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Three days after parting with Kliff Kingsbury, the Washington Commanders stayed in-house and promoted David Blough to be their new offensive coordinator and play caller. The team announced the move on Saturday.

The move is a significant boost for Blough, the Commanders’ assistant quarterbacks coach the last two seasons. The 30-year-old has two years of NFL coaching experience but none as a play caller. It’s also a significant risk for head coach Dan Quinn and the Commanders, who moved on from Kingsbury after advancing to the NFC Championship Game in 2024 and then falling out of contention with a 5-12 record in 2025.

Blough, an undrafted quarterback out of Purdue, spent five seasons in the NFL, primarily as a backup and practice-squad player, before transitioning to coaching.

“I had kind of known before (the 2023) season started that my body was starting to fail me a little bit, and I had known that I had wanted to do it,” Blough said in December 2024. “I think when I was in high school, I said I wanted to be a high school coach, and when I was in college, I wanted to be a college coach. And then at the highest level, learning from some of the great coaches that I’ve gotten to be around, I knew this is what I’m supposed to be doing.”

Blough was one of five coaches to interview for the Commanders’ offensive coordinator opening, along with Cowboys tight ends coach Lunda Wells, Cardinals pass game coordinator and receivers coach Drew Terrell, Commanders tight ends coach David Raih and, notably, Commanders pass game coordinator and assistant head coach Brian Johnson, according to multiple league and team sources.

A new voice leading the offense

📰 https://t.co/PC3DkEJP9r pic.twitter.com/5LWYDYHxjV

— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) January 10, 2026

When Quinn was hired in 2024, he created a staff that he believed would have a built-in succession plan if any coaches were to get poached by another team. Johnson, who was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator in 2023, was initially tabbed to be the successor should another team hire Kingsbury as a head coach. But plans changed, in many ways, after the team’s disappointing 2025 season.

Turning to Blough creates continuity for Washington and quarterback Jayden Daniels. Blough built up a solid rapport with Daniels in their two seasons together. Before practices, the two usually compete in a game of P.I.G., their football version of H.O.R.S.E. But during and after practices and games, they’re all business.

“He brings a lot,” Daniels said in December 2024. “I mean, just a guy that’s recently just got out of football, has been around and knows Matthew Stafford, (Jared) Goff, (Kirk) Cousins. Bringing different knowledge of how he’s seen the game, how he’s seen those guys prepare day in and day out, so he is very knowledgeable. You can go ahead and talk to him about anything.”

Blough’s connections in Washington were primarily twofold: He played for Kingsbury in 2022, when Kingsbury was head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. Blough was also in Detroit, in two stints, when Commanders assistant general manager Lance Newmark was in the Lions’ personnel department.

Blough later connected with Quinn and shared his desire to turn to coaching, which led to his quick hiring in Washington in 2024.

“I can remember walking around the field with him and saying, ‘Hey, I really want to be the one that can help start this for you,’” Quinn said that season. “‘And we’re not going to miss one step of your trajectory as a coach and what that would look like.’ … He’s going to be a fantastic coach, but I just wanted to clearly lay out to him what it would look like from a coaching side. And I wanted to be a real part of that.”

The Commanders continued to believe in Blough’s upward trajectory. The team blocked him from interviewing for three jobs last offseason, one of which was the Jets’ quarterbacks coach vacancy.

This week, the Lions filed a request to interview Blough for their offensive coordinator opening, but Washington promoted him before Blough could sit with Detroit for an interview.

The question now is what his offense will look like, and how much Washington’s system could change.

Blough’s playing career exposed him to multiple systems and play callers that he said shaped his offensive philosophy. He was with Darrell Bevell (in 2019 and 2020) and Anthony Lynn (2021), who is now the Commanders’ run game coordinator and running backs coach, during his first stint in Detroit. In 2022, Blough spent time with Kevin O’Connell in Minnesota, where he was first exposed to the Sean McVay-style condensed splits, then learned Kingsbury’s up-tempo offense in Arizona later that year. He ended his playing days as a practice-squad quarterback with the Lions, with then-offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, now the Bears’ head coach.

“One thing that people would say about me is I’m a journeyman,” Blough said in 2024. “What they don’t realize is the blessing of getting to play for so many different minds. So, now being here and trying to put as much of that together to help formulate the best thing we can, I think, has been really beneficial to me.”

Over the last two seasons, the Commanders have shown glimpses of Blough’s potential as a coordinator. In Week 16 of the 2024 season, the Commanders upset the Eagles, 36-33, thanks to Daniels’ touchdown pass to receiver Jamison Crowder with six seconds left. The play was designed by Blough.

JAYDEN DANIELS. COMMANDERS TAKE THE LEAD WITH 6 SECONDS.#PHIvsWAS pic.twitter.com/BcKGpEBIsl

— NFL (@NFL) December 22, 2024

Last season, following quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard’s exit to Stanford, Blough’s time at the front of the quarterbacks room was shown in bits during HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”

Blough takes over the offense at a critical time for the Commanders, becoming their seventh offensive coordinator over the last decade. Their poor finish last season, followed by the decision to part with Kingsbury and defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr., ramps up the urgency for a return to relevance.