How did the Washington Commanders defensive and special teams coaches grade out following the 2023 season? And yes, Ron Rivera as well.
Yesterday, we graded all the Washington Commanders position coaches and coordinators on the offensive side of the ball. It wasn’t pretty. But I caution you as we turn to defense and special teams, today is even worse. You have been warned.
The Commanders began the season with four position coaches, as well as a coordinator on defense. They had several other defensive assistants. But that is not the way the season ended.
Let's get into it, shall we?
Jeff Zgonnia - Commanders DL coach
Like many of the other current coaches, Jeff Zgonina came to the Washington Commanders along with Ron Rivera in 2020. He served under defensive line coach Sam Mills III for two seasons and then was elevated when he was abruptly fired just before the start of the 2022 campaign.
It made for a difficult transition. Defensive leader Jonathan Allen spoke highly of Mills. One has to wonder if the disenchantment the veteran has recently expressed might not begin with that coaching change.
Regardless, Zgonina appears to be a well-liked coach. But it’s undeniable that the defensive line has never lived up to expectations. This year, even stalwart interior linemen Allen and Daron Payne have struggled to be as consistently productive as they have been in recent seasons.
No lineman is even close to double-digit sacks. Washington has not been particularly good at stopping the run. This was designed to be the Commanders' best unit and it has failed to achieve that.
GRADE: C-
Steve Russ - Commanders LBs coach
On the one hand, the evaluation of Steve Russ is fairly simple. He has been the Washington Commanders linebackers coach for four years, and the unit’s play has gotten worse and worse over that time. In 2023, they performed very poorly.
On the other hand, no position coach may be more layered than Russ, serving under a head coach who was a linebacker and, until recently, under a defensive coordinator who was also a linebacker. That makes it very difficult to know exactly how much he has been responsible for.
Former first-round pick Jamin Davis did improve somewhat in 2023, but he still ran himself out of too many plays and was a liability in pass coverage. Free agent signing Cody Barton looked lost for most of the season. It would be surprising if the Commanders' new regime gave him another deal.
Khaleke Hudson has shown a few glimmers, especially in the final game of the year, but no young linebackers have been very consistent. From the outside, it is difficult to see anything that Russ has done to make things better. Not just this season, but over his time in the job overall.
GRADE D
Brent Vieselmeyer - Commanders DBs coach (fired)
In hindsight, we probably all should have made a bigger deal out of Chris Harris’ departure last offseason. The popular figure had been the Washington Commanders defensive backs coach since 2020 before leaving to take on an elevated role with the Tennessee Titans this year. Two of his assistants were promoted to replace him.
Brent Vieselmeyer had the title before being fired along with Jack Del Rio. It is not hard to see why he was let go.
Unlike the linebacking position, which was expected to be a weak unit, Washington’s cornerbacks were supposed to help carry the team. Veterans Kendall Fuller and Benjamin St-Juste were set on the boundary, and the team invested heavily in their secondary during the 2023 NFL Draft, taking Emmanuel Forbes in the first round and hybrid corner-safety Quan Martin in the second.
The results have been disastrous.
Fuller played decently this year, but St-Juste struggled mightily. Forbes had to be benched almost immediately. As with far too many of Washington’s best players, the cornerback position reveals how little the current crop of coaches has done to develop youngsters.
Of course, Fuller was a largely formed player when he returned to the Commanders. The younger guys needed coaching, and they didn’t appear to get it.
What became most distressing this year was how often opposing wide receivers were running unguarded through the Commanders' secondary. The players simply seemed unprepared to handle the coverages that were assigned, and that resulted in far too many big plays allowed.
GRADE: F
Richard Rodgers - Commanders safeties coach
Richard Rodgers was the other assistant who was elevated after the departure of Chris Harris. He took over coaching the safeties and was also named senior defensive assistant. The promotion was deserved.
Rodgers has presided over the lone bright spot on this year’s defense. He had been instrumental in helping develop two Day 3 draft picks - Kamren Curl and Darrick Forrest - into a first-rate safety tandem.
Forrest’s injury early this season hurt the back end quite a bit. Percy Butler, who is better suited to playing near the line of scrimmage, struggled to assume his deep-end assignments. But he did improve with time and Curl was again consistent.
I also have to believe that Rodgers helped Quan Martin develop into Washington’s best rookie in 2023. He is the only defensive coach currently associated with the team who I would like to see return in 2024.
GRADE: B
Christian Garcia was promoted after Brent Vieselmeyer’s dismissal and has served as the interim defensive backs coach over the past month. He came to Washington in 2021 as a defensive quality control coach and has been elevated in each of his seasons with the team.
I suspect he has a bright future in coaching, but will not attempt to evaluate him at this point. I suppose he gets an Incomplete.
Washington also has had Ryan Kerrigan (defensive line) and Vincent Rivera (linebackers) serving as assistants in 2023, along with Reggie Howard in charge of defensive quality control. They began the year under defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio.
Jack Del Rio - Commanders DC (fired)
I won’t belabor this.
Former Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio turned a unit with six first-round draft picks into the worst defense in the entire league. Linebackers and defensive backs were routinely confused and out of position. The defense never lived up to its draft pedigree. He was appropriately fired during the season.
GRADE: F
Washington’s other coordinator in 2023 handled special teams.
Nate Kaczor - Commanders ST coordinator
If I made a mistake in undervaluing the position coaching changes coming into this season, I also made a mistake in failing to consider how the loss of Cam Sims, Armani Rogers, Shaka Toney, Jon Bostic, and Milo Eifler may have affected the Washington Commanders. These were all core special teamers a year ago.
Coupled with the loss of All-Pro Jeremy Reaves, Darrick Forrest, and Efe Obada to injuries, this seriously depleted the Commanders' special teams. Still, it is Nate Kaczor’s job to cobble together a serviceable unit from various spare parts. For much of his career, he has been able to do that.
Along with Randy Jordan, Kazcor is one of two coaches Ron Rivera kept on staff in 2020. His special teams have never been stellar, but they have generally been decent. Last year, with the emergence of Reaves and a typically strong effort from Tress Way, the unit seemed headed in a good direction.
But like the season as a whole, Kaczor’s unit fell apart, playing one of the worst games I have ever seen from a Washington special teams unit against the New York Jets in Week 16.
GRADE: C-
Kaczur was assisted by Ben Jacobs, who has been serving under him since he came to Washington in 2020.
Finally, we come to…
Ron Rivera - Commanders HC (fired)
I admire Ron Rivera. His decision to bring Eric Bieniemy to the Washington Commanders is just one more example of his steadfast devotion to his team. He knew full well that the play-caller could very well take his job, but he brought him anyway. Not every coach would do that.
However, there’s no way to sugarcoat how badly this season has gone.
The Commanders have been forced to trade cornerstone players and fire coaches. They have lost and lost some more. This is Rivera’s worst record in 13 years of coaching.
Off the field, most of his personnel moves have not worked out. On the field, he has done a poor job of game management - from using time outs and choosing when to challenge calls. Worst of all, his team has been routinely blown out in the first half of games this season. He simply has failed to get them ready to play.
Losing big to the Buffalo Bills in Week 3 was ugly but hardly unexpected. The flat showing against a winless Chicago Bears team two weeks later was simply atrocious, and an early sign that this team was among the worst in the league.
Save a few glimmers of light against other cellar-dwellers, it got no better for the remainder of the season. Rivera arrived in Washington with a winning percentage of almost 55 percent. After four years in DC, he now has a losing career mark.
It’s a sad way for things to end.
GRADE: D+