Daronte Jones and the Defensive Staffing Thread

The one thing you can say about Washington's front office. We don't move that quickly in hiring coaches or in free agency - we seem to be a very risk averse organization now, almost too over-careful in not trying to make a mistake but then making one due to waiting until the music stops to make decisions.

Same with spending money on players at the start of free agency, we shy away from signing anyone that is really a difference maker because the risk with the money is there.

That's one reason we end up with fewer draft picks.

While the move for Tunsil was fair value for Washington IMO, the moves for Lattimore and Deebo took away a number of draft picks we desperately needed to build depth on this team.

If we had been active in free agency we could have found players at CB and at WR that could have done better than Lattimore and at least as well as Samuel.
 
Fingers crossed that we have our guy and we are just putting on a show.

Not sure I believe that’s the case. But im
Going to hope for it anyways

Graham still appeals to me. I prefer though a newbee like Scott or Daronte Jones evevn though they are wildcards.

They might have a shot at Raheem as time marches on considering his options are dwindiling.
 
At this point, I'm just waiting to see who it actually is.
 
The one thing you can say about Washington's front office. We don't move that quickly in hiring coaches or in free agency - we seem to be a very risk averse organization now, almost too over-careful in not trying to make a mistake but then making one due to waiting until the music stops to make decisions.

Not sure if that's it here. they signed Blough fast and that is a risky hire IMO.

I am guessing what happened is: Urlich, Flores and Raheem were the top choices. They waited Urlich and Flores out, and they went elsewhere. That leaves Raheem but he's still in play for the Cardinals HC job and if the Rams lose Shula he could end up there so he hasn't even taken an interview.

Seems like they were caught off guard by that and all the openings which brings so much uncertaintly as for who goes there. Then its compounded by this arguably is one of the worst spots for a defensive coordinator so if they are trying to nail down a coordinator that dude might be telling them to wait because they might have better opportunities.

I mentioned during the season that I think Quinn and Peters IMO need some humble pie. I think they are getting a double dose of it now.
 
They should have seen it coming and been more realistic.

Ulbrich was never free as Blank held onto his contract.

Flores was only going to come here as a HC.

Morris I didn’t think was a poor hire but he’s getting into retread territory as a guy that plays the gypsy in the NFL.
 
The one thing you can say about Washington's front office. We don't move that quickly in hiring coaches or in free agency - we seem to be a very risk averse organization now, almost too over-careful in not trying to make a mistake but then making one due to waiting until the music stops to make
If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.
 
They should have seen it coming and been more realistic.

Ulbrich was never free as Blank held onto his contract.

Flores was only going to come here as a HC.

Morris I didn’t think was a poor hire but he’s getting into retread territory as a guy that plays the gypsy in the NFL.
Who is the “realistic” candidate they should have known to settle for?
 
Seems like they were caught off guard by that and all the openings which brings so much uncertaintly as for who goes there. Then its compounded by this arguably is one of the worst spots for a defensive coordinator so if they are trying to nail down a coordinator that dude might be telling them to wait because they might have better opportunities.
I posted earlier, it might have been deleted in the recovery from back up, but most reliable reporters were predicting 4-5 opening. There were 10. That had to throw a bit of a wrench in their plans.
 
Graham still appeals to me. I prefer though a newbee like Scott or Daronte Jones evevn though they are wildcards.

They might have a shot at Raheem as time marches on considering his options are dwindiling.

What’s your take on Zak Kuhr?
 
What’s your take on Zak Kuhr?
Im not sure the patriots would let him go.

It's an odd situation for sure but Kuhr has been calling plays for one of the best defenses in the league all year.

It's kind of like when you bring in a free agent quarterback and draft a guy the same year to learn under him and the starter gets hurt and the rookie excels, do you give the veteran his job back when he returns?

Not usually if the rookie plays very well.

Surely nobody wants to fire a guy because he got cancer but this is a dog eat dog business
 
Im not sure the patriots would let him go.

It's an odd situation for sure but Kuhr has been calling plays for one of the best defenses in the league all year.

It's kind of like when you bring in a free agent quarterback and draft a guy the same year to learn under him and the starter gets hurt and the rookie excels, do you give the veteran his job back when he returns?

Not usually if the rookie plays very well.

Surely nobody wants to fire a guy because he got cancer but this is a dog eat dog business

Well the tricky thing is the guy who currently has the DC job has been a Vrabel guy for a long time and is coming off a cancer recovery. The ruthless move would be to move this guy to another role but big questions if he will
 
What’s your take on Zak Kuhr?

