Pros and Cons to each Commanders defensive coordinator candidate

Breaking down the pros and cons to the known defensive coordinator candidates for the Commanders

The search for a new defensive coordinator is dragging on for the Washington Commanders, as it is for most of the league. With so many teams firing their head coaches and overhauling their staffs, many of the top candidates are involved in head coaching interviews and giving those priority over defensive coordinator jobs. That means those looking for a new defensive coordinator, like the Commanders, could have to wait for another week or so while these head coaching positions fill out.

We do know, however, who the likely candidates are. At this point, the Commanders are known to have interviewed Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, former Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon, Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, Titans defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson and Seahawks defensive backs coach/pass game coordinator Karl Scott. We also know that they had significant interest in Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, but he’s been retained by new head coach Keven Stefanski. Former Falcons head coach Raheem Morris has strong ties to Washington via Dan Quinn and would make sense, but he hasn’t interviewed for the position as far as we know.

All of those interviews took place last week. We’ve not heard of any more interviews this week so far, though perhaps they’ve managed to keep those quiet. But for now it seems like that is their list. So I thought I’d go over a quick pros and cons of each option, having watched their respective defenses a little bit since last week. Let’s start with the biggest name.

Brian Flores

Pros

Flores is the most accomplished defensive coordinator candidate on this list and should probably be an NFL head coach. His defenses are extremely aggressive and fun to watch, but they’re very well detailed and aren’t just reckless for the sake of being aggressive. He uses his aggressive blitz looks to set traps and create turnovers while providing significant stress to the protection plans of each opposing offense he faces. He’s never going to be one to sit back and let the offense dictate terms, he’ll always be on the front foot and looking to force the issue, which is a style of defense I think almost every fan can get behind. I wrote a more detailed breakdown on Flores last week, if you want a deeper dive into his schemes.

Quite simply though, he’d be the best possible hire the Commanders could make if they could somehow pull it off. I don’t see it happening. I think he’ll either become a head coach or stick with the Vikings as he already has a strong defense established there, which has been able to sustain success while most defenses tend to fluctuate from year to year. I’m not sure why he’d leave that for Washington unless the Commanders just throw a mountain of money at him, but it would be an absolute home run if they got him.

Cons

To run the defense Flores would want to run, the Commanders would need a significant overhaul of the current roster. Most would argue that’s needed anyway, which is completely valid, but not every defender can fit into such an aggressive system. You need versatile players that can do a lot of roles. Guys like Harrison Smith and Andrew Van Ginkel have been key players for the Vikings because of their versatility. Smith is a safety while Van Ginkel is an edge rusher, but both are capable of blitzing off the edge or dropping off into coverage. Flores will often line up one alongside the other and on any given play, both could blitz, both could drop or they could take turns doing one or the other. Finding that type of player isn’t easy and the Commanders don’t have many guys currently on the roster that could fit into that category.

The other big con here is Flores has been constantly getting interviews for head coaching jobs around the league. He’s already been a head coach once before and his time in Miami is filled with controversy, which has seen him involved in a legal battle with the NFL since then. That lawsuit against the league could prevent him from getting a head coaching job, but he has interviewed with just about every available job over the past few years. That will likely continue because he is an excellent coach and at some point, someone in the league is going to snap him up. Hiring Flores could potentially lead to a one-and-done season where Flores takes charge of the defense for a year before getting a head coaching job elsewhere next year. That would leave the Commanders in this same position next year.

Jonathan Gannon

Pros

Gannon is probably the next biggest name on this list. He’s best known for his time as a defensive coordinator for the Eagles for two seasons before being hired by the Cardinals to be their head coach for the past three. Gannon runs his version of a Vic Fangio style defense, where they rely heavily on the front four rushers to get home while the back seven drop into some form of match quarters coverage. His defenses in Philadelphia were elite, which earned him the head coaching job in Arizona. With the Cardinals, he evolved a bit, moving into some three-safety packages but still keeping the same main identity of match quarters being the core of the defensive scheme.

It’s not necessarily the most fun style to watch from a fan perspective because he rarely blitzes. But the match quarters coverage teams are frequently some of the best in the NFL over the last five years. More and more teams are looking to get into that style of defense, in part due to the success Gannon has had and of course what Vic Fangio has been able to do with the Eagles since taking over from Gannon. When your coverage unit can shut down opposing passing games, that becomes just as much fun to watch as aggressive blitzing defenses.

Cons

A shift to Gannon’s match quarters defenses would be quite a drastic one for Washington. Dan Quinn did lean far more into zone coverage when he took over the play-calling duties from Joe Whitt Jr. midseason, but he tended to play more basic zone coverages. We’ve heard for years about how the Commanders have struggled with communication issues in the secondary. Match coverages demand excellent communication otherwise they can completely fall apart. The Commanders secondary needs an overhaul anyway, but given their issues in communication the past few seasons, bringing in a match quarters defensive coordinator could be a pretty big risk.

There’s also a question about just how good Gannon’s defenses actually are. His defenses in Philadelphia were elite, there’s no question about that. But with the Eagles, he had Howie Roseman as the general manager. Roseman is the best GM in football and provided Gannon with elite talent across the board. Gannon certainly did a great job with that talent, but when he left for Arizona, he also left behind a lot of that talent. The Cardinals haven’t had nearly the same level of talent and his defenses haven’t been particularly great there. They haven’t been terrible, but there has been a noticeable drop off. With the Commanders needing to rebuild their defense, would Gannon be the right choice to maximise what they have without a huge influx of talent?

Patrick Graham

Pros