2 hours ago, spjunkies said:

 

Not better than Eric Bieniemy talking about Eric Bieniemy 😤

Best line from Whitt Jr.'s presser:

"We're going to be a running defense. We are going to be running and laying our bodies on top of other people in a violent manner." 

I love reading idiots like this. It's why this year's offseason is going to be so much fun.

https://deadspin.com/caleb-williams-josh-fields-nfl-chicago-bears-commanders-1851235854

>>If Chicago can’t exploit Washington’s obvious desire for Caleb Williams, somebody needs to be fired...

...There are enough patsies in need of a quarterback that Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles would be foolish to not take the many godfather offers that will come his way before the NFL Draft on April 25. Chief among them are the Washington Commanders, who have a new owner, new GM and new coach desperately trying to reset the culture. With the hire of Kliff Kiingsbury as the offensive coordinator, Washington might as well write “Mark” on its forehead.

A year ago, the Bears fleeced the Carolina Panthers for a No. 1 receiver, this year’s No. 1 pick and more because David Tepper has the patience of a billionaire. It was the kind of move that can expedite the trajectory of a franchise, and they can do it again. It’d be one thing if Justin Fields was unable to take advantage of the assets Pole provided him, but D.J. Moore surpassed 1,300 yards and endorsed his QB in the process...<<

Some insight into some of the reasons Joe Whitt, Jr. may have decided to follow DQ Washington.

Examining reasons Joe Whitt might have chosen the Commanders over the Cowboys (msn.com)

>>...Why would Joe Whitt leave Dallas, a team contending for a championship, to coordinate a defense that is among the worst units in the NFL, for a team that needs a rebuild from the ground up? In contrast, the Cowboys feature three All-Pro defenders presently under contract: Micah Parsons, Trevon Diggs, and DaRon Bland. The Cowboys’ defense has also led the NFL in takeaways in two of the last three seasons. From outward appearances, based on the talent on the roster, the Cowboys should be an attractive defense to coordinate, let alone for a candidate who has overseen their growth over the last few years. However, all that glitters isn’t gold, and there are reasons for Whitt to turn it down. Let’s speculate on some...<<

2 hours ago, Darc Requiem said:

Spot on. I've never wanted Caleb Williams. That article says everything I think about the guy. He has bust written all over him.

If we really want either Maye or Daniels and Williams really is a bust, we don't want so many people seeing articles like that it hurts his draft status and he moves down the list. That would likely move Maye or Daniels up to #1 where Chicago would nab him. If we truly don't want Williams (and I think it would take far too much for our FO to move up and get #1), we want Williams to stay #1 so we would have our choice of Maye or Daniels. We'd still get to pick one of those latter two in any case though unless we swap #2 pick ourselves.

Who knows if that article is legit or if it is just some team planting a story to try and influence the draft order. We're going to see a lot of games and attempts to manipulate other teams' draft preferences over the next 3 months along with offers to swap/trade picks. 

19 minutes ago, ixcuincle said:

quinn's decline coincided with his requests that were granted in Atlanta for more power

 

if he strictly sticks to being a head coach he should be fine

I don't remember who I heard say it but the best line I've heard come out of this past week is: 

"We've hired a football coach to coach football".

13 minutes ago, Bacon said:

 

It's not up to any of us, but I personally think Jayden Daniels is the guy. He has immense talent, is very capable of running Kingsbury's offense and (probably) won't require any extra draft capital. 

 

I'm also a firm believer in momentum. He is riding a high right now coming off his best year as a passer and I think it's important to use that confidence as fuel to drive him in his first year under Kingsbury.

I think it was Keim who I heard say he thought Daniels was the best of the three and could be capable of almost other worldly type play. He also pointed out that in his opinion, his style of play left him more likely to get injured however. Made me think of Joe Burrows.  

I don't know anything about this Raiders guy but he says that the reasons KK left their team was because he wanted a 3 yr deal and was only offerred two, not enough bucks and because he really wants to coach Williams. 

I sure hope Washington didn't promise to do whatever it takes go draft Williams in order for  him to take the job. Other than that I could see the money and 3 year deal being no problem for Washington.

The Raiders are now apparently looking at EB as their OC to replace Kingsbury.

