Tag: David Blough

Commanders deny permission for others to interview rising young assistant

The Commanders make sure one of their top young assistants will return next season.

When you have success, other teams come calling. The Washington Commanders aren’t accustomed to other teams wanting so many of their coaches. Over the last month, multiple teams have requested interviews with offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr., quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard, assistant QB coach David Blough and assistant head coach/pass game coordinator Brian Johnson.

NFL teams can deny permission for others to interview staff members if it’s not a straightforward promotion. For instance, Pritchard interviewed with the Jaguars and Johnson with the Texans for their vacant offensive coordinator positions. Those would be promotions for either of those coaches, much like Kingsbury and Whitt interviewing for head coaching positions.

The Jets, Bears, and Jaguars all requested permission to interview Blough, and the Commanders denied all requests. Like Kingsbury, Blough will return next season.

This is another big win for Washington. Blough, 29, finished playing in 2023, and the 2024 season was his first as a coach. He played for Kingsbury with Arizona in 2022, impressing the former Cardinals head coach.

It didn’t take long for Blough to impress others, too, including head coach Dan Quinn. Quinn, Kingsbury, and quarterback Jayden Daniels have taken turns praising Blough this past season. Daniels had a particularly strong rapport with the former Purdue quarterback.

Beginning in training camp and occurring every Friday during the season, Blough and Daniels engaged in a game of quarterback “PIG,” which would be pretty competitive. They discussed it below.

It looks like every member of Washington’s offensive staff will return, which is good news for Daniels and the Commanders. If Kingsbury departs for a second head coaching job next year, Blough could be in line for a promotion.

NFL teams interested in Commanders coaching staff

That’s five coaches who’ve received interest from other teams — so far.

“Imitation  is the sincerest form of flattery.”

That’s the famous quote by Oscar Wilde, and since the NFL is a copycat league, that certainly holds true in the NFL as well.

However, in the NFL, your success might not only be imitated, but your coaching staff will undoubtedly be pursued.

After going from 4-13 to 12-5 in one season, the Commanders’ coaching staff is on the NFL’s radar. Everyone is suddenly eyeing the coaches and seeking interviews.

Just one year ago, Dan Quinn was announced as the Commanders’ new head coach, and many, yes, many in the Commanders’ fan base were calling Quinn a retread, a has-been, etc. But now, one year later, Quinn and his staff won 12 games, then two playoff games, and now they are in demand.

Before the NFC Championship game, there was talk of Kliff Kingsbury and Joe Whitt Jr. being sought for head coach interviews.

This week, we already have news that three more members of Quinn’s staff have been requested for interviews. The Jacksonville Jaguars have interviewed Commanders’ quarterback coach Tavita Pritchard for their offensive coordinator position.

Word broke Thursday evening that Commanders assistant head coach and offensive passing game coordinator Brian Johnson is expected to interview with the Houston Texans for their now-vacant Offensive Coordinator position.

Two teams are reportedly interested in assistant quarterbacks coach David Blough. The Jets are interested in Blough for the quarterback coach position, and the Bears’ new head coach, Ben Johnson, recently hired from the Lions, wants Blough to be the Bears’ new passing game coordinator.

Five of Quinn’s coaching staff (that we know of) have been contacted. Quinn must be surprised at the rapid demand for his coaches.

Two NFL teams want to interview one of Commanders’ top young assistant coaches

Kliff Kingsbury is staying. Could one of his top young assistants head elsewhere?

Kliff Kingsbury is staying, but that hasn’t stopped other teams from trying to poach from head coach Dan Quinn’s Washington Commanders’ staff.

According to Mike Garofolo of the NFL Network, assistant quarterbacks coach David Blough is drawing interest from multiple teams. The New York Jets are interested in Blough for their QB coach vacancy, while the Chicago Bears wanted to speak to Blough for the passing game coordinator role.

It’s unclear if Blough will speak to those teams. The Jets and Bears have new head coaches, both from Detroit, where Blough spent three seasons as a quarterback (2019-21). New Jets coach Aaron Glenn spent one season as the defensive coordinator with Blough on the Lions’ roster, while new Bears coach Ben Johnson was with Blough for two seasons.

Blough also has a connection with Kingsbury. He played in Arizona during the 2022 season, Kingsbury’s last season as the Cardinals head coach. Kingsbury was impressed with Blough and quickly targeted him for a role on Washington’s staff. The Commanders were Blough’s first coaching job.

Head coach Dan Quinn, quarterback Jayden Daniels, and Kingsbury have all praised Blough at different times throughout the season. Daniels often competes with Blough after practice.

