The HC Dan Quinn Discussion Thread

[Riggo44]

The fact they let Quinn hire Blough shows to me they will have some patience.

Honestly, it also shows Quinn isn't worried about job security. He doesn't want a one-year rental who is going to walk out as a HC in a year. There are a lot of mitigating factors over the next 3 months, let alone 9, that are complete variables right now.

So.....

 

[skinsinparadise]

Ultimately the reason you give DQ 2026 is because you had 2024. However, if I'm ownership, I have major question marks about why they chose a 30 year old with 2 years of coaching experience and 5 games of coaching experience as a full time position coach as OC. As an owner, that makes me concerned with the strategic thinking and puts more onus on Quinn to deliver next year.

To play off of this point. I am not giving Quinn time to "grow" with his new coordinators. If that's the idea than Quinn was very clever to buy time with making these changes -- hey it might be so so for now but can you imagine what Blough will be in 2027? or heck Graham or whomever just needs another season for defenders to learn his system

Quinn dug the hole with the coordinators. One season to dig himself out of the hole is fine. But two seasons of it? No way IMO.

And again if Jayden is Jayden 2024, you don't miss the playoffs 2 years in row. If you do that, its a failure.

 

[method man]

If you're not willing to give that inexperienced 30 year old at least two years in the seat if he shows promise in year 1, then you shouldn't approve the hire in the first place.

It often takes even established OCs two or even three years to really build their offense. Expecting instant high-level success from someone with such little experience does not make sense. If ownership's expectation was for 2026 to be an instant turnaround then they should not have approved Blough, they should have gone after McDaniel or Daboll or someone of that ilk.

The fact they let Quinn hire Blough shows to me they will have some patience.

Isn't what you are alluding to in the first sentence what a meddlesome Dan Snyder type of owner would do?

 

[skinsinparadise]

If you're not willing to give that inexperienced 30 year old at least two years in the seat if he shows promise in year 1, then you shouldn't approve the hire in the first place.

It often takes even established OCs two or even three years to really build their offense. Expecting instant high-level success from someone with such little experience does not make sense. If ownership's expectation was for 2026 to be an instant turnaround then they should not have approved Blough, they should have gone after McDaniel or Daboll or someone of that ilk.

The fact they let Quinn hire Blough shows to me they will have some patience.

To your poInt it could be that inside that building Quinn was told he has 2 seasons no matter what.

I doubt it though with Keim among others feeling his seat is likely warm this season. But will see.

If Peters-Harris is giving Quinn 2 seasons, where this one could serve as sort of a rebuilding year in season 3 of the regime, it would be the first time I'd really have concerns about Harris.

And I am not a Quinn hater, I think I've defended him as much as anyone. And I suspect he bounces back next season. But I don't have his back if he has a mediocre or bad season.

IMO some are missing the main plot -- the gift of a franchise QB on a rookie contract isn't some 10 year process. You got basically 4-5 years. You can't give a HC carte blanche to squander that unique opportunity.

If Quinn is like hey we will figure this out once Jayden is making 60 million a year -- good luck with that. THIS is the golden opportunity. It's carpe diem. It's now. It's not lets build to 2027 or 2028.

If Jayden looks like Jayden next year and this team is a middiling or worse team where Quinn-Peters are sellinhg behind the scenes that hey we will be good once Jayden is off of his rookie contract -- it comes off like bizzaro world to me.

 

[method man]

To your poInt it could be that inside that building Quinn was told he has 2 seasons no matter what.

I doubt it though with Keim among others feeling his seat is likely warm this season. But will see.

If Peters-Harris is giving Quinn 2 seasons, its the first time I'd really have concerns about Harris.

And I am not a Quinn hater, I think I've defended him as much as anyone. And I suspect he bounces back next season. But I don't have his back if he has a mediocre or bad season.

IMO some are missing the main plot -- the gift of a franchise QB on a rookie contract isn't some 10 year process. You got basically 4-5 years. You can't give a HC carte blanche to squander that unique opportunity.

If Quinn is like hey we will figure this out once Jayden is making 60 million a year -- good luck with that. THIS is the golden opportunity. It's now not lets build to 2027 or 2028.

If Jayden looks like Jayden next year and this team is a middiling or worse team where Quinn-Peters are sellinhg behind the scenes that hey we will be good once Jayden is off of his rookie contract -- it comes off like bizzaro world to me.

Yep. We've seen Allen and Mahomes both suffer the past two seasons due to their teams' inability to add high end skill players due to 1) lack of cap space & 2) lack of premium draft capital. Both teams have had to load up on veteran WR3/WR4 types that include has beens like Brandin Cooks, Amari Cooper, JuJu Smith Schuster, Hollywood Brown and others.

