The Commanders have their new quarterbacks coaching team, hiring D.J. Williams as QB coach and Danny Etling as assistant QB coach.
The pair replaces David Blough, who was promoted from assistant to main QB coach in December when Tavita Pritchard took the head coaching job at Stanford, and then again to offensive coordinator after Kliff Kingsbury’s recent departure.
Williams is the son of legendary Redskins QB Doug Williams, but has made a name for himself in the coaching ranks elsewhere. He joined the Saints’ staff in an operations role in 2017 and moved to the coaching staff as an offensive assistant in 2019, spending five years on that staff before becoming the assistant QB coach in Atlanta in 2024, and then the main QB coach last season.
He played the position under his father at Grambling State, and now joins his dad, who has been with the team’s front office since 2014 and is currently a senior advisor, once again in DC.
Etling, 31, was playing in the UFL as recently as last spring, and is taking his first coaching role after wrapping up a career that saw him play in both the CFL and UFL while also spending time on seven different NFL practice squads, as well as a brief stint as an inactive backup in Atlanta.
He is familiar with new offensive coordinator Blough, as the two overlapped at Purdue in 2014 when Blough was a redshirt freshman. Etling started 12 games for the Boilermakers in 2013-14 but transferred to LSU after the 2014 season and finished his career there, while Blough ended up starting 36 of his 43 games played from 2015-18 in West Lafayette.
They are the first two new coaches added to the Commanders’ staff this offseason, which has so far seen Blough promoted to OC and continues to have vacancies at offensive line coach and defensive coordinator, most notably.