Commanders news: Caleb Williams, Dan Quinn, Ron Rivera and Austin Ekeler
By Dean Jones
Commanders to build through the trenches
New head coach Dan Quinn should know a lot about the Washington Commanders roster already. He's come up against them twice a season over recent years. This should serve him well as he begins the roster assessment process alongside general manager Adam Peters and other key front-office personnel.
When discussing the current state of affairs, Quinn emphasized building through the trenches based on comments via Sports Illustrated. He also signaled out the defensive tackle tandem of Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne for special praise, which is a good sign that the former might be sticking around in 2024.
"I'll start with the defense because that's unfortunately sometimes where my eyes go first. But, I would say man was I impressed by the inside of the defense, with the defensive tackles. Knowing that it starts up front on both sides, man, defensive line and offensive line, so that was the spot that jumped out to me, the defensive tackles."
- Dan Quinn via Sports Illustrated
This intent cannot be seen as anything other than positive, especially where the Commanders' woeful offensive line is concerned. Build from the inside out. Get the right quarterback into the building capable of becoming a genuine franchise-caliber presence under center. After that, everything else should fall into place.