In addition to Kingsbury and Blough, Washington has assistant head coach/offensive pass game coordinator Brian Johnson and quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard on staff.

Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury talks where he got unique play

Kingsbury reveals where flea-flicker screen originated from.

Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is the talk of the NFL. Some of that is due to rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, who is taking the NFL by storm. However, the former Arizona head coach is rightfully earning praise for the offense he’s built around Daniels.

Coming into the season, there were lots of questions about Kingsbury. Would his pass protection schemes work? How would he run the ball? What about keeping his top wide receiver lined up in one spot throughout the entire game?

It’s safe to say Kingsbury didn’t listen to any of that talk. The former quarterback and head coach regained some of the buzz surrounding him before landing with the Cardinals in 2019. Analysts watching Daniels can’t get enough of Kingsbury’s schemes and play designs.

In Sunday’s loss to the Ravens, Kingsbury called one play many fans and analysts had never seen before. It was a flea-flicker, but it wasn’t just any flea-flicker.

Check it out:

On Friday, Kingsbury met with the media and was questioned about that specific play, to which the offensive coordinator revealed where it came from.

“Yeah, I gotta cite my sources as always,” Kingsbury said. “It’s a [Louisville head coach] Jeff Brohm play. He did it at Purdue, and obviously, we have [Assistant QB Coach] David Blough, who played for Jeff Brohm. So, David Blough had brought that one up and we ended up, they threw it to a tight end. We ended up sneaking [RB] Austin [Ekeler] back there and it ended up working out. The guys executed it perfectly because they brought a pressure, which even made it better. But yeah, that’s, shout out Jeff Brohm for that one.”

Blough played for Brohm at Purdue and later for Kingsbury with the Cardinals. He joined Kingsbury’s offensive staff this past offseason.

While some in the media world spent the offseason criticizing Kingsbury, he was in a lab creating plays, studying other offenses to build the perfect offense for Daniels.

If things keep trending in this direction, Kingsbury will have head coaching options again in his future.

QB Jayden Daniels is the Commanders’ biggest reason for optimism in 2024

The Commanders have reasons for optimism and none are bigger than QB Jayden Daniels.

The Washington Commanders have many reasons to be excited about the future: A new owner, a new general manager, a new head coach, over 20 new free agents and a highly-touted draft class led by a dynamic quarterback.

All of those reasons should excite fans. But quarterback Jayden Daniels is the greatest reason for optimism in 2024 and beyond.

The No. 2 overall pick comes to a franchise with a solid nucleus of talent and a coaching staff built to aid in his development. Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is a former college quarterback and college and NFL head coach. New assistant head coach/pass game coordinator Brian Johnson is a former college quarterback and NFL offensive coordinator. Quarterback coach Tavita Pritchard and assistant quarterback coach David Blough each started at quarterback in college.

Additionally, Daniels’ expected backup is a former No. 2 overall pick himself: Marcus Mariota.

Pro Football Focus recently a reason for optimism for all 32 NFL teams. PFF picked Daniels for the Commanders:

Washington selected LSU’s Jayden Daniels with the second overall pick in this year’s draft. He’s the face of a new regime that has overhauled its roster with hopes of competing sooner rather than later.

Daniels enters the NFL as one of the best athletes at the quarterback position. He led all FBS quarterbacks in overall grade and rushing yards last season while finishing second in passing grade. He also holds the Power Five record with a career 1.6% turnover-worthy play rate (minimum of 600 dropbacks). The Commanders finally have a franchise quarterback.

That last line: The Commanders finally have a franchise quarterback. That statement alone is enough to create genuine excitement for long-suffering fans. However, most fans also proceed with caution. They’ve seen others who were supposed to be the franchise savior.

This time, it’s different, though. Sure, there is no guarantee of success for Daniels. But it will not be because the organization set him up to fail. And with his talent and work ethic combined with the organization doing everything possible to support his development, you like your chances.

Former Lions QB David Blough joins Washington Commanders coaching staff

Blough spent the 2023 season on the Lions practice squad

Turns out someone is joining the Washington Commanders coaching staff from the Lions after all. After Ben Johnson decided to stay in Detroit instead of taking the Commanders head coach position they hired Dan Quinn from the Dallas Cowboys. Quinn has been building up his staff and his new assistant quarterbacks coach is former Lions quarterback David Blough.

Blough finished the 2023 season on the Lions practice squad while also serving as the third quarterback for the team.

Blough had previously been on the Lions from 2019 to 2021. His cutting from the roster was filmed on Hard Knocks, from there he would bounce around on the Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals rosters.

