The HC Dan Quinn Discussion Thread

[Bulldog]

Dan Quinn came here and brought Whitt and the defensive staff with him through his contacts/network.

These were not Peters hires.

I don't know the balance of influence Quinn had on draft picks or free agents on that side of the ball.

What I have seen though is a defense that with a two linebacker base set has been incapable of stopping the run without a dominant strong safety coming down to fill the box, which we don't have.

We drafted a 290 pound DT in Johnny Newton that had structural issues (weight bearing on feet and knees) with his frame and at his size is exposed in run defense. He's now no better than the #4 DT in a rotation after being the #36 overall pick in 2024.

In the backfield we have gone with a man cover scheme without the horses to run on the outside.

Trey Amos' first 6-8 games gives me some hope that we have finally found an OUTSIDE corner who can match up and contest balls down the field.

Lattimore was clearly slower at 30 after a number of seasons with injury problems in New Orleans (now on IR). Sainristil was drafted to be a slot corner in Round 2 but looks like he may be a bit better on the outside. But he's been pulled back and forth like a yo-yo with his ultimate place on the team yet to be decided.

So, overall just considering the defense it's been a mess.

The schemes don't work, at least not now with the players they have on the roster.

But then my mind goes back to Quinn's defense in Dallas with Whitt as the Assistant DC. The Dallas defense had a hard time stopping the run and also suffered from poor tackling on the outside.

So, do the schemes work with any group of players? Or is the strategy itself flawed?

I don't let Peters off the hook because he had the chance to draft starting outside corner or wide receiver in Round 2 and traded down for a slot corner and the ability to draft Sinnott.

And after taking a DT who had a broken foot and evidently had a 'fail' medical grade on a number of teams' draft charts as indicated above.

So, any thoughts of Newton 'growing into his frame' and going from 290 to 300 or 305 to play in the NFL are dreams perhaps not be realized.

 

[Riggo44]

We should have hired Vrabel. Too late now.
Quinn's defense has always fallen apart against the McVay system. It will take another 2 years before he gets fired.

No one was thinking this even 6 months ago. My biggest peeve here is the revisionist history. The Commanders had an easy schedule, by a lot of metrics--I've seen rankings in the high teens/low 20s

According to DVOA, the Pats have had the easiest schedule ever recorded: https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nfl-dvoa-dumps-historic-cold-172840635.html

 

[Riggotoni]

Gravel got Maye. That’s the only difference.

Vrabel brought in Josh McDaniel, who is probably the best OC in the game. Vrabel made the playoffs with freaking Tannehill at QB. Vrabel is better at running a defense. Vrabel is a top 5 coach who got screwed over in TN by a Cerrato level GM. I wanted us to land either him or Ben Johnson last year - when Quinn's name was thrown around, I posted how ridiculous that would be given how the Cowboys defense completely collapsed in the playoffs.

 

[Bulldog]

I am surprised a bit by Quinn. I never followed the Seahawks or Falcons that closely, but I always saw a defense that was aggressive and went after it to make a play.

We have not seen that 'ethos' in play here in Washington and as you brought up the Dallas defense seemed to have some 'design flaws' that Quinn never really worked out with the personnel he had on the team.

My impression of Quinn was that he was soft on the outside, player's coach, etc. but that he was probably a much harsher guy behind closed doors.

But given how the players have stayed loose and walk around like it's Club Med despite the losing record, it's becoming apparent that Quinn is more like Norv Turner.

And if that's the case we have a problem.

 

[Burgundy Sweatshirt]

Most of us talked ourselves into the “culture hire” of DQ, especially after going to the NFCCG in year one. Understandable.

But almost anyone who says they weren’t disappointed upon first hearing of the Quinn hire (for me it was the ongoing Keim drumbeat that we shouldn’t overlook Quinn as their top choice beforehand—that’s when I knew it would be him and I started coping early)…anyone who says they weren’t initially disappointed is lying. We all wanted a young offensive playcaller to go with our new QB, or at least a young innovative HC. The retread SB-losing-DC-as-HC put a pit in our stomachs at first report, don’t even lie.

This bears repeating. I was very disappointed with Quinn’s hiring.

