Daronte Jones was the last candidate standing at the end of an exhaustive search by the Washington Commanders for a new defensive coordinator. That might surprise many, but this type of hire was long overdue.
The Commanders need former Minnesota Vikings defensive passing-game coordinator Jones and his coaching background to finally fix the misguided strategy that has blighted Washington's defense for years.
It's a strategy based on emphasising intangibles like aggression, intensity, and hustle over schematic nuance. Put simply, the defensive approach preferred by Commanders head coach Dan Quinn and his now-former coordinator, Joe Whitt Jr., is best described as no-frills.
Washington has been sent out to simply line up and out-hustle offenses by being aggressive up front with some fairly basic coverage on the back end. There's nothing wrong with any of that, especially when simplicity is often best in the NFL. But there's a caveat; one the Commanders have ignored for too long.
Commanders are about to look different defensively, and it's about time
You can keep things simple from a scheme standpoint when you have elite athletes. Talent makes everything possible, but if you have premium pass-rushers, bear-strong defensive tackles, linebackers who can genuinely cover sideline to sideline, cornerbacks who can play on islands, and hard-hitting safeties that aren't slow of foot, but intelligent enough to quickly diagnose, then the simplest thing to do is just line them up and let their athleticism do the talking.
There's no need to search very far for examples of this way of thinking at work. Think of the San Francisco 49ers when they had Nick Bosa and Fred Warner healthy.
Or a Houston Texans' defense that has Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. rushing, Azeez Al-Shair patrolling the linebacker level, and Derek Stingley Jr. locking down receivers on the outside.
Here's the inconvenient truth the Commanders have been ignoring about their defense. They don't have any elite players. Not even close.
Von Miller still has some juice left in the tank, and maybe Johnny Newton can finally unleash his interior menace in 2026. Frankie Luvu blitzes with the best of them. Bobby Wagner is a first ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer. Mike Sainristil isn't lacking for swagger in coverage.
The problem is that none of these guys are elite. Miller and Wagner were once, but Father Time is taking a bigger toll each year, and both should move on. Luvu, Newton, and Sainristil may never reach elite status.
If Commanders general manager Adam Peters can't boost talent levels through better personnel, Quinn and his coaches must provide an artificial lift through the scheme. Enter Jones and a coaching pedigree that should excite fans.
Rex Ryan said it best for Coaching Football's 46 Defense, written with Jeff Walker: "This system will make good players great, average players good." Put aside the emphasis on the famed 46 scheme for a moment, and he pinpointed how less-than-elite players need an edge.
If you can't win talent on talent, then you need an edge from the playbook. The type of edge Jones learned the last two seasons working for Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
What Jones took from Flores was the latter's fondness for mad-cap blitzing in front of elaborately disguised coverages. Jones had a hand in designing both.
Jones has also worked with Vance Joseph and Mike Zimmer, which cannot be overlooked.
Joseph calls plays for the Denver Broncos' awesome, pressure-crazed defense. He learned a lot of his stuff from the great Wade Phillips, a play-caller who loved sending extra rushers after quarterbacks. Zimmer was no different, making the double A-gap blitz popular as the Vikings' head coach.
There's no mistaking the direction the Commanders are headed after hiring Jones. Creative destruction will underpin the defense once Jones adds some of Flores's sophisticated pressure packages to what's been a lackluster pass rush.
Those concepts will need to be supported by adhesive coverage, so Jones' experience coaching defensive backs will prove invaluable. The combination of what he'll change up front and on the back end can turn Luvu, Sainristil, and others into stars.
Things are going to look a lot different for the Commanders defensively, and it's about time.