Outside of football, Blough also had his wife, Melissa Gonzalez, compete in trials for the Olympics on the show with his reaction going viral in the process.

Lions coach Dan Campbell had always praised Blough for his professionalism and ability to be prepared. That type of professionalism is why he is now transitioning to the coaching ranks. He will serve as the assistant quarterbacks coach under Tavita Pritchard and Kliff Kingsbury.

Former Cardinals QB David Blough joining Commanders as coach

Blough will be the Commanders’ assistant QBs coach with Kliff Kingsbury there as offensive coordinator.

The Washington Commanders’ offensive staff has some familiar faces to Arizona Cardinals fans. Former Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury is Washington’s offensive coordinator and David Raih, who was the Cardinals’ receivers coach for the first two seasons Kingsbury was in Arizona, is a tight ends coach. They also added a former Cardinals player to their staff.

The Commanders announced that David Blough is their assistant quarterbacks coach. He apparently has decided to retire from his playing career.

Blough played for the Cardinals in 2022, starting the final two games of the season, and spent the offseason and preseason in 2023 with them.

He spent most of the 2023 season on the practice squad of the Detroit Lions.

Blough apparently impressed Kingsbury in the few weeks he was on the team in 2022, Kingsbury’s final year as the head coach.

Landing the coaching job is probably more money than what he made on the practice squad last season.

Blough went winless in seven NFL regular-season starts and was 0-2 for the Cardinals in 2022, but he did lead Arizona to two comeback preseason wins last year.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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Jersey numbers for the Lions latest player additions

The latest player additions for the Detroit Lions have decided on their jersey numbers, as well as number switches from last season.

The Detroit Lions have finalized their 53-man roster and practice squad, but as we all know, this could change at any moment. The roster now includes a mix of new and old players, and we’re excited to see what jersey numbers they’ll be wearing this season. Some players have even decided to switch their numbers from last year.

Below is the list of jersey numbers for the new players, as well as the players who have switched their numbers for this season.

Teddy Bridgewater takes over No. 10, previously held by Nate Sudfeld

Jerry Jacobs previously was 39 but switched to No. 23.

Steven Gilmore switched to No. 24 after sporting 36 through the preseason

Michael Badgley goes back to No. 17, which he held last season.

David Blough will be No. 18 this year. He previously was 10 when he was with the Lions before.

Zonovan Knight will hold No. 28 after the departure of Jermar Jefferson

Raymond Johnson will be No. 52 after the release of Christian Covington

Michael Niese will take over No. 62 with the departure of Ryan Swoboda

Darice Fountain will hold No. 84, which was previously held by Avery Davis

Quinton Bohanna will be No. 90 after Cory Durden was waived

David Blough signs with the Lions practice squad

Blough is back where he spent 2019-2021 as a reserve QB

Welcome back to Detroit, David Blough!

The veteran quarterback is back in a Lions uniform after signing to the team’s practice squad on Thursday. Blough rejoins the Lions a year after he was cut from the team and opted to sign on the Minnesota Vikings practice squad.

It’s a reunion for the team’s backup quarterback from 2019-2021. Blough, now 28, started five games in Matthew Stafford’s absence at the end of the 2019 season, losing all five. He got two more starts for the Arizona Cardinals late in 2022 after that team signed him off the Vikings’ practice squad.

Blough fills the void for the No. 3 quarterback after the Lions placed Nate Sudfeld on injured reserve and waived rookie Adrian Martinez. Ironically, Sudfeld was signed a year ago to replace Blough. As someone who has an understanding of the Lions offense and familiarity with much of the receiving corps, bringing Blough back as a bridge to when third-round rookie Hendon Hooker is activated from the NFI list makes total sense.

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Detroit Lions practice squad tracker

The Lions are signing players to the practice squad to start the season. Here’s who has signed in Detroit.

With the 53-man active roster established, the Detroit Lions are now forming the 16-player practice squad for the start of the 2023 season.

All players who are not signed to another team are eligible for the practice squad, though there are limits on how many vested veterans can be on any practice squad.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell extolled the virtue and importance of the practice squad in his final press conference before the roster cutdowns.

“I understand it is, it’s a 53-man roster, but it’s really not. It’s a 60-man team. It’s a 69-man team is what it is, and that’s kind of how we view it. These guys are all on the same team. We all help each other out and every one of those guys, there’s a good chance they’re going to play for us,” Campbell said of the practice squad.

Knowing that context, here is who has signed with the Lions 16-man practice squad.