggled significantly, however, in the team’s wild-card round loss to the Packers, giving up 20 points in the first half (not counting a pick-six that came late in the second quarter). The Cowboys defense would go on to give up 41 points in the loss.
SUPER BOWL CENTRAL: Latest Super Bowl 58 news, stats, odds, matchups and more.
The Commanders struggled during Rivera’s four seasons with the team, going 26-40-1 in that time, with just a single playoff appearance. Washington failed to find consistency at the quarterback position, cycling through players such as Alex Smith, Taylor Heinicke, Carson Wentz and Sam Howell. The Commanders also brought in offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy from the Kansas City Chiefs in February 2023 to help revive the offense, which continued to sputter in 2023.
This marks the first head coaching hire made by owner Josh Harris, who formally took possession of the franchise in July. The Commanders hired former 49ers assistant general manager Adam Peters on Jan. 12.
As his first order of business, Quinn will need to work alongside Peters to find and develop a franchise quarterback to stabilize the offense. From there, the Commanders will need to continue to add talent on both sides of the ball, after the team traded away its top two pass rushers with a looming rebuild.
