{"id":705587,"date":"2026-01-26T05:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T05:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/705587\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T05:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T05:00:15","slug":"dc-target-lands-with-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/705587\/","title":{"rendered":"DC target lands with Giants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan. 25, 2026, 9:29 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

It was a busy news day around the NFL on Sunday, despite it being conference championship day. The coaching carousel continues to spin, with two teams landing new defensive coordinators. Ironically, both of those hirings directly impact the Washington Commanders<\/a> and their search for a new defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

First, the Packers hired former Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon<\/a> as their new defensive leader. Gannon replaces Jeff Hafley, who left to become the head coach of the Miami Dolphins<\/a>. Later on Sunday, the New York Giants<\/a> hired former Titans<\/a> defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson in the same role. Gannon and Wilson were among the first coaches<\/a> to interview with Washington after the firing of defensive coordinator<\/a> Joe Whitt Jr.<\/p>\n

Over the last few days, the Commanders<\/a> have expanded their search, first interviewing Steelers defensive coordinator<\/a> Teryl Austin. On Sunday, Washington interviewed Vikings defensive passing game coordinator<\/a> Daronte Jones.<\/p>\n

The Commanders have now interviewed nine known candidates for their defensive coordinator opening. Three have been hired, or retained, in the same position elsewhere: Brian Flores (Vikings<\/a>), Gannon (Packers<\/a>) and Wilson (Giants).<\/p>\n

The question is how serious Washington was about any of these candidates. Were any offered the job? Flores was never leaving Minnesota unless he landed a head coaching job.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

Wilson looked like a strong candidate for the job, considering the job he did with the Titans in 2024. The results in 2025 were less than ideal, but Tennessee was also dealing with talent issues \u2014 much like Washington. Now, he lands with an NFC East rival, under John Harbaugh. Wilson coached defensive backs for Harbaugh in Baltimore in 2023.<\/p>\n

Where will the Commanders turn next in their search<\/a>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 25, 2026, 9:29 p.m. ET It was a busy news day around the NFL on Sunday, despite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2067],"tags":[95878,7,519,1917,56,2321,2469,6,95993,95994,95882,95890,95976,95951,95988,95896,95891,97021,95888,95895,95899,95884,95883,95889,96006,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-705587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-giants","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-giants","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-giants","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkgiants","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-sstssportsnflcommanders","17":"tag-sstsncommanders","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagarizona-cardinals","20":"tag-taggreen-bay-packers","21":"tag-tagmiami-dolphins","22":"tag-tagminnesota-vikings","23":"tag-tagnational-sports","24":"tag-tagnew-york-giants","25":"tag-tagnfc-east","26":"tag-tagnfl","27":"tag-tagnfl-hub","28":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","29":"tag-tagsports-coaching-training","30":"tag-tagsports-news","31":"tag-tagtennessee-titans","32":"tag-tagwashington-commanders","33":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115959642426001123","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}