The Commanders are interviewing Al Harris, the Bears’ defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator, for their defensive coordinator vacancy, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
With Brian Flores and Jeff Ulbrich staying in their current DC jobs in Minnesota and Atlanta, the Commanders are adding more candidates to their list, per NBC4’s JP Finlay.
Harris, 51, spent 13 years as an NFL cornerback – primarily with the Eagles and the Packers – before joining the coaching ranks. After an internship with the Dolphins, he spent six years in Kansas City and one at Florida Atlantic University before landing in Dallas in 2020, where his reputation began to soar.
As the Cowboys’ defensive backs coach under head coach Mike McCarthy, Harris oversaw the development of ballhawking cornerbacks Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland, who led the league in interceptions, return yards, and return touchdowns in back-to-back years. The team’s passing defense as a whole ranked as a top-10 unit in 2022 and 2023, but regressed in 2024 in no small part due to injuries. Harris added assistant head coach to his title that year, his final in Dallas as McCarthy was fired at the end of the season.
Harris quickly found a new job in Chicago on Ben Johnson’s staff, but the Bears’ pass defense did not excel statistically this year. They led the league in interceptions, including an individual league-high by Kevin Byard. After earning Pro Bowls and first-team All-Pro nods with the Titans in 2017 and 2021, the veteran safety returned to those heights in his first year under Harris.
Bland and Diggs are good at a few things. Giving up TDs and yards, and getting INTs.