The news comes after Joe Whitt Jr., who spent two seasons with the Washington Commanders, was relieved of his duties midway through the 2025 season
The growing expectation through the second half of the 2025 materialized today for the Washington Commanders after news broke that Joe Whitt Jr. will not return as the defensive coordinator in 2026. The twist? Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury will also not return to the Commanders for a second season.
"Dan Quinn met with Kliff Kingsbury today to discuss the future of the offense. After those conversations, we have mutually parted ways. Additionally we have moved on from DC Joe Whitt Jr.” JP Finlay wrote on X.
Kingsbury is expected to draw head coaching interest with the Tennessee Titans linked to the former Arizona Cardinals and Texas Tech head coach.
Kingsbury joined the organization most recently as a senior offensive analyst for the USC Trojans.
Joe Whitt joined the organization back in February of 2024 after following head coach Dan Quinn to Washington with the two working together since 2020. Quinn previously served as the Falcons head coach where Whitt joined as the pass game coordinator and secondary coach in 2020 before reuniting in Dallas for three seasons starting in 2021 with Quinn taking over as defensive coordinator and Whitt taking on the same title.
But a change is needed after the Commanders finished 2025 with one of the worst defenses in the league. The Commanders allowed the most yards per game (384), ranked 30th in rushing yards allowed (141.8), ranked 28th in passing yards allowed (242.5) and finished 27th in scoring defense (26.5).
Reports ahead of the regular season finale win against Philadelphia pointed to change on the defensive side of the ball as "likely" to open the offseason.
"Quinn took over defensive play-calling duties from Joe Whitt Jr. in November and it’s likely Washington will have a new DC. Although Whitt is a trusted confidante and has worked with Quinn for years, a new defensive voice would make sense, and Washington has done research to that effect," Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com wrote earlier this month.
In the annual end of season press conference on Monday evening, head coach Dan Quinn cautioned patience with staff evaluations still underway.
"After a hard season like this, hard decisions are made, but you want to go through everything. From evaluation, the communication, the performances. And so we begin that as coaches. Coaches and scouts, we get together, we talk a lot about the players," Quinn said. "We had the exit interviews today so Adam [Peters] and I also visited with a lot of players, and that's part of how we're gathering all of our information."
Whitt remained a part of the Commanders' staff to gameplan while shifting from a sideline coach in the process.
"Joe will be involved all week, obviously with the rest of the staff in planning and getting ready for the game and then on game day, he'll be in the press box with the vision on the coverage and the things that we need to do," Quinn said following news of the demotion.
Where Washington turns next is unclear with several names now available with the NFL coaching carousel officially kicked off. The Arizona Cardinals fired Jonathan Gannon after three seasons as head coach, while the Atlanta Falcons moved on from Raheem Morris after two seasons as head coach, making the move mere hours after the season finale.
Washington finished the 2025 season 5-12 overall and will select seventh overall in the 2026 NFL Draft with the defensive side of the ball expected to be the focus and edge rusher the top priority.