The Washington Commanders parted ways with offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury on Tuesday and are considering former Giants head coach Brian Daboll as his replacement. If hired, Daboll would face the Giants, the team that fired him in November, at least twice next season.
Grant Paulson, co-host of the “Grant and Danny” show on 106.7 The Fan in Washington, said Daboll is a candidate for the job.
“Some OC names I’ve heard linked to the Commanders by multiple folks I’ve talked to: Former NYG HC Brian Daboll, former CLE OC Tommy Rees and current JAX OC Grant Udinski,” Paulson posted on X on Tuesday. “I expect Daboll to be involved in early discussions. Would seem odd to move on from Kliff to go more traditional.”
Paulson’s report was followed up by CBS NFL insider Jonathan Jones, who added more insight on the Commanders vacancy.
“Just got off the phone with one coaching agent who said the Commanders may get a better coach at OC than one of these teams with a vacancy get at head coach,” Jones said on X.
Daboll was with the Giants for four seasons. He took them to the playoffs in the 2022-23 season and won their wild-card game against the Minnesota Vikings, leading him to be named NFL Coach of the Year by The Associated Press.
However, he never replicated his early success and failed to make the playoffs in his final three seasons. After starting this season 2-8 and blowing two large leads in games against the Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears, Daboll was fired Nov. 10, ending his Giants tenure with a 20-40-1 record.
Daboll does have success developing quarterbacks as an offensive coordinator. He worked with Jalen Hurts at Alabama in 2017 and he was instrumental in helping Josh Allen develop when he was with the Buffalo Bills for four seasons. If hired, Daboll would need to improve an offense that ranked 22nd in the league this season (318.8 yards per game). He also would be asked to take dual-threat quarterback Jayden Daniels to another level.