Tag: Cristian Garcia

Another former Commanders’ defensive assistant heading to the Cowboys

More coaching movement between the Cowboys and Commanders.

When the Washington Commanders hired former Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to be their new head coach, there were bound to be some assistants who followed Quinn.

One was former Dallas secondary coach/pass game coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. Whitt, who followed Quinn from Atlanta to Dallas, joined him in Washington as his new defensive coordinator. It was a long overdue promotion for Whitt, who will call the Commanders’ defensive plays.

The Commanders attempted to hire others, but the Cowboys blocked the moves. Whitt received a promotion; therefore, Dallas couldn’t stop him from leaving. Also following Quinn and Whitt was assistant defensive line coach Sharrif Floyd, who will have the same role with Washington.

How did Dallas replace Quinn? Before the Cowboys hired Mike Zimmer, they interviewed recently fired Washington coach Ron Rivera. While Rivera didn’t get the job, Dallas did hire former Washington defensive line coach Jeff Zgonina.

Now, another former Commanders assistant is heading to the Cowboys.

On Friday, Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News reported that former Washington defensive assistant Cristian Garcia was joining Dallas as a defensive quality control assistant.

When Rivera fired defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio and secondary coach Brent Vieselmeyer in November — after a blowout loss to the Cowboys — he took over as Washington’s defensive play-caller. He also gave Garcia a promotion as the interim defensive backs coach. Garcia would help Rivera in game planning over the Commanders’ final five games of 2023.

A University of Florida graduate, Garcia joined Washington in 2021 as a defensive coaching assistant. In 2022, he was moved to a defensive quality control coach before being promoted to assistant defensive backs coach/nickels in 2023.

 

Commanders promote Cristian Garcia to coach DBs for the remainder of the season

Who is Cristian Garcia?

The Washington Commanders made some long-awaited changes Friday, firing defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio and defensive backs coach Brent Vieselmeyer after an ugly 45-10 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day.

Washington’s defense is last in the NFL in scoring defense by over two points. The Commanders have allowed 30 or more points in seven of their 12 games this season.

Head coach Ron Rivera will handle Del Rio’s role as defensive play-caller for the remaining five games, but who will fill Vieselmeyer’s role as secondary coach?

Rivera announced Friday that Cristian Garcia, who was Washington’s assistant defensive backs/nickels coach, will now serve as the interim DBs coach. Veteran coach Richard Rodgers, currently the senior defensive assistant, will work with Garcia and Rivera in their new roles.

Garcia was hired by Washington in 2021 as a defensive coaching assistant. One year later, he was named as a defensive quality control assistant before being promoted to his current role earlier this year after former secondary coach Chris Harris left Washington for the Tennessee Titans. Vieselmeyer was promoted from assistant DB coach to fill Harris’ position.

“Richard Rodgers will continue as a senior advisor on the defense and continue to work in the defensive backs room with Cristian Garcia who we’re going to elevate to the position,” Rivera said.

“Richard will work with the defensive backs, but he’ll also work with me on some of the game-planning issues as well. And then everybody else will remain in their positions as we go forward and see how these things go. We’re going to work today, we’ll work tomorrow, and we’ll talk about how we’re going to do things as a defense, and we’ll go from there.”

Garcia played linebacker at the University of Florida, where he was a teammate of current Washington assistant quarterback coach Luke Del Rio. He began his coaching career as a defensive graduate assistant at UNLV in 2018, a role he held for two years.

In 2020, Garcia moved to Georgia Tech, where he again served as a grad assistant for one year before coming to Washington in 2021.

Any change Washington makes at this point in the season is unlikely to help the on-field product over the final five games. But the Commanders secondary is a mess, so perhaps a different lead voice could help several of Washington’s struggling young defensive backs.

Commanders announce multiple staff changes

The Commanders announced some coaching moves Tuesday.

The Washington Commanders have had some coaching movement since the end of the season. The Commanders lost defensive backs coach Chris Harris to the Tennessee Titans. Washington didn’t immediately name a replacement, but the thinking was the Commanders would promote from within and spread out the responsibilities.

On Tuesday, the Commanders announced they had promoted three coaches in the secondary:

  • Brent Vieselmeyer has been promoted to the role defensive backs coach
  • Richard Rodgers has been promoted to the role of senior defensive assistant/safeties
  • Cristian Garcia has been promoted to the role of assistant defensive backs/nickels coach

On offense, Washington officially announced the hiring of Stanford quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard as the new QB coach. Pritchard played quarterback at Stanford and immediately went into coaching, serving as offensive coordinator for the previous five seasons. Overall, he spent the past 13 seasons as a coach at his alma mater.

In response to that move, former QB coach Ken Zampese moves into a new role as senior offensive advisor/game management. Zampese is entering his 25th NFL season as a coach and his fourth with the Commanders.

The Commanders interviewed Chiefs running back Greg Lewis for a role on new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s staff, but no announcement has been made at this time.

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Commanders will need to replace secondary coach Chris Harris

Chris Harris hasn’t officially departed — yet. But it’s expected to be soon.

Old ownership is leaving; the new will come in. Thus, defensive backs coach Chris Harris is departing.

The pending departure of Harris is significant. Harris, who completed his third season as Washington’s defensive backs coach, sees the handwriting on the wall.

Realizing Head Coach Ron Rivera has won 7, 7, and 8 games in his three seasons, if Rivera does not win big next season, he is most likely going to be replaced by the new ownership.

Consequently, Chris Harris is being proactive in looking and searching for a job now. Prior to coming to Washington in 2020, Harris served as the Chargers assistant secondary coach from 2016-19.

The Bears and Titans both have sought out Harris, and seeing Washington’s secondary had a much better year in 2022, the timing is good for Harris to seek a job with a bit more security for the next few seasons.

There is also speculation Harris may get some defensive coordinator interviews this cycle. All of this would be beneficial for Harris in his coaching career.

With the Washington situation unstable, this would most likely mean the Commanders will not be having top secondary coaches knocking down their doors for interviews this month.

They may have to replace Harris from within the existing staff. However, there is experience on the staff in this area that could really help the Commanders at this time.

Richard Rodgers (assistant defensive backs) has coached in the NFL for ten seasons. Brent Vieselmeyer (assistant defensive backs/nickel) has six years of NFL coaching experience and defensive quality control coach Cristian Garcia might perhaps be ready to move up to an assistant role.

One outside name that may come available might be Steve Wilks. Wilks was the Cardinals head coach (2018) and coaches six seasons for the Carolina Panthers when Rivera was the head coach. Understandably, Wilks is said to be seeking out defensive coordinator positions initially.

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