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2025 Commanders position review | Safety
- Is more help coming? The safety position is one of the few on Washington’s roster that doesn’t have a pending free agent in its midst, so the team could just roll with the same group in 2026. However, there are possibilities for changes this offseason, as several veterans like Jaquon Brisker, Reed Blankenship and Bryan Cook are all scheduled to be free agents. There’s also the possibility that the Commanders could take a safety in the draft. Several analysts have connected them with Ohio State’s Caleb Downs, and some believe that he is the best overall player in the 2026 class.
- Who will be the starters? There might not be a clear answer on this until the Commanders make any possible tweaks to the position, but it’s a legitimate concern for a defense that is in need of retooling. Harris seems to be a lock; he gives the Commanders more flexibility in coverage while also being able to play closer to the line of scrimmage. The other safety spot remains in question. Although the coaching staff still believes in Martin’s development, his snap count dramatically decreased near the end of the season. Owens, Butler and Reaves became key contributors but are mostly used on special teams. Considering how much the Commanders struggled to defend the passing game, there’s clear room for improvement.
Riggo’s Rag
Commanders lineman Sam Cosmi is gaining some long overdue national plaudits
The former Texas star’s 76.3 overall grade from Pro Football Focus ranked 10th league-wide among all qualifying guards. Zach Tantillo from PFF added more praise to Cosmi, proclaiming
him as Washington’s secret superstar from an otherwise underwhelming campaign.
“Coming off a torn ACL late last season, [Sam] Cosmi returned to form as one of Washington’s most consistent players in 2025. He finished as the team’s third-highest-graded offensive player (76.4), posting 72.0-plus grades in both pass blocking and run blocking. Cosmi allowed just 11 pressures and two sacks on the season and closed the year with six consecutive games without allowing a pressure.”Zach Tantillo, PFF
Ron Rivera didn’t get much right during his four-year stint at the helm. However, his decision to draft Cosmi and switch him onto the interior when his time at tackle wasn’t productive enough is benefiting the Commanders long after his departure.
Commanders Roundtable
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin reportedly interviewed for Washington’s DC job
Austin, 60, actually began his NFL career with Washington back in 1988, marking his lone season in the league after spending time on the practice squad before playing two seasons in the CFL. But he shifted quickly from playing to coaching, first in the college ranks in the early 1990s as a grad assistant at Penn State. After stints at Wake Forest, Syracuse then Michigan, Austin made the jump to the NFL where he first served as a defensive backs coach for the Seattle Seahawks from 2003 to 2006 where he closed out his stint with a Super Bowl appearance in his final season.
It would mark the first of three staffs that Austin was part of that ended in a Super Bowl appearance, while he won once while a secondary coach with the Baltimore Ravens including the 34-31 championship win over San Francisco back in 2013.
With the reported preference of a defensive coordinator with experience to replace Joe Whitt Jr. in 2026, Austin has exactly that.
Austin has served as a defensive coordinator in eight of the last 12 seasons across stints with the Detroit Lions, Cincinnatti Bengals and most recently the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Commanders Roundtable
Three free agent targets for Commanders backup quarterback in 2026
Tyler ‘Snoop’ Huntley:
An undrafted rookie out of Utah back in 2020, Huntley has become a name fans are familiar with. Since 2021, he has started 16 games between the Ravens and Dolphins, going 7-9 in those games. There’s also that surprise Pro Bowl invite that Huntley received in 2022, filling in when Lamar Jackson missed the last four games of the season.
Throughout his career, Huntley has passed for 3212 yards, 13 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, with a passer rating of 82.3. After spending 2024 in Miami and being let go by the Browns before the 2025 season started, he returned to Baltimore, where he once again filled in when Jackson was down with injury. Huntley won both of his starts against the playoff-bound Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, which played a key role in keeping the Ravens’ season alive until the final game of the season.
Commanders Wire
Cowboys made bold move with DC hire; Commanders should too
What does Dallas’ hiring of Parker tell everyone? That they ran an honest search and picked the best guy. That’s what every team should do when searching for a new coach or coordinator, but, far too often, we hear about relationships.
Which leads us back to the Commanders. The Cowboys made a bold move in hiring Parker to his first defensive coordinator job, with Schottenheimer knowing he needs to win in 2026. Washington coach Dan Quinn should do the same.
A to Z Sports
The Commanders could consider Jonathan Gannon as another option for defensive coordinator
We haven’t heard of the Commanders being linked to Gannon since they interviewed him, but they could always pivot and turn to Gannon as a serious candidate. They already missed out on Jeff Ulbrich and were turned down by Brian Flores, so they’ve already had to expand their search. The Cowboys were linked to Gannon as a top destination by the national media, but that’s not a factor anymore.
[T]he Green Bay Packers are interviewing him as well. The Packers are already a team pushing to hire Al Harris, so their decision could ultimately decide where the Commanders go for their final choice. Other dominoes around the league are still waiting to fall, which could put the Commanders in a waiting game, but they need to narrow down their options and hone in on who they want to fix the defense, and who is the best fit.
