Following the dismissal of Ron Rivera, the Washington Commanders moved quickly to find their next head coach, landing on Dan Quinn, the defensive coordinator of their NFC East rival, the Dallas Cowboys. In Quinn, the Commanders are getting an experienced head coach who led the Atlanta Falcons to the Super Bowl seven years ago, and as we learned today, it turns out, Quinn won't be the only member of the Cowboys coaching staff who is making the move to D.C.
“Joe Whitt Jr. is following Dan Quinn to Washington as the Commanders defensive coordinator,” per a tweet from Steve Wyche of the NFL Network. “Whitt was the Cowboys secondary coach and passing game coordinator.”
Joe Whitt Jr. has worked alongside Dan Quinn the last four years — one in Atlanta and three in Dallas — as the secondary coach and defensive passing game coordinator. Prior to that, Whitt coached under Mike McCarthy in Green Bay for a decade, winning a Super Bowl with the Packers in 2011.
The 45-year-old Whitt has 17 years of coaching experience in the NFL, and his best work may have come in the last few seasons. In 2021, Trevon Diggs burst onto the scene, leading the NFL and tying a Cowboys franchise record with 11 interceptions. Just two seasons later, it was second-year cornerback DaRon Bland who experienced a similar rise to prominence, picking off nine passes and taking five of them back for touchdowns, which broke the single-season NFL record.
Whitt was considered to be the favorite to replace Quinn as the Cowboys defensive coordinator, and was even scheduled to interview with the Cowboys on Monday for the job, according to Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News.
With the hiring of Whitt, which comes on the heels of Washington swooping in and stealing Kliff Kingsbury from the Las Vegas Raiders after a contract snafu held up the deal, the Commanders now have a pretty solid coaching staff coming together.
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