Commanders Coach Dan Quinn needs a strong offensive coordinator

Before you get settled, one question:

Who the heck will be your offensive coordinator?

The Commanders’ hiring of the 53-year-old Quinn — the eighth of the eight NFL coaching vacancies to be filled this offseason — could be a home run or a dud. There’s no way to know yet, because we don’t know who Quinn — and, presumably, been-in-the-job-two-weeks general manager Adam Peters — will hire to design and run his offense.

Quinn has credentials, and in some sense they’re unassailable. He coordinated legendary, best-in-the-game defenses in Seattle that won one Super Bowl and lost another. He was the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons when they reached only the second Super Bowl in franchise history. He took a defense in Dallas that, before his arrival, was bottom five in the league in points allowed and in two seasons made it top five. That’s coaching.

So if Peters’s priority was to identify the best leader available — which he said was the case — then maybe he and owner Josh Harris found their man. They’ll certainly say as much when they formally introduce Quinn.

But there’s something about both the process and the result that leaves a sense that something remains unresolved. Start with the result, and the situation that needs be addressed correctly and quickly: offensive coordinator.

It’s my belief that the offensive leader for this franchise in the next few seasons is the fourth-most important person in the organization. He trails Harris, because the new owner will make decisions on everything from who makes football calls to where a new stadium will be to how much to charge for beers. He trails Peters, because the GM for once has the power to build a scouting and front office operation and a roster that makes up for what it lacks in current talent with salary cap space and draft capital.

And he trails whoever Peters and his staff decide to take with the second pick in the draft, because that player — Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, whoever — is going to be the quarterback on a rookie contract around which a competitive roster can be built. Because Jimmies and Joes win out over X’s and O’s, finding the right quarterback is more important — slightly more important — than finding the right person to develop him.

After that, though? Give me the offensive coordinator and place him above the head coach. That’s not a hard and fast rule. But it applies to this specific situation at this point in time. If the franchise gets the quarterback right and finds a coordinator who can develop both his skill set and a scheme to suit those skills — well, then, it’s not that difficult to see a winner being built. Miss on that player and/or that coach, and the process will be delayed.

The hiring of Dan Quinn on his own answers none of the above.

The Commanders can and should boast that Quinn’s credentials include leading the only franchise he coached to a Super Bowl. Just as Washington’s franchise — with its former owner and its former nickname — could once boast that Ron Rivera led the only franchise he coached to a Super Bowl. How’d that work out?

(Kidding. This isn’t analogous to Daniel Snyder’s 2020 hiring of Rivera, when he was fresh off being fired in Carolina. Quinn was canned in Atlanta after an 0-5 start to the 2020 season, but he immediately rehabilitated himself in Dallas, where the Cowboys finished top-five in points allowed each of the past two seasons.)

But it’s worth noting, or even harping on, that a key element — if not the key element — to Quinn’s run through the NFC playoffs following the 2016 season was that his offensive coordinator was … Kyle Shanahan. Yes, that Kyle Shanahan, the one who has the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl for the second time in five seasons, the one who may well be the NFL’s best offensive schemer and play-caller wrapped up in one.

That Falcons 2016 offense, with Shanahan pushing the buttons and pulling the levers, led the league in scoring and yards per play and tied for the fewest turnovers. It was top five in passing yards, rushing yards, yards per pass attempt and yards per rush attempt. Quarterback Matt Ryan was the MVP.

Was that Quinn’s doing? Or Shanahan’s?

Put another way: Quinn’s record, including the playoffs, with Shanahan as his offensive coordinator: 21-14. Quinn’s record, including the playoffs, without Shanahan calling plays and designing schemes: 25-30.

So, then, on the process: It’s fair to guess that the Commanders were thrown a significant curveball when Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson pulled himself from consideration for the job even as Washington’s contingent was flying to Detroit to meet with him earlier in the week. That’s not the Commanders’ doing. It’s Johnson’s, and it’s curious.

But once Johnson opted out, might it have been worth a few more calls? Like Quinn, Mike Vrabel has only been the head coach of one team — the Tennessee Titans, who fired him after the 2023 season. But Vrabel’s record (56-48, including playoffs) is better than Quinn’s (46-44), and you could argue Vrabel forged that without ever truly solving the quarterback position in Tennessee.

Worth a conversation, particularly when the Commanders became the only remaining opening, meaning there was no competition for any candidate? It would seem so.

All this doesn’t mean Quinn is a mediocre head coach. It absolutely means he can’t miss on his coordinator. This is a league that favors offense year after year after year. Feel free to hire a defensive-minded head coach, particularly if he seems like the kind of leader who can pull a team together. But the next hire is as important — and maybe even more so.