Moving Towards our Future Front Office and Coaching Hires. All the Way to the Water Boy - Adam Peters Hired as GM! The Mighty Quinn is HC Kliff Kingsbury as OC. Joe Whitt jr at DC.

[Renegade7]

1 hour ago, SonnySideUp said:

 

 

I'll be honest, i kinda like picking apart our division opponents who've been kicking our ass lately...

[Conn]

1 hour ago, RVAskins said:

I like that we're doing interviews to make sure we get it right. For all we do they could be targeting someone from the 49er's or Chiefs. I always find it odd when people say there should be a handshake deal in place. We're not buying a car.

I’m not saying there “should” be. I’m saying one of Quinn’s biggest selling points was that with his connections around the league, he’d fill out a great staff. And he still can, I'm not being negative so much as I’m just talking out loud about what we’re seeing.
 

A lot of these guys come as package deals, “handshake agreement” or not. Interviewing guys is fine, but it makes you wonder what he sold the search committee on in terms of his staff. Whitt as DC isn’t a sure thing, we’re holding interviews for OC. What vision, staff-wise, did he sell the committee and Peters on? That’s all I’m wondering.
 

I feel I’ve gained a pretty good grasp of what Quinn himself brings to the table over the last couple weeks of reading way too much about him—and one of those things is that he’s willing to work with people he hasn’t worked with before, so that might be the answer to my question.
 

I just want to know who he lined up for his staff or what plan he laid out if we don’t have coordinators locked down right away like you’d expect. Was the pitch “I’ll do what you did during the HC search and also cast a wide net and find the best candidates I can work with?” That’s not bad at all, but the reason I wasn’t worried that the HC search was dragging on while assistants got snatched up all over the league was because I assumed, given his rep and what insiders were saying, that he had a staff list prepped and ready to go—part of his selling point, according to some. 

[SonnySideUp]

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..."<<

 

 

[SkinsFTW]

Sounds like it took 5+ guys to decide on Quinn instead of the GM making the decision.

 

Who is to say that they aren't doing that same thing with the assistant coaches rather than Quinn just bringing in guys he wants.

[ExoDus84]

1 hour ago, Renegade7 said:

 

I'll be honest, i kinda like picking apart our division opponents who've been kicking our ass lately...

 

How is this picking apart the eagles? Wasn't Brian Johnson only there for a year before the eagles fired him?

 

That team fell apart last season. I honestly don't want their cast-off OC. 

[Renegade7]

3 hours ago, ExoDus84 said:

 

How is this picking apart the eagles? Wasn't Brian Johnson only there for a year before the eagles fired him?

 

That team fell apart last season. I honestly don't want their cast-off OC. 

 

Him being there for not long is fair.

 

The offense was doing fine until it wasn't, homie was a scapegoat.

 

Grabbing the DC and technically the OC from the two playoff teams in the East is interesting. 

Edited February 4 by Renegade7
fell asleep posting

[CapsSkins]

1 hour ago, ExoDus84 said:

 

How is this picking apart the eagles? Wasn't Brian Johnson only there for a year before the eagles fired him?

 

That team fell apart last season. I honestly don't want their cast-off OC. 

Could just be a Rooney Rule interview. We need two in person or virtual interviews for Coordinator positions (I don’t know how it works for Whitt who is a minority, aka would we need to interview *another* minority before giving him an offer?).

 

btw, hate to say it but I feel like some of Rivera’s interviews may be Rooney Rule compliance.

[FrFan]

4 hours ago, HTTRDynasty said:

 

If people decide to jump off a cliff would you jump too ?

If you decide to jump off a cliff how many people will follow you ?

Edited February 4 by FrFan

[Est.1974]

I wonder if players would jump off a cliff for Kliff ?

[mh86]

24 minutes ago, Est.1974 said:

I wonder if players would jump off a cliff for Kliff ?

Do you think they’d jump off a cliff for kliff while eating a clif bar? It’s too early for me

[FrFan]

24 minutes ago, Est.1974 said:

I wonder if players would jump off a cliff for Kliff ?

 

 

Wouldn't you ?

A Day with Kliff Kingsbury

[Professor_Nutter_Butter]

8 hours ago, RWJ said:

And....

Because he's familiar with him? I'm not saying it's a done deal if he's hired, just that it wouldn't be surprising. 

[Skinsinparadise]

14 hours ago, HTTRDynasty said:

Lmao. Unbelievable. Johnson’s agent clearly wasn’t happy with his puppet reporter tweeting anything negative about his client. 

