The HC Dan Quinn Discussion Thread

[CuredFromBatteredFanSyndrome]

I’ve piled on why I just don’t think Quinn is the guy to take us where we want to go. My gut says we are likely to be both wasting JD’s rookie contract and stunting his growth as a player.

With that said, I do respect that he didn’t make the easy decision at OC. At DC, he could have found someone familiar but he went outside of his network and bet on another up and comer. I respect that as well.

I prefer the unknown as opposed to the status quo. These moves will define his coaching career. Either they work out and he looks like a genius or they bomb and he never sniffs a head coach title ever again.

 

[Riggo44]

Is he still Nepo Dan?

 

[CuredFromBatteredFanSyndrome]

Is he still Nepo Dan?

I’m not sure that’s ever been a fair label.

Even when he hired Whitt, while it was his buddy, it wasn’t like Whitt hadn’t paid dues and earned an opportunity.

That said, he either gave Joe way too much rope and sat on his hands or he also had a hand in how god awful that defense was for two seasons. Both aren’t good.

 

[Riggo44]

I’m not sure that’s ever been a fair label.

No it isn't, but it's a popular moniker around the socials, as the kids say. Just assuming nepotism because of a name or a past association is really myopic.

 

[KDawg]

No it isn't, but it's a popular moniker around the socials, as the kids say. Just assuming nepotism because of a name or a past association is really myopic.

The people who say this are not thinkers.

If you’re in a position where you need to trust people around you, you hire people you know and trust.

Whether that is nepotism or being intelligent is a different conversation.

But to me, to be nepotism you have to ONLY hire guys you know in every position (or most).

He has never been that kind of guy.

 

[skinsinparadise]

I’ve piled on why I just don’t think Quinn is the guy to take us where we want to go. My gut says we are likely to be both wasting JD’s rookie contract and stunting his growth as a player.

With that said, I do respect that he didn’t make the easy decision at OC. At DC, he could have found someone familiar but he went outside of his network and bet on another up and comer. I respect that as well.

I prefer the unknown as opposed to the status quo. These moves will define his coaching career. Either they work out and he looks like a genius or they bomb and he never sniffs a head coach title ever again.

Digesting different narratives from beat guys. Feels like Blough in Quinn's defense was hot on his mind as to who he wanted and it wasn't about the Lions interest.

But as to defensive coordinator, we might have lucked out if D. Jones ends up a good hire. Jones wasn't on their initial list. they wanted a coordinator who ran an NFL defense in the past.

But one guy said (not just Jason Reid), I think it might have been Paulsen that some of the veteran prospects said no in the end. I think that's why it opened them up to more interviews. And they got to this point. Raheem in particular it sounds like they were hot for but he apparently didn't give the team indication that they should wait for him.

I've digested enough during this quest to be confident that Quinn is on the hot seat and he knows he is on the hot seat.

Quinn IMO deserves to be on the hot seat. But my gut is I think he's back in 2026. Not because he goes 8-9 but ownership likes some sort of rebuild direction he's going in -- if that happens I'd bet my mortgage that he gets fired -- but because they go 11-6 or something like that and make it back to the post season.

 

[skinsinparadise]

I was listening to Jeremy Fowler on Sheehan and Sheehan was cuing him up I gather to say Washington, asking him to pick a team or two that were bad last season which will make the playoffs next season. Fowler named 4 teams, NY Giants one of them, no Washington.

I am guess the lack of buzz and skepticism about this regime will be good for both Quinn and Peters and lol maybe even Harris.

All I think are nice guys so when I hit them for being arrogant its more in the typical sense when people idolize your work its hard for it not to go to your head, and it felt to me like it did.

It's a subtle example or two, but I recall early in the season Harris declared a win in advance of one of their games when he was inteviewed. When interviewed before the game against the Packers he said it will be a great game. I gather it was shocking to him and this regime, they ended up sucking.

 

[CuredFromBatteredFanSyndrome]

My issue with the arrogance is they should really be above that. It’s one thing for us as fans to get ahead of ourselves, but for the experts in charge to be that blind is scary to me.

