Commanders Promote David Blough To OC

David Blough began this past season as Washington’s assistant quarterbacks coach. Following the team’s surprising decision to dismiss Kliff Kingsbury, Blough will make a significant career jump.

The Commanders are promoting the recently retired QB to offensive coordinator, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports. A report earlier Friday (via ESPN.com’s John Keim) indicated Washington did not want to lose Blough, but Detroit had shown OC interest. This represents a remarkable rise for a 30-year-old staffer whose playing career did not wrap until 2024.

Washington blocked Blough from interviewing to become the Jets’ QBs coach last year, keeping him as assistant QBs coach under Tavita Pritchard. Blough climbed to the QBs coach spot once Pritchard took the Stanford HC job in December. The Lions showing interest in bringing Blough back — as their OC — meant the Commanders needed to act, and Rapoport adds Detroit’s interest was real here. That explains the quick Washington promotion.

A backup for five NFL seasons, the former UDFA played under Ben Johnson and learned under Kingsbury. The Commanders hired Blough to Dan Quinn‘s staff in 2024. While fellow recently retired backup/30-year-old Davis Webb has drawn HC interest, Blough has beaten him to the coordinator level. Considering how successful the Commanders were with Kingsbury in 2024 — with Jayden Daniels healthy — this is still a borderline shocking development. Daniels had endorsed Kingsbury after the season, but his most recent position coach will instead be calling plays in 2026.

The Commanders interviewed Cardinals pass-game coordinator Drew Terrell for the OC job today, per Rapoport. The team also interviewed Cowboys tight ends coach Lunda Wells on Thursday. Blough joined other internal staffers in being considered for the job, per NBC4 Sports’ JP Finlay. Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic identified tight ends coach David Raih and passing game coordinator/assistant head coach Brian Johnson as the two other internal candidates. This is a relatively quick hire, but Blough clearly impressed and/or was a threat to leave. Considering Johnson’s 2024 decision to spurn the Commanders to stay with the Lions, this could also represent a bit of payback from the NFC East team.

Quinn’s Falcons past also may have factored into this Blough call. Matt and Mike LaFleur followed Kyle Shanahan to San Francisco in 2017, and The Exhibit’s Josina Anderson indicates Quinn did not want to make a similar mistake with Blough. The Bears also showed interest in Blough during last year’s cycle, but the Commanders prioritized him.

This franchise has a recent history of going very young at OC. Blough does not top Sean McVay, who landed the job at 27 in 2014, but he is much lighter on coaching experience. Blough’s lack of coaching background makes this one of the most interesting OC hires in many years. After all, Blough was still playing in 2023. He spent the full season on the Lions’ practice squad. It seems clear Blough picked up a lot from future Washington HC candidate Johnson that year, but Blough also learned under the eventual Bears HC during Lions training camp in 2022.

A Browns UDFA in 2019, Blough made his way to Detroit that year via trade. Blough made five starts for the Lions in 2019, as a Matthew Stafford back injury sidelined the longtime starter, and stayed with the team through training camp in 2022. Blough received his walking papers before the ’22 season, as the Lions acquired Nate Sudfeld before Dan Campbell‘s second year. Blough ended up in Minnesota on Kevin O’Connell‘s practice squad.

While that was also assuredly an important learning experience in Blough’s development, the Cardinals poached him off the Vikings’ P-squad that December and gave him two starts following Kyler Murray‘s ACL tear. Blough lost both games to finish his career 0-7 and did not win a game as a pro starter, but the Purdue alum has made a fascinating climb up the coaching ladder. In taking over for Kingsbury in calling plays for a Daniels-led offense, it would certainly not shock to see Blough on a near-future HC carousel.

For now, the Commanders will hope they are right on another wunderkind OC. The team still needs to hire a defensive coordinator to replace Joe Whitt, but three days after the Kingsbury dismissal, Quinn’s most important assistant position is filled. How Blough fares will go a long way toward determining if Quinn can stick around in Washington long term.