 

As i mentioned Standig said at the Senior Bowl, there was much talk from people around the league about Ben Johnson looking bad but part of that was also his agent looking bad.  I gather the agent wanted to do damage control. But it IMO was a dumb move, just made them look worse, to take shots back. 

 

I am in business where in a different field, stuff gets leaked to the media where your client doesn't look good -- often the best solution is to leave it alone.  When you try to reframe a damaging story that's already out there, it gives it more legs, and it often it makes it worse.  I got the idea of responding.  That was my original reaction earlier in my career. But it comes off amateurish.  Dumb move IMO from Johnson's agent.  And I think this is probably mostly on the agent. It's the agent's job to manage these type of situations.

Edited February 4 by Skinsinparadise

[MartinC]

5 hours ago, ExoDus84 said:

 

How is this picking apart the eagles? Wasn't Brian Johnson only there for a year before the eagles fired him?

 

That team fell apart last season. I honestly don't want their cast-off OC. 

He was there two years - first year as QB coach then promoted to OC last year after Steichen went to the Colts as the HC.

 

Johnson nominally called plays but Siriani had a lot of input to game planning and play calling or at least sequencing. 

 

Johnson has never really installed and run his own offense.

[Skinsinparadise]

5 hours ago, SonnySideUp said:

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..."<<

 

 

 

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.

Edited February 4 by Skinsinparadise

[HigSkin]

 

[Skinsinparadise]

6 hours ago, Conn said:

I’m not saying there “should” be. I’m saying one of Quinn’s biggest selling points was that with his connections around the league, he’d fill out a great staff. And he still can, I'm not being negative so much as I’m just talking out loud about what we’re seeing.
 

A lot of these guys come as package deals, “handshake agreement” or not. Interviewing guys is fine, but it makes you wonder what he sold the search committee on in terms of his staff. Whitt as DC isn’t a sure thing, we’re holding interviews for OC. What vision, staff-wise, did he sell the committee and Peters on? That’s all I’m wondering.
 

I feel I’ve gained a pretty good grasp of what Quinn himself brings to the table over the last couple weeks of reading way too much about him—and one of those things is that he’s willing to work with people he hasn’t worked with before, so that might be the answer to my question.
 

I just want to know who he lined up for his staff or what plan he laid out if we don’t have coordinators locked down right away like you’d expect. Was the pitch “I’ll do what you did during the HC search and also cast a wide net and find the best candidates I can work with?” That’s not bad at all, but the reason I wasn’t worried that the HC search was dragging on while assistants got snatched up all over the league was because I assumed, given his rep and what insiders were saying, that he had a staff list prepped and ready to go—part of his selling point, according to some. 

 

I am guessing based on the way its playing out he had multiple candidates that he liked.

 

For example for defensive coordinator not just Whitt but also the Chiefs D line coach came out right away as hot candidates.  So that must have come from somewhere.

 

The fact that Keim had the 49ers TE coach as a hot candidate for the offensive coordinator job the day after Quinn was hired, he was one Quinn probably mentioned to them.  ditto Kubiak, but Kubick they got beat to. 

 

They had some bad luck in the process as to them liking candidates who went deep in the playoffs.  And I take Keim at his word that while they liked Quinn, they were also dead serious about interviewing these candidates.  So they were late in the process compared to some other teams who didn't wait

[Skinsinparadise]

Commanders coordinator tracker: Kliff Kingsbury in play as next OC

Cowboys’ Joe Whitt Jr. is front-runner at defensive coordinator

 

...Kingsbury, 44, previously was a middling head coach for the Arizona Cardinals and Texas Tech but has a strong track record of developing quarterbacks. By points scored, his Cardinals offenses finished 16th, 11th and 10th before falling to 23rd the year quarterback Kyler Murray tore his ACL; Washington’s best finish since 2018 is 23rd.]

 

In college, Kingsbury tutored Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes, Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel and Houston’s Case Keenum. In the NFL, he coached Murray.

 

In April, after being fired by Arizona with a record of 28-37-1, Kingsbury joined USC to help mentor Caleb Williams, projected to be a top pick in this year’s NFL draft. If Washington hires Kingsbury, it will fuel speculation the Commanders could trade up with the Chicago Bears to select the D.C. native.

Kingsbury runs a spread offense derived from the Air Raid, a pass-heavy scheme based out of the shotgun. But he calls runs at a higher rate than Bieniemy did last season.

A former quarterback at Texas Tech, Kingsbury excelled in the Air Raid from 1998 to 2002. The New England Patriots drafted him in the sixth round in 2003, and he became a journeyman backup in the NFL and the Canadian Football League until he retired in 2007. The next year, he joined Houston as an offensive quality control coach and began ascending the coaching ladder.

