It’s been a busy month for the Washington Commanders after finishing the 2025 season with a disappointing 5-12 record. As a result of their struggles, Washington head coach Dan Quinn chose to make sweeping changes to his coaching staff. Two days after the season ended, the Commanders fired defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. and offensive line coach Bobby Johnson, and mutually parted ways with offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury.

Washington quickly found its offensive coordinator, promoting assistant quarterbacks coach David Blough. Shortly after, the Commanders promoted assistant offensive line coach Darnell Stapleton to replace Johnson. This week, Washington finally found its defensive coordinator, hiring Minnesota Vikings’ defensive backs coach/pass game coordinator Daronte Jones.

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Those changes aren’t finished.

Washington defensive passing game coordinator Jason Simmons left for a position on Mike McCarthy’s staff with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Earlier this week, Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic reported that the Commanders were looking for someone to “oversee the front seven, with a focus on improving the pass rush.”

Immediately, that led to speculation about the future of Commanders’ assistant linebackers coach/pass rush specialist Ryan Kerrigan. Kerrigan is a franchise legend, having played 10 of his 11 NFL seasons with Washington, and is the team’s all-time sack leader. Kerrigan began his coaching career in 2022 with the Commanders.

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It also led to speculation about defensive line coach Darryl Tapp. An NFL veteran who played one season with Washington, grew up in Virginia and starred at Virginia Tech. Tapp has been the Commanders’ defensive line coach for the past two seasons.

Essentially, no one is safe except Quinn and his new hires after such a disappointing year. That’s to be expected when you are as bad as Washington was in 2025. However, does everything fall on the coaches? Specifically, the position coaches?

The Commanders had horrible injury luck last season. However, everyone deals with injuries. But Washington battled serious injuries to top starters on both sides of the ball. One position hit particularly hard was defensive end. The Commanders began the year needing more help at edge rusher, and the only move GM Adam Peters made was signing 36-year-old Von Miller and veteran journeyman Jacob Martin. The good news is that both players played well. The bad news is they were signed to provide depth behind Dorance Armstrong, Deatrich Wise and Javontae Jean-Baptiste.

Armstrong, Wise and Jean-Baptiste were all lost for the season. It was a shame for Armstrong, who was having a career year.

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Peters didn’t do enough to address the defensive end/edge position last offseason. Sure, he made moves, but Wise was brought in to stop the run. Martin was a depth rusher, while Miller was signed before training camp. The Commanders have money to spend in March and a top-10 draft pick in April’s 2026 NFL Draft. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter who is coaching the front seven or the results will be similar.

The secondary was another unit that struggled last season. Entering 2025, the Commanders felt cornerback Mike Sainristil and safety Quan Martin were cornerstone players and building blocks. Both regressed badly. That is a coaching issue. Why did Sainristil appear to lose so much confidence? Why did Martin forget how to tackle? Jones is a secondary coach by trade, so that should help this group. Will current backs coach Tommy Donatell remain in his position?

An improved pass rush will help all three levels of the defense. Washington’s lack of a pass rush affected coverage last season. But when you’re one of the NFL’s worst defenses, there’s plenty of blame to go around. And that blame begins and ends with Peters and Quinn.

Firing position coaches isn’t Washington’s primary issue. The Commanders have a talent issue. And with limited draft capital, Washington must be aggressive when free agency opens in March.

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This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Washington Commanders: Talent, not coaching, is the main problem