Everybody is suddenly pushing Williams to the Commanders now that KK is coming here. This Chicago dude is nuts. For us to trade up one spot, get #1 and Williams, he thinks Chicago should get the trades below from Washington: No way do I think we should do that, even if Raiders and Falcons are prepared to send Chicago a gold mine for the pick as they apparently are.

Jonathan Allen

2024 - #2

2024 - #40 

2025 - 1st

or else - without Allen

2024 - #2

2024 - #40

2024 - #100

2025 - 1st, 2nd

13 hours ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

Don't see anything there that they interviewed Belichick.

 

Sheehan asked Standig about it.  Russini works at the Athletic as does Standig of course.  The way Standig came off is politely saying the story is BS-fluff.

 

His point was "considered" just means they talked about that idea as they would talk about any idea but nothing serious.

Russini's tweet said "they spoke with him and he had support from some decision makers".

I'm reading that to mean that they interviewed him but in any case that's history now. We now have a new head coach that I am getting more excited about each day. I can't wait to see who we draft and acquire via FA and for the new season to start.

Here is the report I referred to in an earlier post in this thread about the Commanders having interviewed BB.

Insider explains why Commanders hired Dan Quinn over Bill Belichick (msn.com)

>>...ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter spoke during a Thursday appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" about why Washington ultimately chose Quinn over Belichick.

"I know the Commanders felt like they got more calls and more texts unsolicited about Dan Quinn with positive messages from people than they got from any other candidate," Schefter explained, according to Jason Ounpraseuth of NESN. "And that’s just the way it kind of went." 

NFC East reporter Ralph Vacchiano of Fox Sports reported on Wednesday afternoon that Washington team sources revealed that new Commanders owner Josh Harris and new general manager Adam Peters had "concerns about everything from Belichick's age (71) to his willingness to work under a GM who will have control over personnel, to whether he'd even want to take on what could be a years-long rebuilding job." 

On Thursday, Schefter said those running the Commanders love that Quinn "is high energy" compared to somebody with Belichick's famous demeanor. 

"They hired Dan Quinn because they believe in him as a leader," Schefter said during the segment. "They believe in him as a man. They believe that other people are spot-on in what they say about Dan Quinn, who had been a finalist for other head coaching jobs."

Schefter added that the Commanders "feel like they got a whole energetic, upbeat, positive guy stepping into Washington to try to help lead that team into the future..."<<

This points out what may (or may not be) a problem with Josh's hiring style that I suspect is only temporary and won't happen going forward. There are reports that the Commanders had indeed interviewed Belichick and that some of the "decision makers" had in fact wanted to hire him. I've seen other reports that refer to the Commanders "hiring committee". This makes me wonder if Josh has too many decision makers in the hiring loop. 

For example, he has Bob Myers, Rick Spielman, Magic Johnson, Mitch Rales, Mark Ein, Adam Peters,  in addition to himself and maybe even Eugene Shen apparently in the decision making process for the new HC. That's a lot of people and it slows down the decision making process. Even if it wasn't all of those people who were involved in the process, it's more than other teams most likely have involved (as in "too many cooks"). 

Josh's management style seems to be to have a number of others involved in the process. In the Commanders' case, probably because he had to put so many investors together to come up with the price to buy the team and he wants them all to have a say in the management. As the managing partner, I would expect that once he has this team put together and back on the rails, it would be just him, Peters, DQ (and probably a new team president) making the final decision on Commanders' matters.

Right now, I give hm a pass for going slow and possibly making some mistakes along the way. After all, look at the job he's facing with this team. He is a new NFL owner (with little experience managing an NFL franchise even though he is an experienced sports owner). If Johnson had taken the job, Josh would have had a guy who while great in his current job has never been a HC before, along with Peters..who again, while great in his current (previous) job has never been a full GM before, faced with rosters they both know hardly anythng about, trying to turn around the worst franchise in the NFL. That's a staggering task for even the most experienced people.

While I was intially disappointed in not getting BJ, I am now glad they got an old salt like Dan Quinn who knows his way around the NFL in the mix. While a slimmed down management process in the future (with people more experienced by then) may be more appropriate, I have to admit that...given with the immense challenge Josh is faced with, his slower, team management process in this case looks as if it may have saved the team from a huge mistake in hiring BJ. You know who from out past would have gone after the shiniest bauble (with the biggest name on the board) and hired him in a flash.

https://riggosrag.com/posts/commanders-news-ben-johnson-dan-quinn-spurned-advances-high-demands

excerpts below:

>>Insider revelations indicate Commanders had lucky escape with Ben Johnson

There was one final twist to the tale between Ben Johnson and the Commanders...

