Getty New Washington Commanders' head coach Dan Quinn is expected to raid former team the Dallas Cowboys for his next defensive coordinator.
Dan Quinn’s only just left the Dallas Cowboys to become the head coach of the Washington Commanders, but he could soon revisit Arlington, Texans to hire his new team’s next defensive coordinator.
Quinn is expected to consider several Cowboys’ assistants for the position. The top candidate might be secondary coach and passing game coordinator Joe Whitt, who NFL Network’s Steve Wyche expects “Quinn to bring along.”
Wyche’s expectation was supported by ESPN’s John Keim. He revealed he’s “heard that Quinn had told other teams he’d bring as DC: Dallas secondary coach/pass game coordinator Joe Whitt, Jr. Nothing official.”
Keim’s colleague Adam Schefter, who was among the first to report Quinn getting the top job on Thursday, February 1, named two other Cowboys’s coaches as possibilities.
Schefter speculated that defensive backs coach Al Harris and defensive line coach Aden Durde “could be defensive coordinator candidates if Dallas grants permission to coaches under contract.”
Snagging an assistant he knows well would represent a solid start for Quinn as he begins his second job as a head coach. Fixing a Washington defense ranked last in points and yards allowed this season will be among the top priorities for the man who guided the Atlanta Falcons to the 2017 Super Bowl.
Fixing Defense Dan Quinn’s Priority
Nobody’s about to forget about the glaring hole at quarterback, but Quinn’s first task should be getting an under-performing Commanders’ defense up to scratch.
It shouldn’t be a problem for a coach who oversaw a Cowboys unit ranked 5th in points and yards in 2023. More than the rankings, Quinn’s defenses in Dallas were exciting sources of splash plays.
His units topped the NFL in turnovers, defensive touchdowns and points from takeaways, per ESPN’s Ed Werder.
With Dan Quinn as defensive coordinator, #Cowboys lead NFL in takeaways, defensive TD, and points off turnovers.
NFL Rank
Takeaways 93 1st
Def TD 15 1st
Pts off TO 313 1st
This big-play capability is a far cry from the dull fare served up by Quinn’s predecessor Ron Rivera and his former DC Jack Del Rio.
The Commanders snatched just eight interceptions this season, tied for third-fewest in the league. Rivera’s defense also logged a mere 36 sacks, 10 fewer than the Cowboys recorded on Quinn’s watch.
Of course, Quinn worked with superior talent in Dallas. Talent like All-Pro Micah Parsons, who became a roving, pass-rushing menace under Quinn and Durde’s tutelage.
The Commanders don’t have a player like Parsons, but the cupboard is hardly bare. Defensive tackles Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen are former first-round picks who represent ideal building blocks for Quinn’s regime. Meanwhile, safeties Kamren Curl and Darrick Forrest are ideal fits for Quinn and Whitt’s hybrid schemes on the back end.
Quinn and whoever serves as his DC must replicate the generally strong performances of the Cowboys’ defense. Not the embarrassing anomaly against the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs.
Dan Quinn Needs to Bounce Back from Cowboys’ Collapse
Having the Packers hang 40-plus points on his unit in the Wild-Card Round might have tarnished Quinn’s hopes of becoming a head coach again. It speaks volumes about the Commanders’ regard for the 53-year-old they continued to speak with and eventually hired him, even after that postseason collapse.
Quinn “totally changed” his coverage plan against the Packers. He dropped usage of the Cowboys’s preferred single-high safety, man-coverage formula “significantly,” according to NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell, speaking to the “Ross Tucker Football Podcast.”
Did you know the Cowboys totally changed their defense for the Packers game?
@GregCosell explains on latest @RossTuckerPod:
The switch backfired and then some, although Cosell understood the thinking behind the change. Quinn got burned overthinking a big game, possibly because of previous painful experiences in high-stakes environments.
His defense was shredded in the fourth quarter by Tom Brady when the New England Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks in the 2015 Super Bowl. Quinn’s vaunted ‘Legion of Boom’ defense had perhaps been too predictable.
Predictability was replaced by a passive streak when the Falcons blew a 28-3 third-quarter against Brady and the Pats in the big game two years later.
Getting the balance right for playoff football can be tricky, but the Commanders would settle just for the chance to compete in the postseason. Quinn and either Whitt, Harris or Durde building a strong defense to support a quarterback selected with the No. 2 pick in the 2024 NFL draft, is the logical first step toward putting Washington back on the playoff map.
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Dan Quinn Expected to Raid Cowboys for Commanders’ Next Defensive Coordinator