 

On the defensive side, the Commanders are strongly considering Joe Whitt Jr., the Cowboys’ secondary coach and pass game coordinator, two people familiar with the situation said. Whitt held the same title in Atlanta in 2020, when Dan Quinn was the Falcons’ head coach, then followed Quinn to Dallas the next season.

The Commanders, who formally announced Quinn’s hire as their head coach Saturday, are still working through the interview process for coordinators. Per NFL rules, teams must interview at least two external candidates for who are persons of color or women before hiring a coordinator.

Here are some candidates, and other names worth watching as Washington rounds out its coaching staff.

 

...Brian Griese, San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks coach

Griese, a quarterback who played 11 seasons in the NFL, jumped from the “Monday Night Football” booth to the sideline without any coaching experience in 2022. In two years, Griese, 48, has helped Brock Purdy, the last pick of the 2022 draft, develop into the league’s leader in passer rating and is headed to Super Bowl LVIII. He is on the Commanders’ list of candidates, a person with knowledge of the matter said. But if the team wants him, it will have to wait until after the Super Bowl to interview and hire him.

 

Brian Johnson, former Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator

A former Utah quarterback, Johnson, 36, spent the past three seasons with the Eagles — two as the team’s quarterbacks coach and one as its offensive coordinator. He was let go in January after the Eagles lost to the Buccaneers in the first round of the playoffs. Johnson reportedly is expected to interview for the Commanders’ OC job.

 

Chip Kelly, UCLA head coach

The longtime coach and play caller has been speculated for years to want to get back into the NFL after four seasons coaching the Eagles (2013-15) and 49ers (2016). Kelly, 60, has been at UCLA since 2018 and could be on the Commanders’ radar for play-calling candidates.

 

Brian Fleury, San Francisco 49ers tight ends coach

 

Fleury, a Maryland native who played at Maryland and Towson, was an assistant at both schools before making the leap to the pros in 2013 as a quality control coach for the Buffalo Bills. After a stint coaching the Cleveland Browns’ linebackers (2014-15), Fleury spent three years (2016-18) with the Miami Dolphins as a football research analyst. He left in 2019 — just as Eugene Shen, the Commanders’ vice president of football strategy, began his time in Miami — to join the 49ers and work his way up to tight ends coach in 2022.

 

Others names to watch:

Tanner Engstrand, Detroit Lions passing game coordinator

 

Darrell Bevell, Miami Dolphins quarterbacks coach/passing game coordinator

Tee Martin, Baltimore Ravens quarterbacks coach

Ronald Curry, New Orleans Saints passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach

Joe Bleymaier, Kansas City Chiefs passing game coordinator

Eric Studesville, Miami Dolphins associate head coach/running backs coach

 

Defensive coordinator

Joe Whitt Jr., Dallas Cowboys secondary coach/passing game coordinator

A former walk-on receiver at Auburn, Whitt turned to coaching in 2000 and joined the pro ranks as a defensive backs coach for the Falcons in 2007. After 11 seasons as a defensive assistant for the Packers, with whom he won Super Bowl XLV, Whitt, 45, spent time with the Browns and Falcons before following Quinn to Dallas as the Cowboys’ secondary coach and pass game coordinator in 2021. It’s worth noting that Whitt and Quinn share an agent.

 

Joe Cullen, Kansas City Chiefs defensive line coach

Cullen, 56, has 17 years of NFL coaching experience, primarily on the defensive line. After stops in Detroit, Jacksonville, Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Baltimore, he spent a year (2021) as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ defensive coordinator before heading to Kansas City in 2022 to coach the Chiefs’ D-line. Should the Commanders want to interview Cullen, they’ll have to wait until after the Super Bowl.

 

Chris Harris, Tennessee Titans passing game coordinator/cornerbacks coach

The former Commanders defensive backs coach has been in the mix for coordinator jobs over the past couple of seasons. He spent last season on Mike Vrabel’s staff in Tennessee, but the arrival of new Titans coach Brian Callahan could open up new opportunities for him. Players in Washington still view him in high regard, making his name worth monitoring for a possible return.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/02/03/commanders-defensive-offensive-coordinator-search/

 

[BurgundyBooger]

18 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

As i mentioned Standig said at the Senior Bowl, much talk from people around the league about Ben Johnson looking bad but part of that was also his agent looking bad.  I gather the agent wanted to do damage control. But it IMO was a dumb move, just made them look worse, to take shots back. 

 

I am in business where in a different field, stuff gets leaked to the media where your client doesn't look good -- often the best solution is to leave it alone.  When you try to reframe a damaging story that's already out there, it gives it more legs, and it often it makes it worse.  I got the idea of responding.  That was my original reaction earlier in my career. But it comes off amateurish.  Dumb move IMO from Johnson's agent.  And I think this is probably mostly on the agent. It's the agent's job to manage these type of situations.

