Ross Tucker and Grant Paulsen finally got to meet up in person while out in Vegas for Super Bowl media, and of course, the topic du jour was the Commanders – how does Ross feel about the Dan Quinn hire?
“I understand about the Rivera-y aspect – I feel fine about Dan Quinn as a coach, and feel good about the staff he's putting in place,” Tucker said. “What I would argue I, has this process taken a little bit of the buzz away from Josh Harris and the new ownership group? Because it feels like Dan Quinn was their third choice at best, and I guess that's the biggest negative to me. I’m actually a believer in guys getting second chances like Dan Quinn, and everybody raves about him, even if people in Atlanta will tell you he had game management issues that they didn't like, so I feel really good about Dan Quinn as a coach from a player's perspective – I’m just worried that they lost an opportunity for all the joy that they were trying to have.”
At this point, though, it is what it is, and frustrated fans don’t seem to be holding it against the new regime, but to GP, ‘the beautiful thing is we're at a point now where we're just kind of talking ball.’
“Ultimately, it doesn't really matter that they got their third choice. When the Eagles hired Doug Pederson, he was considered the worst head-coaching hire, and the same with Sirianni, but both guys have taken Philly to a Supr Bowl,” Tucker said. “What matters is how Dan Quinn performs. A lot of people thought he would get a head coaching job last year, but it didn’t happen – and I think all of us I think would be better the second time around we do something. The fans don't ever want a retread because they want to believe that the new guy they get can be Andy Reid or Bill Belichick, but the reality is, neither one of those guys had ultimate success until they went to their second stop.”
Take a listen above to Tucker’s entire convo with Grant, which includes thoughts on Caleb Williams’ perceived maturity issues, trading up to No. 1 to get him, and more!