They could wait for a candidate still in the playoffs like Karl Scott, or they could pull the trigger on a candidate they already know, and get the position filled. Gannon is one of the top candidates available who has experience running a defense and calling plays, and that could be a huge selling point for Quinn.
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JUMPED GUN?: Why Washington Commanders REJECTED Mike McDaniel Interview for David Blough Plan
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Big Blue View
4 candidates seem to be the focus of NY Giants’ defensive coordinator search
Anthony Weaver
The 45-year-old former Miami Dolphins’ defensive coordinator seems like the leader in the clubhouse for the Giants’ job. Except for all of those pesky head-coaching interviews he keeps getting.
There are currently five head-coaching openings remaining in this hiring cycle — Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals, Las Vegas Raiders.
Weaver has interest from the Steelers and Bills for their vacancies.
Jim Leonhard
Leonhard, 43, has never coached for a Harbaugh — John or Jim. He did play for John Harbaugh in 2008, Harbaugh’s first as Ravens’ head coach.
Leonhard played in the NFL for 10 seasons. He coached at Wisconsin from 2016-2022, serving as defensive coordinator beginning in 2017. He joined Sean Payton’s Denver Broncos staff in 2024 and has spent the last two seasons working under Payton and Vance Joseph. He has been defensive backs coach, pass game coordinator, and in 2025 was the Broncos’ assistant head coach.
Leonhard’s Broncos play Sunday in the AFC Championship Game. If they win and go to the Super Bowl, that timeline won’t work.
Dennard Wilson
The 43-year-old Wilson is familiar to Harbaugh, and to the Giants. Wilson was Harbaugh’s defensive backs coach in Baltimore in 2023 before becoming Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Wilson also interviewed for the Giants’ job in 2024, but chose to take the Tennessee job.
Wilson’s defenses in Tennessee did not rank highly, but the Titans won just six games in two seasons and Wilson didn’t have a lot to work with.
Daronte Jones
Jones, defensive backs coach and defensive pass game coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, is probably an underdog for the job.
Jones did interview with Harbaugh earlier in the week. He also interviewed for the Giants’ job in 2024.
Jones’ NFL resume includes stops with the Miami Dolphins, Cincinnati Bengals, and two stints with the Vikings.
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Seahawks’ Sam Darnold feels ‘really good,’ ready for NFC title game
Sam Darnold and his injured oblique are good to go for the NFC Championship Game.
The Seattle Seahawks Pro Bowl quarterback has no game designation, though he was limited in practice all three days this week as part of the team’s plan to get him ready to play Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams at Lumen Field.
“I feel really good,” Darnold said Friday. “Feeling really good this whole week. I feel like the process is going right along where it should be, so I feel really good for Sunday.”
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Washington Post (paywall)
There are only 32 NFL head coaching jobs. The Browns don’t seem like one.
The Cleveland franchise has all a coach could want, except for a stable owner and a promising quarterback situation
Who wants to coach the Cleveland Browns?
Not Mike McDaniel. The erstwhile coach of the Miami Dolphins reportedly decided that slinking down the ladder to become the Los Angeles Chargers’ offensive coordinator would be better for this career than potentially becoming the Browns’ head guy.
Not Jesse Minter. Given a choice — and every hot coaching prospect worth his rep has several of those — Minter chose wisely and opted for Baltimore. You know, the Ravens, that AFC North team with a two-time MVP quarterback, another future Hall of Famer in the backfield and, above all, an owner who has never crippled his franchise by chasing after the stupidest trade in NFL history.
And apparently not Chris Shula. Besides having a famous football last name, Shula’s a decent defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams, who had the NFL’s 10th-ranked scoring defense. Usually such guys would forfeit their family inheritance for a shot of becoming a head coach, but reportedly, when the Browns requested a meeting, Shula was like, “Nah, I’m good.”
The Browns have the least attractive opening in the NFL. They finished 5-12. They fired Kevin Stefanski, who landed in a much better spot in Atlanta. Now, weeks into this search, they still haven’t interviewed at least two minority candidates to comply with the Rooney Rule.
Eventually, the Cleveland job will be filled because thirsty candidates do exist. Todd Monken seems desperate enough to have completed two interviews with the Browns. Monken spent the past three seasons coordinating the Ravens’ high-powered offense — well, high-powered until it became so predictably one-dimensional that John Harbaugh ended up getting canned.
Imagine having an electric and pulverizing running back in Derrick Henry as part of your arsenal. Yet on occasion, Monken seemed to forget about someone who’s 6-foot-2 and 252 pounds.
Another candidate still alive in this scramble: Jim Schwartz, the defensive coordinator in Cleveland. His interest in the job should bring fans as much excitement as shopping for a used car, one with more than 200,000 miles on it that survived a head-on collision as well as the great flood of ’93 and somehow is still for sale. As a head coach with the Detroit Lions, Schwartz compiled a 29-51 record.
[T]he Browns have no one to blame for their current mess other than their very own Haslam family. Remember how team owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam were so “comfortable” with trading the soul of their franchise for Deshaun Watson? Comfortable. That was the carefully crafted word the Haslams used over and over during their 2022 news conference in defense of acquiring Watson, even as 22 civil suits alleging sexual misconduct had followed him to Cleveland.
