The Washington Commanders have made headlines the last few days. They hired Dan Quinn to be their next head coach. This led to Washington also hiring Kliff Kingsbury to be their new offensive coordinator.
However, there were reports last week involving another strong candidate for head coach. Read below to find out how Kingsbury’s hire connects to that story.
Ben Johnson Passed on Washington Commanders
A report came out last week that officials from the Washington Commanders were flying out to Detroit to meet Ben Johnson shortly after the NFC Championship. However, during that journey, it came out that Johnson was going to stay with Detroit rather than potentially taking a head coach position. Later, we found out that Johnson had a problem with Washington’s ownership group.
Dan Quinn Gets Hired
Not long after those events transpired, the Washington Commanders announced that they were going to hire Dan Quinn as their next head coach. However, he was someone with several years of experience as a head coach and a defensive coordinator. Yet, the Commanders were the last team to hire a head coach and ended up going with a known name.
Kliff Kingsbury Withdraws From Las Vegas Raiders
Last week, reports also came out that Kingsbury had reached terms with the Las Vegas Raiders to take their OC position. However, this quickly fell apart with a report coming out shortly after this that Kingsbury was going to withdraw from consideration for that position. So, where did that leave him?
It left Kingsbury available to take the Washington OC position. Days later, it was revealed that Kingsbury was going to take the job. This was not long after Quinn was announced as the head coach.
Did the Washington Commanders Prefer Ben Johnson?
So, reviewing the three events that happened above, one conclusion could be made from this. Ben Johnson appeared to be the first choice for the Commanders to fill the head coach position.
For one thing, Washington could not officially hire Johnson until the Lions’ season was over. That could explain why the Commanders were the last team to hire a head coach and picked a known name on top of that. As a result, Quinn may have given Kingsbury an opening with Washington he may not have had if Johnson took the job.
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