All you need to know about the Washington Commanders' new coaches on the offensive side of the ball

Assistant QBs coach David Blough

If you're wondering where you've heard/seen Blough's name before - he was playing quarterback in the NFL as recently as 2022. In all, he has four seasons of NFL QB experience under his belt.

That's obviously no longer the case for his NFL career and it'll be interesting to see how much wisdom/knowledge Blough can impart on his new understudy. We've seen plenty of former unestablished NFL players make a name for themselves as a coach.

Blough also played in two games under Kingsbury in 2022. He threw for 402 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions while completing 65.5% of his passes. The numbers may not be impressive, but the key, here, is he was on the Cardinals roster for all 17 games that year, so he knows Kingsbury's offense and what's expected from the QB position. That'll be big for a first-year signal-caller, no matter who it is.

Run game coordinator/running backs coach Anthony Lynn

Lynn is another former NFL head coach and he has a ton of experience coaching running backs and coordinating running games. 2024 will be his 20th season coaching running backs and he has 27-years of overall experience coming into this year.

His most recent stop is a two-year stint in San Francisco, where he held the same title. The 49ers had one of the NFL's best rushing attacks in 2023, averaging -0.02 EPA/attempt, which tied for fifth-best, and their 46.9% positive play rate ranked second out of the 32 teams, per SIS.

It'll be interesting to see how the Commanders construct their run game. Before 2020, Lynn deployed gap schemes more than zone, but that changed in 2020 when he brought Shane Steichen in to run the Los Angeles Chargers offense. The Chargers finished the year tied for the fifth-worst EPA/attempt.

But as we know, the 49ers are a heavy zone team, so it's pretty much a guarantee Lynn will take what he's learned over the last couple of seasons and use it in Washington, if Kingsbury wants to run more zone.

Wide receivers coach Bobby Engram

Engram is a former NFL player who played 14 seasons after the Chicago Bears selected him in the second round of the 1996 NFL Draft. He appeared in 176 games during that span and his best season came in 2007, when he caught 94 passes for 1,147 yards and six touchdowns with the Seattle Seahawks. Overall, he recorded 650 receptions for 7,751-yards and 35 touchdowns during his career.

Engram has 11 seasons of coaching experience under his belt, mostly as a WR coach. He was mostly recently offensive coordinator of the Wisconsin Badgers and finished the year ranked 87th in scoring at 23.5 points per game. Before that, he coached receivers for five seasons with the Baltimore Ravens before turning his attention to the team's tight ends from 2019-2021.

Engram has a great duo in Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson to work with. So it'll be interesting to see just how fast the position group can hit the ground running with what will be presumably one of the top rookie quarterbacks from the 2024 draft.

Tight ends coach David Raih

Raih was a senior offensive analyst for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2023 and previously worked with Kingsbury in Arizona from 2019-2020 as the team's wide receivers coach.

Tight ends weren't a big part of Kingsbury's offense in 2019, but he made good use of Dan Arnold in 2020 and then Zach Ertz became one of the top targets once he arrived in 2021.

The Commanders have some guys on the roster, primarily Logan Thomas, but they could certainly stand to add some talent for Raih to work with. It'll also be interesting to see how he coaches up the position, considering it's his first go as an NFL TE coach. That position is responsible for a lot, so it certainly needs someone who knows what they're doing.

Offensive line coach Bobby Johnson

Johnson was recently let go by the New York Giants after an abysmal few years up front. The Giants offensive line was one of the league's worst units over the last couple of years, allowing quarterbacks to get sacked three times per game in 2022, which was fifth-worst, and allowing five sacks per game in 2023, which was the NFL's worst mark in 2023.

Injuries played a massive role in last year's problems, but Johnson also wasn't getting enough out of a front five that is bookended by two first-rounders and anchored by a young, but talented, center.

The Commanders offensive line was also one of the worst units in 2023 and there will need to be personnel changes in 2024. How Johnson navigates this will be key to both the overall offensive success and the aforementioned rookie QB's development.

Assistant offensive line coach Darnell Stapleton

Stapleton is a former player that won the Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008. He comes from the Florida Gators, where he was offensive line coach over the last two seasons.

Fan Nation's All Gators editor, Zach Goodall, recently wrote the following about Stapleton's time in Gainesville:

The vacated role was similar to the one Stapleton will fill in Washington, a second coaching position to oversee Florida’s offensive line, which is primarily supervised by Rob Sale, who is also the Gators’ offensive coordinator in title...

... Stapleton, an original hire to Napier's Florida coaching staff, spent two years on the job alongside Sale. The duo revitalized the Gators' offensive line in 2022, as the unit allowed only 17 sacks and paved the way toward 5.5 yards per team rush during their debut season in Gainesville.

UF's offensive line took a drastic step back under Sale and Stapleton's tutelage in 2023, however. The group surrendered 39 sacks and helped rushers garner 4.3 yards per attempt, after Florida lost guard O'Cyrus Torrence and tackle Richard Gouraige to the NFL and other contributors to the NCAA transfer portal last offseason. - Zach Goodall, All Gators 

Stapleton reportedly played a big role in Torrence's development, so the step back makes sense. At the same time, good coaches find ways to overcome obstacles and it looks like Stapleton and Sale couldn't get it done, last year.

Washington's offensive line will present yet another challenge: How will Stapleton work with Johnson in order to ensure things get better in 2024?

Offensive quality control coach Shane Toub

Toub is the son of Kansas City Chiefs special teams coach, Dave Toub, and 2024 marks his fifth year coaching in the NFL.

Toub was an offensive assistant coach during his first two years under former Chicago Bears head coach, Matt Nagy. He then moved to defensive quality control coach during Nagy's last two years in the Windy City. 

Quality control is doing a lot of stuff like film cut-ups, data entry, or simply making sure film catalogs are synched up the correct way. Rarely do these guys experience any actual one-on-one coaching with players.

We probably won't ever truly know what Toub does unless we ask him, but he'll certainly play a role in the offense's overall outlook and performance.

Offensive assistant Andre Coleman

Coleman hails from the collegiate ranks where we was mostly a receivers coach. He did serve a one-year stint as offensive coordinator for the Kansas State Wildcats in 2018.

It remains to be seen what exactly Coleman will be responsible for, but the key here, once again, is experience. Quinn clearly has a theme and a vision for this side of the ball and the overall experience should pay off, ultimately.