Love the profile. And the Pats had to take a lot of new moving parts and make it work in one season and did so and he had to adjust to that position on the fly. Very impressive. I watched him mic'd up in a game, love that emotion. Whitt wasn't just a bad X's and O's guy but also brought no emotion to the spot. I like D coordinators who can get their units fired up.

 
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Keim this morning.


A. doubled down that the job security of Quinn has some overhang on this hiring based on some converstions he had in the league with sources

B. Mentioned maybe they'd interview Leonhard considering he seems to be a hot candidate and they didn't interview him yet. But that was a gut thought from him not something he heard.

C. They prefer a coordinator who called a defense but they might not be able to land those guys they want on that front.

D. Raheem has options potentially. But he doesn't think he will choose a TV job instead of coaching.

E. He's heard good things from the people he talked to about Daronte Jones including thinking he can implement Flores blitz schemes but reminded that other teams, Giants, Cowboys interviewed him and went elsewhere for the spot

F. Suspects Al Harris isn't the front runner for this at the moment.

G. Thinks the hire happens this week
 
Keim this morning.


A. doubled down that the job security of Quinn has some overhang on this hiring based on some converstions he had in the league with sources

B. Mentioned maybe they'd interview Leonhard considering he seems to be a hot candidate and they didn't interview him yet. But that was a gut thought from him not something he heard.

C. They prefer a coordinator who called a defense but they might not be able to land those guys they want on that front.

D. Raheem has options potentially. But he doesn't think he will choose a TV job instead of coaching.

E. He's heard good things from the people he talked to about Daronte Jones including thinking he can implement Flores blitz schemes but reminded that other teams, Giants, Cowboys interviewed him and went elsewhere for the spot

F. Suspects Al Harris isn't the front runner for this at the moment.

G. Thinks the hire happens this week
It would be good for the team to get the hire done this week. Time to get the staff built and in place.

I have a hard time seeing Leonhard coming to Washington

Keim has been consistent saying Raheem has options. That translates to, he's more than likely out
 
The one thing you can say about Washington's front office. We don't move that quickly in hiring coaches or in free agency - we seem to be a very risk averse organization now, almost too over-careful in not trying to make a mistake but then making one due to waiting until the music stops to make decisions.
Except ... How do you like me Blough! Moved quickly there. I think at times we're inconsistent. Sometimes we go for it, sometimes we don't.

Same with spending money on players at the start of free agency, we shy away from signing anyone that is really a difference maker because the risk with the money is there.
I don't get the feeling it's the money side that they are worried about. I get the feeling it's more locking in older players for longer deals. I think what's ironic is they want to be a young team and build through the draft yet they ended up with the oldest roster in the NFL.

That's one reason we end up with fewer draft picks.

While the move for Tunsil was fair value for Washington IMO, the moves for Lattimore and Deebo took away a number of draft picks we desperately needed to build depth on this team.
Nobody should complain about the Deebo deal. It was one 5th round pick, and Deebo outperformed at least 95% of 5th round picks, who generally are ST players and then out of the league in 2 years and don't make it to year 3. Even if it was a 1 year rental, it was good value.

The Lattimore trade was, in hindsight, a complete disaster. However, they pulled the trigger on a guy who they thought would help put them over the edge in 2024 when they were on a magic carpet ride. It didn't work. I still think it was worth the swing. But it was a swing and a miss. And sometimes that happens. You'll never hit a home run unless you swing the bat.

If we had been active in free agency we could have found players at CB and at WR that could have done better than Lattimore and at least as well as Samuel.
Lattimore, the timing was everything. They wanted him in 2024 to help a putrid secondary. He didn't. But that was the hope. Should they have cut bait in the off-season and signed another CB, in addition to Sainrastil and drafting Amos? I say yes. But there weren't a ton of starting CB options out there.

Same with WRs. There weren't a lot of WRs at Deebo's level out there in FA, and in FA, you're competing with 31 other teams.

All that said, they needed to be more aggressive in FA.

This is off topic, so back to the DC search: whoever they bring in, whenever they bring them in, Peters has to get more talent and especially more speed. They need more speed everywhere on defense.
 
It would be good for the team to get the hire done this week. Time to get the staff built and in place.

I have a hard time seeing Leonhard coming to Washington

Keim has been consistent saying Raheem has options. That translates to, he's more than likely out

Also you got the Senior Bowl this week. Weird that was the time they moved on for Gribble without a replacement thus far.
 

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