Tag: Luke Del Rio

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 OC Scott Turner named as one of the young NFL coaches to watch

Surprise, Washington fans. Offensive coordinator Scott Turner is well-regarded by some around the league.

Every football fan seems to hate the offensive coordinator. If a team struggles to score, or a quarterback throws an interception or fails to score in the red zone, it’s always the offensive coordinator’s fault.

And, to a degree, some of that is true. After all, the offensive coordinator is responsible for a team’s offensive performance. But if you spend time on Twitter or at a sports bar, you will find someone complaining about an offensive coordinator.

Such is the case with the Washington Commanders and offensive coordinator Scott Turner. Turner, the son of former Washington head coach Norv Turner, has been criticized by fans throughout his three-year tenure. While Turner has made some head-scratching decisions at time, so has Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay in the past. No, I’m not comparing Turner to Shanahan or McVay, but you get the point.

Consider how many quarterbacks Turner has coached in three seasons. And the Commanders still don’t have a long-term answer at the position, yet Washington has won five of its past six games and is firmly in the playoff mix at 6-5.

Some credit must go to Turner, right?

Well, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com, Turner is one of several young assistants [under 45] the NFL is closely monitoring for the next round of the interview process in the offseason.

Here’s what Pelissero said of Turner, based on conversations with “NFL executives, coaches and others close to the search process.”

Commanders OC Scott Turner, 40: It’s a credit to Turner — the son of longtime NFL coach Norv Turner — that the Washington offense has been functional the past few seasons, given the revolving door at quarterback and nonstop drama surrounding the organization. Just look at his game plan in Monday night’s upset win over the Eagles, focusing on holding the ball and controlling the game; the Commanders had 25 first downs, converting 12 of them on third down, and had the ball for over 40 minutes. Turner is creative and knows how to adapt to his personnel (or lack thereof). And his eye for young QB talent — for example, plucking Taylor Heinicke as an undrafted free agent out of Old Dominion back in his Vikings days — is a positive trait.

The Commanders had three other assistants in the category of others to watch in future years:

  • Secondary coach Chris Harris [40]
  • Wide receivers coach Drew Terrell [31]
  • Assistant QB coach Luke Del Rio [28]

Harris has received some attention for defensive coordinator positions over the last two offseasons and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him land a promotion in the offseason.

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Ron Rivera is asked about coaching with your family

Ron Rivera talks about coaching with your family members.

On Friday, Commanders head coach Ron Rivera was asked about something that can be a very sticky issue.

Some were probably surprised to hear the question, but longtime ESPN Washington Insider John Keim has earned the right to inquire regarding some of the issues that can be difficult to discuss.

Rivera and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio both have family that are employees on the football staff. When family members are hired, “sometimes” events transpire bringing the charge of nepotism. As many are aware in their own workplace environments, nepotism can be quite disruptive to the morale in an organization.

Rivera’s nephew, Vincent Rivera enters his sixth NFL season and second as Washington’s defensive quality control/assistant linebackers coach in 2022. Del Rio’s son, Luke Del Rio is entering his third season coaching in the NFL, his third as Washington’s offensive quality control coach and his first as the assistant quarterbacks coach in 2022.

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Keim inquired, “You have a relative on the coaching staff. What are the benefits of coaching with family?”

“Yeah, there is. I mean, it’s that familiarity. It’s funny because if somebody’s gonna tell me something I need to hear, it’s him. He’s not gonna shy away from it. And I could say the same thing for a couple of coaches that have been with me for a long, long time. [Assistant Defensive Backs Coach] Richard Rodgers, [Offensive Line Coach] John Matsko, they’re gonna tell me what I need to know and what I need to hear. They’re not gonna candycoat or sugarcoat anything. They’re just gonna tell me, ‘Hey, this, that, and the other thing.’ That’s just the way it needs to be and that’s the way it should be. All my coaches should be able to do that. But when you have a relative on it, yeah, he’s my nephew, and he’s a young guy that started from the bottom and is gonna work his way up, and hopefully he’ll get the opportunities that I’ve had.”

Keim followed up, “There are some teams that may have a rule against having somebody in your family on staff. Obviously, you don’t have a problem with it. What do you think about teams that don’t? And why do you like or favor that?”

“Well, it’s not necessarily that I like it; it’s just that there’s the opportunity. If I’d been told I couldn’t hire a relative, I wouldn’t have hired a relative. You know what I’m saying? But again, he’s starting at the bottom, and from that point, wherever he goes, he goes. I made it very clear cut that if anybody’s gonna have to do it the right way he is, just because of his last name. And I’ve been very clear with him and his parents. I told my brother, I said, just tell him don’t do anything that’s gonna make me fire him.”

I don’t think Keim was suggesting nepotism has been or is a current problem for the football staff. It being the third year, this has been the case; perhaps it was an appropriate and perceptive question for Keim to raise.

Rivera seemed to handle the question well, and even applied it directly to his own individual family situation.

Washington announces multiple coaching moves

Washington promotes several coaches Tuesday, including the son of Jack Del Rio and the nephew of Ron Rivera.

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On the first day of the 2022 NFL combine, the Washington Commanders announced some coaching moves.

No, head coach Ron Rivera didn’t fire defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio. However, a Del Rio was involved in the coaching news Tuesday, as Jack’s son, Luke, was promoted from a quality control coach to assistant quarterbacks coach.

The younger Del Rio joined Washington’s staff as an offensive quality control coach in 2020 under Rivera. A former college quarterback at Florida, Del Rio spent time at three different colleges before ending his collegiate career with the Gators.

A Rivera was also involved in Washington’s moves Tuesday. Rivera’s nephew, Vincent, was promoted from a defensive quality control coach to assistant linebackers coach. Like his uncle, Rivera played his college football at California. The 2022 season will be Rivera’s third in Washington. He spent three seasons in Carolina before following his uncle to Washington.

Offensive quality control coach Todd Storm was promoted to tight ends coach. With Pete Hoener’s recent retirement, Washington hired veteran coach Juan Castillo to replace him. Now, Storm has the opportunity to work under the respected Castillo. Storm also followed Rivera to Washington from Carolina.

Coaching intern Cristian Garcia was promoted from coaching intern to defensive quality control.

Rivera always likes to have a position coach and an assistant position coach. It’s a way for Rivera to mentor young coaches and also have them ready should the position coach take a job elsewhere.