News from the NFC East: Multiple coaches could depart to join a rival team
Washington to Terminate When Commanders Hire Dan Quinn, Will Eric Bieniemy Serve as Coordinator? The Sports Illustrated’s Adam Schultz
HC’s New Commanders Dan Quinn may wish to employ his own personnel.
Quinn can now start working with Adam Peters, the new general manager, as Washington has finally made the required changes.
Quinn will need to choose the player he wants to manage the offense, though. After just a year on the job, Eric Bieniemy made the best of the pieces that were available.
However, we don’t think “EB” is a good fit for this position because we think Quinn will prefer to have his own candidate take over.
Is Chip Kelly there? The Niners’ Klint Kubiak? An
The date is January 14, 2012. We’re at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The 49ers need a touchdown with 14 seconds remaining, down three, and facing a third down to maintain their hopes of making the playoffs without having to go to overtime. In the meantime, the Saints can draw a conclusion from this and move on to the NFC Championship Game. We need to go back in time to comprehend how we got here and to fully appreciate what this moment represents.
However, John Keim of ESPN concurs with us and believes that Quinn should look for a new offensive coordinator as his first priority.
Keim writes, “Finding a top offensive coordinator.” “Although Quinn’s defense ultimately proved to be his undoing in Atlanta, Washington must prioritize improving the offense. It’s expected that the Commanders will select a quarterback with the second pick in the 2024 draft, so Quinn needs to have a solid offensive game plan.
That refers to the quarterback’s coach as well as the coordinator. In the event that his coordinator becomes very successful and swiftly departs to take a head coaching job, he will also need to have a solid succession plan in place. Tavita Pritchard is the quarterbacks coach at Washington, and Eric Bieniemy is the offensive coordinator at the moment. Both have contracts that expire in 2024.
After just one season, could Quinn and Washington truly move on from Bieniemy? In a way, that does seem “unfair,” and perhaps Quinn will at least interview him.
Washington’s offense, which was ranked 25th last season under Bieniemy, averaged 19.4 points per game, 15th in passing yards (245), 27th in rushing yards (93.6), and 25th in points (329).
According to a report from NFL insider Cameron Wolfe, the Philadelphia Eagles are asking to interview Joe Kasper, the safeties coach for the Miami Dolphins, for the same position. Vic Fangio, the new defensive coordinator for the Eagles, is noted by Wolfe to particularly value Kasper.
Kasper was a defensive quality control coach for the Eagles in 2021 and 2022 before joining the Dolphins only a year ago. Thus, going back to Philadelphia might be
If the Eagles wish to sign Kasper, Miami does not need to give them permission to interview him. However, it’s possible that Chris Shula, the new defensive coordinator for the Dolphins, has different ideas about staffing.
Since Tim Hauck last held the position in 2020, the Eagles have not used the term “safeties coach.” The Eagles have had a defensive backs coach (Dennard Wilson, 2021–2022, D.K. McDonald, 2023) and an assistant defensive backs coach (McDonald, 2021–2022, Taver Johnson, 2023) since Nick Sirianni took over in 2021. Last season, they also brought on Ronell Williams as a nickels coach.
We’ll see if Kasper is selected by the Eagles in the end.
Now that Dan Quinn, a resident of Morristown, is the head coach of the Commanders, the Cowboys require a defensive coordinator.
Could Wink Martindale, the former defensive coordinator for the Giants, take Quinn’s place in Dallas?
Should Martindale succeed, he would have the opportunity to torture Giants head coach Brian Daboll twice in 2024, following their contentious divorce following the current campaign.
Daboll is under pressure going into Year 3 following the 6-11 disaster of the previous season. (Incidentally, he still needs to hire a new defensive coordinator.) Furthermore, Martindale’s options for an offseason defensive coordinator position are unrestricted due to their amicable split.
The Eagles targeted him after he had an interview with the Jaguars. However, Vic Fangio in Philadelphia and Ryan Nielsen in Jacksonville were hired by both teams as defensive coordinators. So far this offseason, Martindale has not received any interest from other defensive coordinators.
Martindale might end up in Dallas even though he was not hired by the Eagles. The Cowboys, like the Eagles, are not short on talented defensive players, such as Micah Parsons.
In terms of defensive rankings, Dallas concluded 2023 ranked fifth on Pro Football Focus; the Eagles and Giants finished 14th and 26th, respectively. (The Giants’ inconsistent defensive play in 2023 included giving up 640 yards in a 49-17 loss to Dallas, which is the second-highest amount of yards they have ever given up.)
Naturally, considering how things ended between Daboll and Martindale, one has to wonder what Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy, who is also under fire along with Daboll and the Eagles’ Nick Sirianni, would think about collaborating with Martindale. Here, that needs to be taken into account.
Quinn’s departure to Washington creates an interesting opening for a defensive coordinator, which gives Daboll additional competition in his ongoing hunt even if Martindale doesn’t land Quinn’s previous position.