If JD ends up being who we think he will be, we may end up in the same boat so the time is now to take advantage of this window

 

[skinsinparadise]

Yep. We've seen Allen and Mahomes both suffer the past two seasons due to their teams' inability to add high end skill players due to 1) lack of cap space & 2) lack of premium draft capital. Both teams have had to load up on veteran WR3/WR4 types that include has beens like Brandin Cooks, Amari Cooper, JuJu Smith Schuster, Hollywood Brown and others.

If JD ends up being who we think he will be, we may end up in the same boat so the time is now to take advantage of this window

Absoluetly. This is the easiest time to compete. Time is ticking. They IMO squandered 2025. That's really bad. But it would be malpractice to squander two seasons in a row. It would leave basically 2027. 5th year isn't too bad but you are off the rookie contract then and they might at that point give him the big money contract. So basically we likely have 2026 and 2027. I am not blowing off 2026 and just leaving 2027 for them to chase the prize with the rookie contract.

If Quinn's motley crew of inexperiened offensive staff that he pushed to replace the coordinator who he decided doesn't fit his philosophy upon deeper reflection (too bad he didn't reflect more before he hired him) do not hit the ground running -- that's on Quinn.

If he wants to roll the dice in a critical year on some newbees than he has that right. But he's not getting a pass from me if it doesn't work with the thought of hey they flashed enough that 2027 might be promising.

 

[CapsCommies]

Isn't what you are alluding to in the first sentence what a meddlesome Dan Snyder type of owner would do?

I don't think so; I think it's entirely appropriate and proper for an ownership group to approve the overall strategy for the franchise and set expectations on the front-end. Snyder-esque meddling would be not just approving the strategy but foisting individual coaches or players (or playcalls in Mike Nolan's case) on the staff. But YMMV

 

[skinsinparadise]

This is a new world we are living in. Assuming we believe in Jayden. This isn't Patrick Ramsey, Jason Campbell, Wentz, Heinicke, etc. There was no window with these guys.

For this regime to just ignore that window would be as bad as any of the buffoon moves from Cerrato, Rivera or Bruce. Maybe worse considering they weren't afforded this type of opportunity.

I am trying to think of a good analogy -- maybe its like ignoring Amazon Prime day and instead buying the same products 20% higher a week later. Ignore a big market drop where you can get a top stock at a bargain price and instead you let the market bounce back and buy that same stock at a premium price.

Blough doesn't have the luxury of a rebuild season. Time is ticking. Yeah its not his fault -- its Quinn's fault if it doesn't work out. But time isn't on our side.

For those who remember the odd contract standoff between Kirk and Bruce from years back -- that felt like a ticking time bomb as for this team being able to compete once Kirk gets his 28 or so million and it seemed like Bruce couldn't among other things psychologically handle the idea of building the roster with giving him that kind of money. We are headed to a much bigger version of this. When Jayden gets his contract, for example, they'd have for example like 50% of the cap money they got now to spend. It will be cut in half. It changes the whole game. And for us to allow Quinn to squander this period would be malpractice IMO if he did.

AI Overview


The phrase "rookie QB contract is a cheat code" means that
a quarterback playing on an affordable, league-mandated rookie deal provides a huge financial advantage, allowing teams to spend heavily on other star players, quickly build a championship contender, and potentially reach a Super Bowl faster, like a hidden advantage in a video game, though the window is short before the QB demands a massive extension.

 

[CapsCommies]

This is a new world we are living in. Assuming we believe in Jayden. This isn't Patrick Ramsey, Jason Campbell, Wentz, Heinicke, etc. There was no window with these guys.

For this regime to just ignore that window would be as bad as any of the buffoon moves from Cerrato, Rivera or Bruce. Maybe worse considering they weren't afforded this type of opportunity.

I am trying to think of a good analogy -- maybe its like ignoring Amazon Prime day and instead buying the same products 20% higher a week later. Ignore a big market drop where you can get a top stock at a bargain price and instead you let the market bounce back and buy that same stock at a premium price.

Blough doesn't have the luxury of a rebuild season. Time is ticking. Yeah its not his fault -- its Quinn's fault if it doesn't work out. But time isn't on our side.

AI Overview


The phrase "rookie QB contract is a cheat code" means that
a quarterback playing on an affordable, league-mandated rookie deal provides a huge financial advantage, allowing teams to spend heavily on other star players, quickly build a championship contender, and potentially reach a Super Bowl faster, like a hidden advantage in a video game, though the window is short before the QB demands a massive extension.

