Washington Commanders head coach made two things perfectly clear when he introduced new coordinators David Blough (offense) and Daronte Jones (defense) on Tuesday.
Washington parted ways with offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury last month. Just one year ago, the Commanders had one of the NFL's most feared offenses, but injuries, specifically to quarterback Jayden Daniels and wide receiver Terry McLaurin, limited Washington's offense in 2025.
Kingsbury's departure wasn't about performance. It was about philosophical differences. Kingsbury had altered his approach, but Washington wanted to do more with Daniels under center to help marry the run game with the passing game.
Quinn made it clear that Daniels will be under center more in 2026.
"This is going to be an aggressive, balanced attack, but that will probably have more under center than we have in the past," Quinn said. "That's also for run action and play passes to generate explosive plays. And so, we're going to try to feature every part of Jayden in the way that makes him unique and special. But also, the run action, and the runs and the play-action game that goes with it, those are all things to generate explosive plays."
As for Jones, some wondered if Quinn would lean into his coaching tree to hire a defensive coordinator with the same approach. That's not what he did. He hired Jones, and he will allow Jones to run his defense, not a version of Quinn's.
"I think fresh eyes is the first thing about, there's an element that goes into new scheme, new ideas that, man, it ratchets everything up quickly," Quinn said. "About how you can go and put a different lens on some things. And there's a lot of excitement that goes with that. And I'm excited for everyone in the fall when we unveil how we want to play that play style, that it comes across clearly for everyone. But, different for Daronte, being outside of the organization, I wanted him to have fresh eyes on just about everything that he could."
Quinn made it clear that he would support Blough and Jones, but they would implement their own schemes. While no specifics were given on the defensive scheme, it will be aggressive.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Washington Commanders: Dan Quinn makes two things clear with new hires