I really hope to laugh about all this one day, and chalk it up to growing pains.

 

[Conn]

I’m not sure that’s ever been a fair label.

Even when he hired Whitt, while it was his buddy, it wasn’t like Whitt hadn’t paid dues and earned an opportunity.

That said, he either gave Joe way too much rope and sat on his hands or he also had a hand in how god awful that defense was for two seasons. Both aren’t good.

At worst the Whitt hire would be cronyism, not nepotism. People don’t know what words mean sometimes.

What he’s partially referring to (passive aggressively) is me a week or two ago saying that D.J. Williams only has a career in this league because of his father, which is the definition of nepotism. He started at QB when his father was his HC in college, eventually struggled which ended in his father being fired from Grambling State. Then straight out of his middling small school career he got one of the vanishingly rare NFL opportunities to be a coaching assistant, in NO. A position he obviously had a leg up on getting due to his father being Doug Williams. Good for him and he worked his way up after that, but he has his coaching career in the first place because of his father’s name. Undeniably. Which, to be fair, is common in the league, but still true. The poster you’re replying to really didn’t like that I object to that sort of nepotism, on principle, even if it works out and the guy ends up elite, like a Kyle Shanahan. It’s just a scourge on this league (and everywhere else). But this was called “jealousy” lol.

So that’s what that post was partially about.

 

[Riggo44]

What he’s partially referring to (passive aggressively) is me a week or two ago saying that D.J. Williams

It had nothing to do with you. It had to do with people on X referring to him as Nepo Dan.

 

[Conn]

It had nothing to do with you. It had to do with people on X referring to him as Nepo Dan.

I just verified that I’m human three times, have mercy

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

At worst the Whitt hire would be cronyism, not nepotism. People don’t know what words mean sometimes.

What he’s partially referring to (passive aggressively) is me a week or two ago saying that D.J. Williams only has a career in this league because of his father, which is the definition of nepotism. He started at QB when his father was his HC in college, eventually struggled which ended in his father being fired from Grambling State. Then straight out of his middling small school career he got one of the vanishingly rare NFL opportunities to be a coaching assistant, in NO. A position he obviously had a leg up on getting due to his father being Doug Williams. Good for him and he worked his way up after that, but he has his coaching career in the first place because of his father’s name. Undeniably. Which, to be fair, is common in the league, but still true. The poster you’re replying to really didn’t like that I object to that sort of nepotism, on principle, even if it works out and the guy ends up elite, like a Kyle Shanahan. It’s just a scourge on this league (and everywhere else). But this was called “jealousy” lol.

So that’s what that post was partially about.

1. I don't even think Whitt was cronyism. I think it was logical, he was the top assistant to Quinn, they both moved up a level. That happens all the time in every business.

2. I actually don't have any problem with people using any connection they have, family or otherwise, to get an opportunity. I got my first internship when I was 19 years old because of a connection my dad had. I didn't work for my dad, but I never would have gotten the interview without his connections and his name. I had to do well in the interview, and then get offered the job, which I did. I've worked my ass of for 30 years to justify that opportunity.

What I have a HUGE problem with is the name/connection being the only reason a person has a job. If you're unqualified but you get your job because of your name, that's bad. And I've seen that happen a bunch, and it's aggravating at best.

As far as Quinn/Whitt go, I don't think either of those things happened. Whitt paid his dues, and was the next man up. If he hadn't followed Quinn here, he might have been promoted in Dallas.

Sometimes things just don't work out. Quinn gave Whitt an opportunity, and it didn't work out. That happens.

 

[Commander Wraith]

Maybe a reach here, but I was thinking about why Jones would take the job here considering this could be a make it or break it year for Dan and our lack of talent on D. Compounding that, we have a 1st time OC (which is concerning due to the “hot seat” factor), and we obviously need to give Jayden and Blough more talent to work with… with limited draft picks and a team that didn’t really make a FA splash last offseason even though it was needed. He didn’t have to look far to see that we literally just failed spectacularly with a 1st time DC. Not a great situation for a 1st time DC trying to break into the ranks.