 

I don’t know, I think his camp felt compelled to say something. This is the second time in as many years Johnson pulled this stunt, and a narrative was already surfacing of him being fickle, having cold feet, etc. Accusations that not only can damage his current reputation but can also lend themselves to questions of whether he possesses the stern qualities to be a head coach in the first place, compromising his future prospects. On top of that, he was painted as presumptuous and greedy with his salary demand. The cherry on top was his last minute cancellation of the second interview, which made him look even more unprofessional. 

 

I’m not defending his (or his agent’s) response, but a very strong narrative was being formed, originating from some powerful sources, with the potential of being career-altering, if not damaging. Sometimes when you say nothing in the face of these things, the silence can be perceived as quiet acquiescence.

Edited February 4 by BurgundyBooger

[Skinsinparadise]

2 hours ago, BurgundyBooger said:

 

I don’t know, I think his camp felt compelled to say something. This is the second time in as many years Johnson pulled this stunt, and a narrative was already surfacing of him being fickle, having cold feet, etc. Accusations that not only damaged his current reputation but also lend themselves to questions of whether he possesses the stern qualities to be a head coach in the first place. On top of that, he was painted as presumptuous and greedy with his salary demand. The cherry on top was his last minute cancellation of the second interview, which made him look even more unprofessional. 

 

I’m not defending his (or his agent’s) response, but a very strong narrative was being formed, originating from some powerful sources, with the potential of being career-damaging. Sometimes when you say nothing in the face of these things, the silence can be perceived as quiet acquiescence.

 

Not arguing that the running story created damage.  And that his camp felt compelled to say something.  That was my point though.  Often the best response is to do nothing.  Take the hit.   By engaging it can often create 2 problems.  1.  It gives more legs to a story that was likely dying down.  this brought more attention to it.  2.  By entering the spitting match, it can make it even more damaging.  And you lose any shot of taking the high road.

 

Taking the shots at the organization and the basketball stuff IMO causes more damage than it helps their side.   It makes them look petty IMO with that type of response.  They already look tactless with them telling this team they are out in midflight to Detriot.  And according to one reporter this team was pissed about how it was handled by them.  And according to Standig Johnson and his agent looked bad around the league as to everyone's take among those he spoke to.  I seriously doubt that his agent leaking about how unimpressed his client was with this team is going to give him a better look around the league.  IMO it just adds to the unprofessional air to how some already see how they handled the situation.

 

Sometimes IMO the classy thing is to take the hit.  And at a minimum its the easier way to have story die down as opposed to revive it.  Even the reporter they used to get their side out revived the shot that he didn't intervew well.  IMO they'd have done better to leave it alone.  

Edited February 4 by Skinsinparadise

[Warhead36]

Brian Johnson sucks. Hard pass.

[Conn]

I wonder if they’re looking at Brian Johnson for QB coach, despite reports. It happens sometimes when staffs are being built, it’s assumed that everyone you’re talking to is for a coordinator job and not another assistant job. 
 

It would be pretty normal for a guy like Johnson who had one year as an OC and was fired to be demoted back down to QB coach for awhile until he maybe gets another swing some day. And almost all the OC jobs are filled for the year anyways. And he helped develop Hurts during his breakout season, his resume as a QB coach is better than his resume as an OC. 

[DWinzit]

55 minutes 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.

I must admit the BB reports were a frustrating portion of the process. The reports yo yo'd from he is under consideration or in talks then others that were total rebuffs of any chance they would even talk to him or have any interest. To twist this positive like I did earlier, I love that they kept everyone guessing and didn't leak their intentions.

 

On another note

Wasn't Joe Witt names as our DC?

12 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

Brian Johnson sucks. Hard pass.

Moving forward I am rolling with this. I hope his success drops like a lead balloon. 

 

 

Edited February 4 by DWinzit

[88Comrade2000]

Don’t care if we talked to BB. May have offered a deal to MM & rejected.  I definitely don’t care if BJ thought this an organization full of basketball people.  I care about what Dan , our coach does in the future with his staff and with our roster.

 

I will say BJ is going to find a wary eye will be cast on him when he goes job hunting in the future. There are so many red flags about him now, think you can already see he will be bust at heat coach. Josh Mcdaniels 2.0.

[RWJ]

2 hours ago, Professor_Nutter_Butter said:

Because he's familiar with him? I'm not saying it's a done deal if he's hired, just that it wouldn't be surprising. 

I just think it will someone else.  We shall see PNB.