I don't think Quinn has been told he has two seasons no matter what. He has to show improvement. But there's a dissonance in your posts about the difficulty Blough faces in this promotion and the standard to which you're holding him in Year 1.

I'm not saying this necessarily should be the approach. But if betting on Blough to be great is risky, then betting on Blough to be great Day 1 is negligently delusional. We're going to be teaching our OL a new blocking scheme, we'll have some new receivers, new starting TE, potentially a new starting RB, many of our players will be learning a new system, Jayden will be running more pistol or under-center which is not what he's used to, the OC will be callling plays for the first time... none of that suggests this is a "playoff contention or bust" year.

 

[skinsinparadise]

I don't think Quinn has been told he has two seasons no matter what. He has to show improvement. But there's a dissonance in your posts about the difficulty Blough faces in this promotion and the standard to which you're holding him in Year 1.

I'm not saying this necessarily should be the approach. But if betting on Blough to be great is risky, then betting on Blough to be great Day 1 is negligently delusional. We're going to be teaching our OL a new blocking scheme, we'll have some new receivers, new starting TE, potentially a new starting RB, many of our players will be learning a new system, Jayden will be running more pistol or under-center which is not what he's used to, the OC will be callling plays for the first time... none of that suggests this is a "playoff contention or bust" year.

If I follow your point is its going to be such an adjustment for Blough and this new offense with Jayden adjusting too -- in turn they should be afforded the leeway to show progress without big expectations. And that progress should buy them some time considering in theory we'd have an emerging Blough and Jayden under a new system. So watch out NFL in 2027.

OK. I agree with the premise of your thought in a vaccum. But it isn't a vaccum. IMO it doesn't give any weight to these thoughts.

A. This hole was dug by Quinn. These were his coordinators who failed.

B. Rookie contract window is a real thing. This can't be IMO be a prelude to the 2027 season. If we did it that way, we are left with just a one year rookie contract window to account for Quinn's mistakes? That sounds a bit nuts to me.

C. The idea that Quinn made a move on the offensive coordinator that comes off like he's not stepping on the gas, I don't think is a sign that he doesn't have to do it. I suspect (but don't know) that he convinced Harris that Blough will indeed hit the ground running.

If Harris and Peters decided to give him this year and just improvement alone is enough for them. That means to me that they aren't into the rookie window, they can care less. I'll give them that its an outside the box thought process if so. But also a bit odd. The one thing that might work in Quinn's favor is Peters IMO showed little urgency with building the roster last year so maybe he convinced Josh Harris in that Rivera style that rebuilds take a long 5 years. And in turn who cares about the rookie contract window, its an old wives tale that you need to exploit that period, etc.

Having said that I doubt it, I think Quinn will be fired if he misses the playoffs and should be IMO.

 

[method man]

If I follow your point is its going to be such an adjustment for Blough and this new offense with Jayden adjusting too -- in turn they should be afforded the leeway to show progress without big expectations. And that progress should buy them some time considering in theory we'd have an emerging Blough and Jayden under a new system. So watch out NFL in 2027.

OK. I agree with the premise of your thought in a vaccum. But it isn't a vaccum. IMO it doesn't give any weight to these thoughts.

A. This hole was dug by Quinn. These were his coordinators who failed.

B. Rookie contract window is a real thing. This can't be IMO be a prelude to the 2027 season. If we did it that way, we are left with just a one year rookie contract window to account for Quinn's mistakes? That sounds a bit nuts to me.

C. The idea that Quinn made a move on the offensive coordinator that comes off like he's not stepping on the gas, I don't think is a sign that he doesn't have to do it. I suspect (but don't know) that he convinced Harris that Blough will indeed hit the ground running.

If Harris and Peters decided to give him this year and just improvement alone is enough for them. That means to me that they aren't into the rookie window, they can care less. I'll give them that its an outside the box thought process if so. But also a bit odd. The one thing that might work in Quinn's favor is Peters IMO showed little urgency with building the roster last year so maybe he convinced Josh Harris in that Rivera style that rebuilds take a long 5 years. And in turn who cares about the rookie contract window, its an old wives tale that you need to exploit that period, etc.

Having said that I doubt it, I think Quinn will be fired if he misses the playoffs and should be IMO.

On A, what compounds your point is that the OC they let go did a pretty good job in terms of outcomes the prior 2 years. It's not like we are moving on from Scott Turner. This feels like a self inflicted injury to much of the fanbase and I'm sure ownership had to be sold on this.

It's a fair expectation that, with a healthy offense and some skill player upgrades, this is a top 10 offense again next year with Kliff.

If Blough and his offense suck, it's DQ proverbially shooting himself in the foot.