...Commanders were on the fence about Ben Johnson...

....Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network had a completely different view on how things went down with Johnson during this hiring cycle. The respected insider revealed via USA Today Sports that the play-caller didn't interview well. He wasn't seen as a true leadership type. There were also suggestions he jumped before being pushed to save face.

"I don’t think he interviewed particularly well. [Ben] Johnson withdrew, and he withdrew as Washington was coming to see him, which did not go over well at all with the Washington organization. But, I believe he withdrew from two coaching searches that he wouldn’t have gotten the job anyway. So, that’s the old ‘I’m not fired, I quit,’ one of those deals. So, I don’t think he really bowled people over in the interview process at all. And I’ve heard that his personality, you know, he’s very smart, very bright, a great play-caller, but I’ve heard that his personality is kind of…..not the most gregarious guy. Not a Mike Macdonald-type guy or even a Dan Quinn-type guy, so I think that came across in the interview process."

- Mike Garafolo via USA Today Sports...

Others like the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons went in different directions quickly to get their chosen targets. Did the Commanders wait around to get a broader perception from others within the hiring committee? If so, it left them with egg on their face.

 

Garafolo added another interesting detail specific to the Commanders. He got the sense that Johnson was the preferred choice of general manager Adam Peters. Seems fair enough considering they are two young, progressive figures with glowing reputations. They had the potential to mesh well before things took an unexpected turn.

 

The insider believes that others weren't so sure about Johnson. But again, if this conclusion had been made, why waste time going for a second meeting?

"My belief is that he came into this; Adam Peters had Ben Johnson as his guy. And Adam Peters was not the only one making the decision there in Washington. Which is not to say he was undermined, but [advisor] Rick Spielman was involved, Josh Harris, obviously the owner of the organization, [advisor] Bob Myers involved as well, so four people who came to a collective decision, and it was not going to be Ben Johnson..."

...And who knows, the Commanders might have had a lucky escape where Johnson is concerned. Time will tell on that one....<<

8 hours ago, HigSkin said:

 

Who knows...

 

 

There is another benefit of having Chip as OC. We might get a young, hotshot OC with all kinds of pedigree and if he works wonders with whomever is the QB, teams will be coming after him from everywhere at the end of next season to poach him for their teams....just as we were trying to do with Ben Johnson.

With Chip Kelly, we wouldn't have that problem. If he hits on our QB and turns him into another Stroud, for example, other teams wouldn't be coming after Chip to make him a HC the way they would with other OC's.

On 2/1/2024 at 8:35 AM, SkinsFanPA said:

I want to put this out there, just as a comparison.  To be clear, I'm not excited about the prospect of Dan Quinn, and I hear all of the "retread" talk, and how he couldn't get it done in Atlanta...

 

Look at Pete Carroll.  The guy was 33-31 in 4 years with the Jets & Patriots.  Nothing exciting.  He goes to Seattle after having success at USC, and goes to the playoffs 10 times in 14 seasons, appearing in 2 Super Bowls and winning one of them.  What if Seattle had passed on him, because he was just so-so in his previous HC stints in the NFL?

 

I'm not saying Quinn is our guy, or that he would have the same success that Carroll had (which we would have KILLED for over the last 14 years here)...but to dismiss him out of hand simply because he was "ok" his first time around would be lazy, IMO...

 

Heck, Belichick was 8 games under .500 in Cleveland over 5 seasons, yet the Patriots gave him a shot...how'd that turn out?

Here are the best discussions of accepting DQ as our new HC as I've found yet. One of them is with Logan Paulsen. Both are very clear headed discussions and I feel a lot better about the move now after having watched them.

29 minutes ago, Black Market Bully said:

At this point, I’d roll the dice on Aaron Glenn

No, I don't think you'd reallly want to do that. Many fans in Detroit call him "Ron Rivera II" and would love to see him leave for somewhere else. They point to the number of unanswered points the Niners scored against them in the NFL championship game as just one of many examples.   

46 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

If they are still open I am still in the camp of why not Frank Smith?

