With the Commanders having just fired defensive coordinator Joe Whitt and offensive line coach Bobby Johnson, mutually parted ways with offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, promoted David Blough from assistant QB coach to offensive coordinator to replace Kliff, and begun the process of filling the open position-coaching spots, we thought it would be a good time to survey your level of confidence in the team’s general manager and head coach.
While this coaching upheaval seems to mark the transition
from DQ 1.0 to DQ 1.1, Quinn and Peters have been so strong and consistent in their messaging about collaboration in all things, it’s hard not to include the general manager in the reflection on the season and the coaching changes.
Survey results
In this week’s Reacts survey, Hogs Haven readers were asked to rate their level of confidence right now in both men — Quinn and Peters. The results came in pretty much as I expected them to.
As you can see, based on weighted averages scores, confidence in GM Peters (3.58) ranks between neutral and high, while confidence in head coach Quinn (3.15) hovers closer to neutral.
I don’t think it’s any secret that the 5-win result in the 2025 regular season eroded fan confidence in DQ more significantly than it did for his boss Adam Peters, but fans have largely soured on both of them to a greater or lesser degree, with only about 1 in 20 survey respondents professing ‘absolute’ confidence in either man.
For both the GM and head coach, 56% of respondents rated their confidence as ‘neutral’ or ‘high’, but the percentages were flipped, with 31% rating confidence in Peters as ‘high’ while 31% rated confidence in Quinn as ‘neutral’. In addition, the 3rd most popular rating was significant, with 18% rating confidence in Peters as ‘very high’ while 19% rated confidence in DQ as ‘low’.
Overall, it paints a picture of fans who are in wait & see mode after 2 seasons of AP & DQ. Their first season together, in 2024, could hardly have gone better, with the Commanders earning a 12-5 regular season record followed by a pair of road wins in the NFC playoffs before losing to the eventual super bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the conference championship game. The second season, 2025, could hardly have gone worse, with an embarrassing 5-12 regular season record despite a respectable 3-3 division mark. After Week 5, almost the only ‘silver lining moment’ came in the final game of the season when Washington beat Philly to prevent the Eagles from getting the #2 seed in the playoffs. The Eagles’ subsequent loss to the Niners to be ‘one & done’ in the playoffs was pitifully small consolation for Washington’s horrid season.
What’s needed to turn fan confidence around?
The 2026 offseason and regular season will be a proving ground for both Adam Peters and Dan Quinn as far as most Washington fans are concerned.
GM Adam Peters
AP has to show that his roster building strategies are working. In particular, players from his first two drafts need to coalesce into a talented young roster core as his approach to free agency needs to evolve. Specifically, the team needs a massive injection of defensive talent and playmakers to allow the new defensive coordinator, whoever he is, to field a young, fast, capable unit that will take some of the burden off of Jayden Daniels and the offense on game days.
Concerns about AP’s approach to his first two seasons include his swing & miss on Marshon Lattimore, his handling of the Terry McLaurin extension, his use of draft capital to trade for older veterans, and his reliance on older, low-cost veterans to fill out the roster — especially in 2025.
Head Coach Dan Quinn
DQ has several challenges. He will largely be judged on getting his coaching staff hires right. The defense needs to improve dramatically in 2026 and the offense needs to be optimized around Jayden Daniels’ unique skillset in a way that is both successful and sustainable. Most importantly, Quinn has to show that his team has a clear and very positive identity; that he and his staff can develop young players; that the team can win games; and that the Commanders can again reach the playoffs and have success once they get there.
The concerns about Quinn tend to revolve around his reputation as a ‘players’ coach’, which many fans seem to interpret as “soft”; his game management ability (especially his use of timeouts); and perhaps having lost the edge with respect to his defensive X’s & O’s as his glory days as the DC for the Legion of Boom fade into the rearview mirror. I see Quinn labeled by some as “a ‘rah rah’ guy” in counterpoint to a coach like Chicago’s Ben Johnson, who is seen as something of an offensive savant.
While fans were able to buy into the value of ‘the brotherhood’ during a successful 2024 season, the messaging started to feel both repetitive and hollow as the losses piled up in 2025. A number of fans were left with the feeling that DQ’s message may have gone stale as quickly as french bread left on the counter overnight. He will need some fresh material in ‘26, and the hiring of two new coordinators may offer both some of that needed freshness and some built-in cover given that both sides of the ball will likely be learning new systems or adapting to significant changes. But with one good season and one bad one, Quinn, who is in the ultimate ‘what have you done for me lately?’ profession, needs to produce wins early and often in 2026.
Quinn still gets the benefit of any doubt from a lot of Washington fans because of what his undermanned Commanders team accomplished in 2024, and it’s easy to find excuses in the brutal toll injuries took on the team throughout the disappointing 2025 season. Excuses don’t feed the bulldog two seasons in a row, however, and fans will not have much patience in ‘26 to listen to Quinn talking about lessons learned from losses that will pay off in the future. The future is now, and it’s time for all the lessons learned in the 12 losses of the ‘25 season to be applied.
The 2026 Commanders and the NFC East
Adam Peters, who rode into Washington on a magic carpet in the wake of Vinny Cerrato, Bruce Allen, Scot McLoughan and Ron Rivera, has certainly reached the outer edge of his honeymoon period with Washington fans. With limited draft capital but huge amounts of cap space and 18 pending free agents who were significant contributors in 2025, fans want to see a younger, faster, more dynamic team that will give the re-made coaching staff a head start when the Commanders arrive at training camp in July.
Turnarounds are often lightning fast in the NFL. Washington fans watched the wrong kind of turnaround from ‘24 to ‘25 as the team went from 12-5 to 5-12. They will be looking for another complete reversal in 2026.
Jayden Daniels is the key
The wild card for the team, for Quinn and (to some extent) for Peters is Jayden Daniels. His success as a rookie in 2024 was the foundation for the team’s success. Similarly, JD5’s struggles in 2025 became the team’s struggles. For the Commanders to have a great 2026 season, Jayden Daniels needs to be confident, comfortable and healthy.
I can’t think of another NFL team that was so reliant on its QB over the past two seasons. In the coming 2026 season, it will be up to Adam Peters to field a more complete team to help the young quarterback, and up to Dan Quinn to develop schemes and game plans that optimize Jayden’s success while protecting him from the kind of injuries that derailed his sophomore season. A lot will be riding on the coaching changes that are currently underway; getting these promotions & hires right will be a huge initial step in getting back to the kind of success the Commanders enjoyed when Adam Peters, Dan Quinn and Jayden Daniels were all fresh new faces in Washington DC.
The NFC East
In 2026, the NFC East is likely to be highly competitive. The Eagles are likely to continue their slow decline as the bill for Howie Roseman’s cap strategy continues to come due, limiting his ability to shed declining veterans in favor of cheaper, younger or hungrier ones, but they will still be a good team. On the flip side, the Cowboys, like the Commanders, will be hoping to fix their defensive problems with a new coordinator and a lot of draft capital while the Giants will apparently have John Harbaugh bringing an entirely different vibe to NY’s young core of players led by Jaxson Dart, Cam Skattebo and Malik Nabers.
As always, if you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse. Adam Peters and Dan Quinn need to make sure that Washington gets a lot better, and really fast. The train is already pulling out of the station.
