A former Minnesota Vikings quarterback will play a prominent role on the sidelines or coordinator booth next fall.
That’s David Blough, who was a member of the Vikings practice squad in 2022. Blough played in the league from 2019 to 2023, and he spent most of his time with the Detroit Lions as a backup.
Blough is now moving up the coaching ranks as the Washington Commanders tabbed him for the offensive coordinator job after the firing of Kliff Kingsbury earlier this week. Previously, Blough served as the quarterbacks coach for the Commanders in 2024 and 2025.
“The Washington Commanders made their second surprising move of the week, promoting David Blough to offensive coordinator after only two years as an assistant quarterbacks coach, a source told ESPN on Friday,” ESPN’s John Keim reported.
Blough’s promotion comes after Washington mutually agreed to part ways with offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury on Tuesday as each side had a different future vision for the offense, according to multiple team sources and others with knowledge of the situation,” Keim added.
Washington also fired its defensive coordinator after a 5-12 season. Things didn’t go well for the Commanders in 2025, which included a 31-0 loss to the Vikings on Dec. 7.
David Blough Moved Up Before the OC Job
Blough already moved up once in recent weeks when he took on the interim quarterback coach job in December. Former Commanders quarterback coach Tavita Pritchard left for the Stanford head coaching job, which opened the door for Blough.
He also had some interest from his old team, the Lions, for offensive coordinator this offseason, but he opted to stay in Washington. His original connection to the Commanders came through Kingsbury, who served as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals in 2022 when the team signed Blough off the Vikings practice squad.
“He’s very bright, there’s no doubt,” Kingsbury told reporters regarding Blough in December. “He’s been around some great offensive minds … so his biggest strengths are he sees it from the lens of the player and yet he can kind of separate and still be the coach.”
“He knew he had to get every ounce out of every throw and rep,” Kingsbury continued. “You feel that in his coaching … he’s not going to let him off the hook if it’s a lazy rep — ‘Hey, do it again. We need a better one than that.’ And I think that’s really been good for that room, just watching him work with those guys.”
“They definitely appreciate and respect kind of his honesty and that he’s been through it on that level,” Kingsbury concluded.
David Blough’s Playing Career Journey
A former Purdue standout, Blough joined the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2019.
Cleveland traded him before that season to the Lions, where he eventually received playing time. Blough started five games as a rookie and completed 54% of his passes for 984 yards and four touchdowns versus six interceptions.
Blough played sparingly in two games during 2020 and 2021, but he received a couple more starts in 2022 with the Cardinals after he left the Vikings. Blough completed 65.5% of his passes for 402 yards and two touchdowns versus two picks.
Ex-Vikings QB Receives ‘Surprising’ Coaching Promotion With Commanders