 

[skinsinparadise]

On A, what compounds your point is that the OC they let go did a pretty good job in terms of outcomes the prior 2 years. It's not like we are moving on from Scott Turner. This feels like a self inflicted injury to much of the fanbase and I'm sure ownership had to be sold on this.

It's a fair expectation that, with a healthy offense and some skill player upgrades, this is a top 10 offense again next year with Kliff.

If Blough and his offense suck, it's DQ proverbially shooting himself in the foot.

Absolutely. It’s Quinn who is making clear he made a mistake. I am personally not sure he did. But I’ll give him the leeway to fix what he thinks was a mistake.

To your point if Blough isnt as good as Kliff, Quinn owns that. Quinn for multiple reasons hasn’t earned a special pass IMO to endure growing pains with Blough or for that matter squander another year of Jayden’s rookie contract.

 

[skinzplay]

DQ gets no grace period because of new coordinators adjusting to their roles. If you get those hires right the first time, you wouldn't need to try again, especially since this ain't his first rodeo as HC. As SIP said, there is limited time to maximize JD5's rookie contract window.

 

[Conn]

I don't think Quinn has been told he has two seasons no matter what. He has to show improvement. But there's a dissonance in your posts about the difficulty Blough faces in this promotion and the standard to which you're holding him in Year 1.

I'm not saying this necessarily should be the approach. But if betting on Blough to be great is risky, then betting on Blough to be great Day 1 is negligently delusional. We're going to be teaching our OL a new blocking scheme, we'll have some new receivers, new starting TE, potentially a new starting RB, many of our players will be learning a new system, Jayden will be running more pistol or under-center which is not what he's used to, the OC will be callling plays for the first time... none of that suggests this is a "playoff contention or bust" year.

Yes, you’ve just described why Quinn has taken his Head Coaching life into his own hands with this hire when given the freedom to do so, as he and Peters discussed in their presser.

That does not at all change the reality he exists in. He doesn’t have time for a slow ramp up period, fair or not. He made his bed, now he needs to show if he can bang pornstar style, or just lie in it.

You don’t get to just circumvent accountability by hiring less qualified and less experienced underlings to manage important roles, invincible until they improve. What a cheat code that would be.

 

[CapsCommies]

If I follow your point is its going to be such an adjustment for Blough and this new offense with Jayden adjusting too -- in turn they should be afforded the leeway to show progress without big expectations. And that progress should buy them some time considering in theory we'd have an emerging Blough and Jayden under a new system. So watch out NFL in 2027.

OK. I agree with the premise of your thought in a vaccum. But it isn't a vaccum. IMO it doesn't give any weight to these thoughts.

A. This hole was dug by Quinn. These were his coordinators who failed.

B. Rookie contract window is a real thing. This can't be IMO be a prelude to the 2027 season. If we did it that way, we are left with just a one year rookie contract window to account for Quinn's mistakes? That sounds a bit nuts to me.

C. The idea that Quinn made a move on the offensive coordinator that comes off like he's not stepping on the gas, I don't think is a sign that he doesn't have to do it. I suspect (but don't know) that he convinced Harris that Blough will indeed hit the ground running.

If Harris and Peters decided to give him this year and just improvement alone is enough for them. That means to me that they aren't into the rookie window, they can care less. I'll give them that its an outside the box thought process if so. But also a bit odd. The one thing that might work in Quinn's favor is Peters IMO showed little urgency with building the roster last year so maybe he convinced Josh Harris in that Rivera style that rebuilds take a long 5 years. And in turn who cares about the rookie contract window, its an old wives tale that you need to exploit that period, etc.

Having said that I doubt it, I think Quinn will be fired if he misses the playoffs and should be IMO.

Yes you are following my point correctly.

The problem with your rationale here is that owership has already given Quinn the 2026 season. The "rookie window" is 4 years and 3 of them will be Quinn's no matter what. So the idea of "maximizing the rookie window" in this context just means one season aka 2027.

What you have articulated above is a rationale to have fired Quinn now, but they decided not to do that. If they go 8-9 but show meaningful progress, would it really help them in 2027 to start over from scratch with a new staff or keep building on their momentum? Remember, if your point is about the rookie window, that new staff would have "Super Bowl or bust" expectations in year 1 of their regime. Sounds riskier to me.

You bring up making the playoffs as a red line, but what's the difference between 8-9 and 9-8 with a wild card loss?

 

[method man]

Yes you are following my point correctly.

The problem with your rationale here is that owership has already given Quinn the 2026 season. The "rookie window" is 4 years and 3 of them will be Quinn's no matter what. So the idea of "maximizing the rookie window" in this context just means one season aka 2027.

