Kingsbury weighed in on quarterbacks … type of. The brand new offensive coordinator joked that the kind of quarterback he desires to work with is “the Chiefs’ quarterback,” referring to Patrick Mahomes, whom he coached at Texas Tech. Kingsbury stated the traits essential to him are management, work ethic and mobility — the final of which he noticed emphasised on the finish of the Tremendous Bowl.
“It doesn’t suggest you bought to run like Lamar [Jackson] or Kyler Murray,” he stated. “However you higher be capable of transfer just a little bit and purchase your self a while.”
The highest quarterbacks within the upcoming draft — Southern California’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye and LSU’s Jayden Daniels — all match that description. Kingsbury helped coach Williams final 12 months at USC and known as the presumptive No. 1 choose a “large individual.” However he declined to research his recreation.
The Commanders’ teaching employees was constructed strategically. At first look, Quinn’s employees seems to be a hodgepodge of assistants from across the NFL. However the crew chosen them with their expertise and experience in thoughts, Kingsbury and Whitt stated.
It’s a stark departure from the method of Washington’s earlier regime, which was constructed based mostly on connections to the coach.
Quinn has a fundamental blueprint for a way he plans to run the Commanders, however he stated throughout his introductory information convention that he believes coaches and schemes need to evolve to stay efficient. So his assistants embody a former head coach (Anthony Lynn), 4 former coordinators (Lynn, Ken Norton Jr., John Pagano and Brian Johnson) and coaches who got here up in several schemes.
“We needed to deliver a bunch of high-character individuals and good soccer coaches,” stated Kingsbury, who described the hiring course of as a collaborative effort with Quinn and Basic Supervisor Adam Peters. “I believe anytime you get an opportunity to reinstall your offense, you’ll be extra environment friendly along with your processes and your verbiage and your play calls and scheme. So we’re going to all dive into it and determine what we do greatest personnel clever and develop it from there.”
Kingsbury rejected the “Air Raid” label for his offense. The 44-year-old has run the pass-heavy, shotgun-based offensive scheme at the least since he arrived at Texas Tech as a freshman quarterback in 1998. However his move fee whereas he was the coach of the Arizona Cardinals wasn’t on the prime of the NFL.
“We need to be balanced,” Kingsbury stated. “We would like to have the ability to run the soccer and play-action move and actually do no matter it takes to win. … I’m honored to be part of [the Air Raid tree] as a result of it was [popularized by] Mike Leach, and I’ve plenty of respect for him. However I wouldn’t categorize something we do underneath that identify.”
Kingsbury dodged questions on how his deal to hitch the Las Vegas Raiders fell aside. However in an episode of “The Pivot” podcast, Raiders Coach Antonio Pierce steered he misplaced Kingsbury to Washington due to recruiting efforts by restricted companion Magic Johnson.
Kingsbury additionally declined to debate Johnson’s function in his choice.
Whitt expects disruption from the protection. Whitt’s priorities are aligned with Quinn’s as they dive into roster evaluations and start to arrange for the draft and free company. Their focus is extra on creating and instilling a enjoying model than discovering gamers who match a sure play construction.
“We’re going to be a run-and-hit protection,” Whitt stated. “The best way that we reside will not be for everyone. It’s not. As a result of we’re going to run and put our our bodies on individuals in a violent method. … The construction doesn’t matter. The primary factor that issues to me is we’re going to be arriving violently, and we’re going to show the ball over. We’re going to verify we disrupt these quarterbacks.”
The Dallas Cowboys — with Whitt as their secondary coach and defensive passing recreation coordinator — led the NFL in takeaways in 2021 and 2022, and although the personnel will differ and the scheme will probably be tweaked accordingly, Whitt plans to make the Commanders simply as prolific. A part of that’s teaching and improvement. A part of it’s scheme and creating extra disguises post-snap to attempt to confuse quarterbacks.
“These quarterbacks are too good, so for those who enable them to see the construction that you simply’re lined up in and … they know the protection or they know the place the stress is coming from, it’s going to be a troublesome day for you,” Whitt stated. “You’ll hear me discuss this on a regular basis. The ball is life. It’s like air. We received to have it. We received to get it.”
It’s early! Sit back! Regardless that draft scouting is in full swing on social media, each coordinators are nonetheless evaluating their new rosters. Kingsbury was obscure, saying the offense has explosive items, and Whitt was particular, stating the power at defensive sort out and the promising youth at defensive again (cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. and security/cornerback Quan Martin).
“A variety of guys on the again finish are intriguing,” he stated, including, “We’ve high quality younger gamers.”