Now, there some pretty obvious reasons why he might take the job - opportunities are limited (and he’s not getting any younger), the defense has hit rock bottom (nowhere to go but up), having a franchise qb makes everything easier, Quinn seems like a good boss, he needs to get out of Flores’ shadow, hometown ties, etc. IMO though, it’s still a big risk given he might not get more chances if this year doesn’t work out.

My hunch though is that the hiring staff sold him on the situation, and that the meatiest part of that was a promise that they would spend on the defense.

 

[Conn]

Maybe a reach here, but I was thinking about why Jones would take the job here considering this could be a make it or break it year for Dan and our lack of talent on D. Compounding that, we have a 1st time OC (which is concerning due to the “hot seat” factor), and we obviously need to give Jayden and Blough more talent to work with… with limited draft picks and a team that didn’t really make a FA splash last offseason even though it was needed. He didn’t have to look far to see that we literally just failed spectacularly with a 1st time DC. Not a great situation for a 1st time DC trying to break into the ranks.

Now, there some pretty obvious reasons why he might take the job - opportunities are limited (and he’s not getting any younger), the defense has hit rock bottom (nowhere to go but up), having a franchise qb makes everything easier, Quinn seems like a good boss, he needs to get out of Florio’s shadow, hometown ties, etc. IMO though, it’s still a big risk given he might not get more chances if this year doesn’t work out.

My hunch though is that the hiring staff sold him on the situation, and that the meatiest part of that was a promise that they would spend on the defense.

I think that’s possible, although you can only promise effort and intent, not outcomes, when it comes to FA and the draft.

I think it’s more likely that there are only 32 DC spots across the league, and he’s 47. About 12 DC spots were open. 5 interviewed him. 1 offered him the job. In those circumstances, especially since the long term outlook in MIN is not certain, you usually take the big promotion with the big life-changing paycheck unless the org is a disaster like the Browns. Future interest from teams is no guarantee.

 

[Chris]

Did I miss the news that Mike Florio is the Vikings DC? 😉

 

[Riggo44]

Did I miss the news that Mike Florio is the Vikings DC? 😉

I thought he was interviewing for the Eagles OC...

 

[Bulldog]

If Jones takes what was a largely talentless defense in 2025 and gets an infusion of skilled, younger players to work with and take this unit into the teens in terms of overall rank, he will be lauded around the league.

And then all of a sudden he becomes a hot name.

That's the way this thing works.

After several years he learned what he needed to know from Flores, going back to Minnesota wasn't going to advance his career.

Coaches are so hard to find you see Philip Rivers get a HC interview with no coaching experience.

 

[Chris_Hanbuger_the Hangman]

I wonder if these new DC/OC will sit their players during preseason. That was a harbinger of the season IMHO. I had bad vibes from the jump and the Packers game put the exclamation point on the sentence. I fall back on the George Allen and Joe Gibbs ethos..you play like you practice. Trying to minimize injuries is a loosing approach. Need some hungry players and coaches for a change...

So do the new coordinators get extra time with the players or is that just for a new head coach???

 

[Conn]

I wonder if these new DC/OC will sit their players during preseason. That was a harbinger of the season IMHO. I had bad vibes from the jump and the Packers game put the exclamation point on the sentence. I fall back on the George Allen and Joe Gibbs ethos..you play like you practice. Trying to minimize injuries is a loosing approach. Need some hungry players and coaches for a change...

So do the new coordinators get extra time with the players or is that just for a new head coach???

That’ll be Quinn’s decision, not the coordinators. And I believe he’s already implied in a presser that he is considering changes to the preseason approach/slow start problem

 

[CapsCommies]

I wonder if these new DC/OC will sit their players during preseason. That was a harbinger of the season IMHO. I had bad vibes from the jump and the Packers game put the exclamation point on the sentence. I fall back on the George Allen and Joe Gibbs ethos..you play like you practice. Trying to minimize injuries is a loosing approach. Need some hungry players and coaches for a change...

So do the new coordinators get extra time with the players or is that just for a new head coach???

New systems on both sides of the ball all but guarantees the vets will play in the preseason IMO