Dan Quinn ranked as best first-year coaching hire in the NFL

Dan Quinn receives high marks for first year with the Commanders.

Dan Quinn has been the head coach of the Washington Commanders for less than a year and we can already comfortably say the team made the right choice.

In Quinn’s first season at the helm, the Commanders ended with a 12-5 record and a spot in the playoffs. It’s the team’s first playoff berth since 2020 and the team’s most wins since the 1991 campaign.

Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports recently re-graded all of the first-year coaching hires, and, predictably, Quinn came out on top.

Benjamin gave Quinn an A- grade and offered the following analysis:

The former Atlanta Falcons coach has certainly benefited from the star power of rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, the top draft choice of new general manager Adam Peters. But in tapping Kliff Kingsbury as his play-caller, Quinn has overseen one of the game’s most dynamic aerial attacks, while infusing the locker room with a been there, done that type of confidence. Quite simply, he’s hired and leaned into his aces, making him the perfect figurehead for the upstart Commanders’ current moment.

Quinn previously served as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, where he compiled a 43-42 record and appeared in Super Bowl LI.
After his time in Atlanta, Quinn went to Dallas to coach the Cowboys’ defense. Now, the veteran coach excels as the head coach of one of the Cowboys’ division rivals.
Quinn and the Commanders will face off against the NFC South-winning Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the playoffs.