What you have articulated above is a rationale to have fired Quinn now, but they decided not to do that. If they go 8-9 but show meaningful progress, would it really help them in 2027 to start over from scratch with a new staff or keep building on their momentum? Remember, if your point is about the rookie window, that new staff would have "Super Bowl or bust" expectations in year 1 of their regime. Sounds riskier to me.

You bring up making the playoffs as a red line, but what's the difference between 8-9 and 9-8 with a wild card loss?

Rookie window is kind of thru 2028. If he signs an extension, the first year likely has a low base and a big signing bonus that gets amortized over the life of the contract. 2029 would be the first year we would get truly crushed

 

[Conn]

Likely. Though there is a theory out there that the Eagles are packing their insane future cap charges into that 2028-2029 (I think?) window not because they plan to go all-in until then and follow it with a rebuild…but because that’s around when the new media deals will kick in and the salary cap could skyrocket again, beyond the current yearly trends. And the Roseman-led Eagles are basically taking a calculated risk before most anyone else is willing to.

So if that turns out to be true, we could potentially sign Daniels to a contract that looks enormous at the time, and then quickly looks a lot better as a percentage of the overall cap after those deals are renegotiated.

All speculation at this point, but worth pondering.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Yes you are following my point correctly.

The problem with your rationale here is that owership has already given Quinn the 2026 season. The "rookie window" is 4 years and 3 of them will be Quinn's no matter what. So the idea of "maximizing the rookie window" in this context just means one season aka 2027.

What you have articulated above is a rationale to have fired Quinn now, but they decided not to do that. If they go 8-9 but show meaningful progress, would it really help them in 2027 to start over from scratch with a new staff or keep building on their momentum? Remember, if your point is about the rookie window, that new staff would have "Super Bowl or bust" expectations in year 1 of their regime. Sounds riskier to me.

You bring up making the playoffs as a red line, but what's the difference between 8-9 and 9-8 with a wild card loss?

9-8 versus 8-9 with the 9-8 being a playoff season in your scenario. Making the playoffs gives them a shot to go to the big dance. Having a losing record albiet close to barely having a winning record and having no shot at a SB -- that to me is a big difference.

I am not one of the people here who think this is a legit 5-12 team so lets look at this as rebuild. I do think Quinn did a piss poor job last year but injuries was the main plot line. I think this team without injuries would have been in the 8-9, 9-8 season range IMO.

So with them poised supposedly to spend 100 million in cap space and all they do lets say is tread water -- it would likely mean another piss poor job from Quinn.

And again I've defended Quinn here to some who want him gone now. I believe because of the injuries this past season and success of the prior one he deserves a 2nd chance.

But if Daniels is Daniels of 2024, and they go all hands on deck to fix the roster yet it makes basically no impact -- and your point maybe the no impact happens because Quinn makes a poor choice for coordinators as to hitting the ground running in 2026 where the team's poor coaching contribute to the team underperforming. But the sneaky part of the underperforming the talent in 2026 is that we've seen glimpses that the step back might translate to a big step forward in 2027 because watch out for Quinn's hires strutting their stuff with more experience under their belt in 2027.

That would make me gag. To me it would be as nauseating as the narrative around Rivera in year 4. But that's me.

I get your point is even if I feel this way, play out the movie because Quinn in year 4 would bring continuity that a new HC couldn't match in year 4 of Jayden's rookie contract. Maybe so, maybe not. Vrabel might win a SB with NE in year 1.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

Vrabel might win a SB with NE in year 1.

Also relevant:
Vrabel with fresh OC and I think DC.
Macdonald in year2 but his OC is year-1
Ben Johnson in year1 with fresh OC and DC.

So this idea that it takes years is being looked at as problematic especially when owners are giving fat paychecks to the coaching staff. Looks like coaching is going to get a little more stressful. That would be my guess.

 

[KDawg]

I’ve seen a few try to champion the point, but I think it needs repeating based on some of the convo: Quinn and Peter’s set is back tremendously with their strategy last offseason. And they continue to with their offensive staffing strategy this offseason. Why? Jayden Daniels.

If Blough is great in year one, that eases some of the pain of last offseason/season. But that would be an outlier situation given his experience.

We are wasting Jayden’s rookie window.

Having time to let your coordinator’s grow really isn’t a thing in professional sports - you don’t have time to do it. People need to perform beyond their capacity right now or people lose their jobs. Is that the right way? I don’t think so. But it’s a business. And it’s how it works.

Make no mistake, Quinn and Peter’s are not safe. If they don’t hit a home run this offseason and show major improvement in ‘26, the franchise HAS to move on.