 

[method man]

With this franchise, the fans are right way more often than the supposed experts

 

[method man]

Fairly recent article from NFL.com

2026 NFL head coach hiring cycle: 24 young candidates to know

The 2026 NFL head coach hiring cycle is still months away -- but it's not too early for Tom Pelissero to get you up to speed on 24 young candidates to know, including Joe Brady, Ejiro Evero and Kelvin Sheppard.

www.nfl.com

Bills OC Joe Brady, 36
Patriots passing game coordinator/TE coach Thomas Brown, 39:
Jaguars DC Anthony Campanile, 43
Colts OC Jim Bob Cooter, 41
Bears OC Declan Doyle, 29
Panthers DC Ejiro Evero, 44
Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman, 39
Bucs OC Josh Grizzard, 35
Giants interim HC Mike Kafka, 38
Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak, 38
Rams OC Mike LaFleur, 38
Chargers DC Jesse Minter, 42
Eagles OC Kevin Patullo, 44
Cardinals OC Drew Petzing, 38; and DC Nick Rallis, 32
Bengals OC Dan Pitcher, 38
Falcons OC Zac Robinson, 39
Lions DC Kelvin Sheppard, 37
Dolphins OC Frank Smith, 44
Packers OC Adam Stenavich, 42
Browns AHC/STC Bubba Ventrone, 43
Broncos offensive pass game coordinator/QB coach Davis Webb, 30

If they are still around next year, Brady, Grizzard, Sheppard and Minter would all be intriguing. Brady was the next McVay a few years ago and now you never hear his name come up. Rallis is also interesting but he is going to have to show it as a DC elsewhere (maybe here?) after Gannon gets fired

On Kubiak, I remembered that the PFFSE guys were saying that they heard that Klint doesn't have a HC's personality.

 

[Faithful Fan]

Unless there is major scandal, there is a 0% chance DQ gets fired after this year. Remember that Harris is big into perception and will not want to be seen as being rash. DQ gets at least one more year and probably gets one more past that if they are around 500

I’m more down on this team than most, and I have always had my doubts about him based on that 28-3 thing, but I agree you give DQ at least another year. You can’t fire the coach who had the best season in decades after one bad year, plus the players like him, and even if he cannot get the job done, the next coach will want to see that the last coach got a fair chance.

 

[Riggo44]

They really included Zac Robinson...AND PATULLO...on that list?! This is Brick Tamland just pointing things in the room and saying he loves them. I audibly laughed at that.

There's no one on that list I'd want.

 

[heisenberg]

I think quinn is a great guy and a good leader.
If i was hiring a president for my company he'd be at the top of the list, im just not sure he's all that good at football, at least comparative to the rest of the league.

I have a long history of wanting to be patient with coaches going back to the early days of e.s., i was one of the last to board the fire Rivera train.
But i just dont see any real hope for a long term future with quinn.

For the last decade plus his Defenses have been ok 20 percent of the time and atrocious the other 80, you gotta go all the way back to Seattle to see a defense he commanded that anybody was afraid of.

I dont want the team to be rash and im 99 percent certain they wont be and quinn will get at least one more year but I'd be lying if i said i thought it would do any good.

There's a big part of me that hopes they shock us and try to bring in the next McVay or johnson, because if we're gonna struggle next year to a 6 to 8 win season anyway id rather they be one year into a new system than at the end of the old one.

Im fuckin tired of being patient, we've waited long enough.

 

[Riggo44]

For the last decade plus his Defenses have been ok 20 percent of the time and atrocious the other 80, you gotta go all the way back to Seattle to see a defense he commanded that anybody was afraid of.

This is just blatantly untrue. He took over a horrible Dallas defense and had them top 5 after two years, improved them every year. And after he left? The defense has been horrendous.

And 2024 did happen. That was real and it mattered. It's amazing how quickly some here dismiss that season--while fawning over Mike Vrabel--who isn't doing anything different than Quinn did. People need stop listening to Fat and Not Funny.

 

[DWinzit]

I think quinn is a great guy and a good leader.
If i was hiring a president for my company he'd be at the top of the list, im just not sure he's all that good at football, at least comparative to the rest of the league.

I have a long history of wanting to be patient with coaches going back to the early days of e.s., i was one of the last to board the fire Rivera train.
But i just dont see any real hope for a long term future with quinn.

For the last decade plus his Defenses have been ok 20 percent of the time and atrocious the other 80, you gotta go all the way back to Seattle to see a defense he commanded that anybody was afraid of.

I dont want the team to be rash and im 99 percent certain they wont be and quinn will get at least one more year but I'd be lying if i said i thought it would do any good.

There's a big part of me that hopes they shock us and try to bring in the next McVay or johnson, because if we're gonna struggle next year to a 6 to 8 win season anyway id rather they be one year into a new system than at the end of the old one.

