It’s rare for an NFL team to make an in-season coaching hire. Last week, the Washington Commanders did, hiring former NFL head coach and longtime assistant Steve Wilks
to the defensive coaching staff. Wilks was brought in to help with weekly game planning. He will not be involved with on-field instruction for the players, but instead will serve as an additional resource for first-year defensive coordinator Daronte Jones.General manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn both said last week this had been the plan for a while, but Wilks had some other commitments to attend to before joining the Commanders. Peters explained Wilks’ role in his weekly spot on “Sports Junkies” on 106.7 The Fan on Friday.
“I know Steve; we worked together in San Francisco,
and so he’s an awesome person, a good man,” Peters said. “This is something we had talked about really throughout training camp. DQ (Dan Quinn) and Daronte (Jones) had talked about this during training camp in adding another experienced mind, especially in the secondary.”
Jones, who specializes in the secondary, will have an experienced voice to help with that position group, since Jones is focused on the overall direction of the defense, including calling plays for the first time.
"Daronte’s expertise is in the secondary, and with him coordinating the defense, he wanted to get another set of eyes back there as he (Daronte) took over the whole defense. So that’s where it started. The guys started talking about it in training camp, and these things take time.”
That’s interesting. But it’s what Peters said next that was even more interesting. When asked if the Commanders had considered bringing in a similar resource for first-time offensive coordinator David Blough, Peters said they had not.
“That’s not something we’ve talked about with Blough,” Peters said.
Short and sweet. Interesting.
Why not?
I am not sure what was more surprising. How dismissive Peters was of the notion that Blough could’ve used an experienced voice. Or how he simply chose not to explain why the team hadn’t discussed it.
Both coordinators have had their moments this season — good and bad. Blough, 31, had only two years of coaching experience before his big promotion to offensive coordinator. In his previous role, Blough was Washington’s assistant quarterbacks coach. As bright as Blough is, that’s a massive step up. At least Jones has multiple years of leading a position group, and he also spent a year as defensive coordinator at LSU.
Perhaps Wilks’ hiring is a sounding board/support for Jones, allowing Quinn to focus on helping Blough with some of the game management aspects. We’ve seen Quinn, Blough and quarterback Jayden Daniels drop the ball in that area in recent weeks. Maybe Peters believes having veteran assistants like running backs coach Anthony Lynn and wide receivers coach Bobby Engram, along with Quinn, is enough support for Blough.
Or maybe Peters and the Commanders believed the defense was so bad before Jones arrived that it simply needed more help.
The Commanders have 11 games remaining. To save his job, Quinn needs Jones and Blough to keep growing in their roles through the rest of the season.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Commanders GM Adam Peters' interesting response about OC David Blough