 

 

He may be an NFL coach soon but he won't be one THIS year unless it's with the Commanders. Not sure why they aren't giving him a look. Hopefully they are.

9 minutes ago, Voice_of_Reason said:

 

Please let’s nit insult the next HC of the Seahawks by misspelling his name. 

Mike McDaniel?

3 minutes ago, mistertim said:

 

Aaron Glenn apparently still on Commanders candidate list. Sounds like Detroit would love him to leave but not so good for us apparently. They call him "Ron Rivera II".

Commanders Must Change Head Coach Plans After Ben Johnson Update (msn.com)

Ben Johnson’s Out, But Commanders ‘Eager to Meet’ Aaron Glenn

Like Johnson, Glenn was scheduled for an in-person interview with the Commanders. Fortunately, “the Commanders leadership team remains eager to meet with the respected Glenn,” according to Schefter.

As ESPN’s John Keim noted, Glenn is considered a “strong leader,” despite the concerning performances of his defenses: “In three seasons combined under Glenn, the Lions rank 31st in both yards and points. But they did improve in both categories this season compared to 2022: going from 28th in points to 23rd and from last in yards to 19th.”

Glenn raised his stock during a playoff run that took the Lions to one game short of the Super Bowl. Like he’s done throughout his tenure, Glenn got creative to mask a lack of elite talent on the field.

His sophisticated blitz pressures helped the Lions get past the Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. One of those elaborate and bold blitz designs against the Rams was described by Benjamin Solak of The Ringer.

Glenn also used five-man fronts to help the Lions allow 3.7 yards per carry this season, the third-fewest in the league. That number was a significant improvement from the 5.2 yards per rush the Lions gave up in 2022.

The broader statistics, points and yards, are still a worry, especially after the Lions were burned for 34 by the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. There was similar postseason pain for another defensive coordinator firmly on the Commanders’ radar.

Defensive-Minded Candidates Firmly in Play After Ben Johnson Decision

Mike Macdonald, who helped the Baltimore Ravens allow the fewest points in the NFL, was on the wrong end of the AFC Championship Game. To his credit, his unit hardly disgraced itself durning a 17-10 defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs, shutting out Patrick Mahomes and company in the second half.

Macdonald interviewed on Monday, but another defensive coordinator is still in play for the Commanders. Dan Quinn was set to meet with the Commanders on Tuesday, and the DC for the Dallas Cowboys has earned praise “for adjusting his scheme over the years,” per Keim.

Quinn’s greater asset might be his prior experience as a head coach. He took the Atlanta Falcons to the 2017 Super Bowl.

Whether Quinn gets the job or not, the Commanders are wise to consider coaches with strong backgrounds on defense. Improving a unit that ranked 32nd in points and yards allowed this season is the best way to rebuild this roster.

Any one of Glenn, Macdonald or Quinn can put the right structure around whichever passer the Commanders select second-overall in the 2024 NFL draft.<<

He's proved he wasn't the right guy for us. Rather he'd do it now than after he was hired.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/ben-johnson-taking-heat-for-unprofessional-move-with-commanders/ar-BB1hv5oZ?cvid=aefe56c9947c4ca7a78e7c2bc80c58da&ei=5

>>Ben Johnson Taking Heat For 'Unprofessional' Move With Commanders<<

They are right about one thing for sure. The HC jobs are filling up and there are still a number of good candidates available. If we somehow didn't end up with Johnson, we would still have several good choices.

It's a good year to be in the market for HC's.

Good discussion with Keim about the Commanders' coaching search.

13 hours ago, 88Comrade2000 said:

No.

 

Our potential future head coaches will be be coaching in the SuperBowl. Lions cs Ravens.

Ideally, it would be wild to have them coaching in a Commanders/Ravens Superbowl a year from now. We can dream.

13 hours ago, 88Comrade2000 said:

 

Atlanta is interviewing coaches left and right because while the owner probably wants BB, the front office doesn’t. They hope the owner becomes enamored with one of the candidates they are interviewing besides BB.  If BB gets hired , likely the front office gets dismissed or neutered so they have no power. 

 

Florio has still been pushing BB all over the place. Earlier today he had him going to either Philly or Dallas, or even to Buffalo...even though none of those teams currently have openings. That never bothers Florio though.