Im fuckin tired of being patient, we've waited long enough.

If I was hiring a president I'd want a bottom line guy. That bottom line guy would want the company to be successful and grow.

If a candidate had a history of being a nice guy and a good leader but has an unsuccessful business history as a president, I would not hire him.

AP had a fairy tale beginning to his GM tenure but cracks were visible. Those cracks were not properly filled and actually show much more cracking and crumbling.

He needs a magic wand this off-season to getting his fairy tale back on track. It could be bringing in a new president. If not, he should require DQ layout a serious change that will alter the current negative projections

I took am tired of being patient. I'd say the remaining long term fans all feel this way!

 

[heisenberg]

This is just blatantly untrue. He took over a horrible Dallas defense and had them top 5 after two years, improved them every year.

You mean the defense that got absolutely steamrolled by the packers in the playoffs?
Yes im sure under some metric you can say they were top 5 for a little while, hence my comment about sometimes they're ok but dallas was always extremely vulnerable against the run and inconsistent week to week.
And in Atlanta his defense is what got him fired.

Pff aint gonna gaslight me into thinking hes done anything remarkable since his seahawks days.

I mean hell, there were times over Rivera and del rios tenure that we ranked top ten in several metrics, they still sucked.

 

[Riggo44]

You mean the defense that got absolutely steamrolled by the packers in the playoffs?

Yes, we should make a determination on one game. That's always a smart bet. They were top 5 in points and yards, and then fell off like a cliff. Is that a good enough metric for you?

 

[heisenberg]

Yes, we should make a determination on one game. That's always a smart bet. They were top 5 in points and yards, and then fell off like a cliff. Is that a good enough metric for you?

It was way more than one game, but im not gonna argue with you over this.
I died a cold horrible death on the rivera, del rio hill because they had a great history of exceptional defenses and always assumed the flashes they showed from time to time could be the norm if we got the right personnel.

Im not dying on that hill again with quinn.

 

[Riggo44]

It was way more than one game, but im not gonna argue with you over this.

Probably a good idea

McVay's last game before being hired as Rams HC: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201701010was.htm
Ben Johnson gave the ball to Jahymr Gibbs 14 times, allowing Goff to turn the ball over 5 times in his last game as Detroit OC.

I can go on...

 

[burgold]

They say never go shopping while hungry, I think the same goes for firing head coaches. There are enough reasonable excuses to allow us to stay the right course. look at the fact that we've played the whole damned season (or damn close to it) with a backup QB, and the fact that everything said about the team last year is still true and think, now is not the time to go grocery shopping.

After all, if everyone was in love with the coaching staff Quinn assembled a year ago, they're still the same crew. They haven't suddenly become bums who don't know how to coach. Now, that's not to say there shouldn't be a cost to a season this bad. We made enough mistakes in roster construction, in play calling, etc that you shorten the leash, but I would hold onto the promise of 2024 and remember how many Super Bowl losers have a bad year the next year. I would look at Kansas City, a team that's been the best in the league for half a decade, and have struggled greatly because of injuries this year (and frankly injuries not as bad as ours) and think, if they can't overcome their injuries how could we? That said, I would request changes. Changes in the roster. Changes in the defensive coaching staff. Changes in how we conduct our offseason practices and how many reps vets get in the preseason, but otherwise, I pinch my nose and will choose to believe that 2024 was closer to the truth than 2025.

 

[DWinzit]

Now that we have been officially eliminated from contention (honestly, we really were weeks ago) how will the remainder of the season be handled?

Are we finally going to see more playtime from some of the younger players? This would assist the teams future for evaluating what they have moving into the off-season

Do they continue playing all the starters because they don't want players giving up or stop putting their heart into playing...concerns of not getting injured

I am hoping they can find a comfortable mix of all, we need three younger players being more involved.

 

[Riggo44]

They say never go shopping while hungry, I think the same goes for firing head coaches. There are enough reasonable excuses to allow us to stay the right course. look at the fact that we've played the whole damned season (or damn close to it) with a backup QB, and the fact that everything said about the team last year is still true and think, now is not the time to go grocery shopping.

I say this all the time, and will continue to say it while people continue to do it: They complained year-in, and year-out about Snyder's impatience. Yet, they act the exact same way one year after an amazing season, pining over this QB or that coach.

 

[Riggo44]

Now that we have been officially eliminated from contention (honestly, we really were weeks ago)