BREAKING: Former Dallas Cowboys DC Dan Quinn leaving to become Washington Commanders head coach

Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images

Former Dallas Cowboys DC Dan Quinn is the new head coach of the Washington Commanders.

It is official. Dan Quinn is no longer a part of the Dallas Cowboys.

Word broke on Thursday that at long last Quinn would be returning to the head coaching ranks of the NFL and where his first stint was with the Atlanta Falcons his second will see him head not too far away from his most recent team.

Dan Quinn is the new head coach of the Washington Commanders.

Quinn just wrapped up his third season as the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator, by far his least impressive over the course of ~1000 days. He has interviewed for head coaching opportunities following each campaign and while Washington was the last team in the NFL this offseason to fill their skipper post they did so with Quinn and seem to value whatever they think he can bring to the table.

Truth be told while Quinn had a rough second half of the season with Dallas he was for the most part a tremendous defensive influence during his time with the organization. Obviously having great players like Micah Parsons, Trevon Diggs, DeMarcus Lawrence, DaRon Bland and others to work with has helped, but the Cowboys have experienced all sorts of defensive heights under Quinn that were extremely rare if not unconquered in franchise history.

As the head coach of the Commanders the Cowboys will obviously see Dan Quinn twice a year which should be interesting to say the least. Given that Dallas will also see Kellen Moore (who is the new offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles) in two other games per season only adds to the fold in this capacity.

With Quinn now officially gone the Cowboys have some work to do themselves as they now are in the market for a defensive coordinator. It was reported last weekend that they had potential interest in Ron Rivera if Dan Quinn were to wind up leaving... well here we are.

Funny enough it is Ron Rivera’s seat with the Commanders that Dan Quinn is inheriting as Ron was that team’s most recent head coach. Could the Cowboys just outright swap and put Rivera in Quinn’s old office at The Star?

We will see.