The NFL head coaching carousel came to a halt on Thursday with the news that Dan Quinn would be joining the Washington Commanders. The Commanders had the final head coaching vacancy across the league and were able to land an experienced coach and coordinator.
Former NFL tight end Logan Paulsen, who played for Quinn in Atlanta, and Craig Hoffman of the Audacy original podcast “Take Command” explained why the Commanders waiting to hire Quinn isn’t a bad thing.
“Honestly, I don’t really have that big of a concern about it. I think the reason I say that is because just when you talk to people who are plugged in, this wasn’t like a one-horse race. It wasn’t like the Ben Johnson race,” Paulsen said (42:25 in player above). “It was apparently – again I’m getting this secondhand from people and this was consistent from all the people I talked to… They were all pretty close. They all had their warts. They all had their issues. The committee had reservations about guys that I think the public wasn’t necessarily aware of. To me, they did their due diligence.”
Paulsen noted that both Ben Johnson and Bobby Slowik returned to their respective teams, so it wasn’t as if they chose new coaching jobs over the Commanders.
“Ultimately, when it settles I think they’re very happy with the hire. I think it’s their guy. I think they feel good about it,” Paulsen continued. “I don’t think it was this crazy ‘Oh, Ben Johnson or bust,’ ‘Ben Johnson was head-and-shoulders above the other candidates from the interview process standpoint.’ I think it was a little more connected than people think…
“As long as you think about it as not like a one-horse deal, I think it makes a little bit more sense about why this is OK. I generally think that’s how the process went.”
Hoffman echoed those sentiments.
“I agree. Because we see it from the Washington side we have burgundy-and-gold color glasses on,” he said. “In this case, I say that phrase to say your timeline as you look down at your watch through your burgundy-and-gold color glasses is going to look very different than it looked from the outside in a more neutral, objective point of view.”
Both hosts agreed that they’d rather have Johnson (or any other candidate) turn down the job rather than take the money and figure it out as they go along.
While Washington was forced to wait it out, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“Once you step out of the Washington box, you put a little perspective on it; yes, they were last. Yes, it was unfortunate that they had to wait til the end to interview and ultimately make a hire,” Hoffman said. “Because I do think it cost you a shot at Raheem Morris but Rah picks Atlanta, OK, Rah could’ve said ‘You guys really like me, I’m going to wait it out,’ and Atlanta would’ve had to sweat it out along with Washington and Seattle. But they land here, all is well, they got someone who was very much at the top of their list.”
Quinn has been in head coaching rumors in the last few offseasons due to his success in Dallas. The Commanders were able to land a veteran head coach with a variety of different experiences that should help him in Washington.