Dan Quinn has been busy filling key positions on his coaching staff for the Washington Commanders, including hiring a Super Bowl record-holder. Ken Norton Jr. will be Quinn’s linebackers coach, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
Norton’s experience working with Quinn includes helping the latter build the famed ‘Legion of Boom’ defense that helped the Seattle Seahawks win the 2014 Super Bowl. Speaking of Super Bowls, Norton is a record-holder as the only player ever to win three-straight Lombardi Trophies.
He lifted the first two with the Dallas Cowboys, following the 1992 and ’93 seasons. Norton was then part of an outstanding linebacker corps for the San Francisco 49ers when the NFC West franchise won the Super Bowl a year later.
Norton will have a key role for the Commanders. Notably, attempting to fix what’s long been a problem position.
He wasn’t the only new coach to join Quinn’s revamped staff during a busy day of incomings on Monday, February 12.
Ken Norton Jr. Has Vital Role for Dan Quinn’s Rebuild
Linebacker play was generally atrocious under Quinn’s predecessor Ron Rivera. A lack of elite talent was the obvious problem, despite Rivera selecting Jamin Davis 19th overall in the 2021 NFL draft.
Davis actually flashed signs of improvement this season, before a shoulder injury requiring surgery cut his campaign short, per Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post.
What Davis needs is a coach capable of unlocking his athletic range. He showcased some of that range when he a forced a fumble by Russell Wilson against the Denver Broncos in Week 2.
The game-changing play was highlighted by analyst Mark Bullock.
This level of lateral quickness will appeal to Norton. He was a sideline-to-sideline linebacker during his playing days and has valued speed as a position coach.
Norton worked with outstanding ‘backers like Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright in Seattle. Yet, his greatest project was helping Malcolm Smith go from seventh-round pick to Super Bowl MVP.
At 6-foot and 225 pounds, Smith was undersized for the position, but Norton has often valued this physical profile if it’s meant getting greater speed on the field. That’s good news, not only for Davis, but also for 6-foot-3 and 235-pound Jabril Cox.
He played for Quinn for two years in Dallas before joining the Commanders this season. Cox is a free agent, but his experience with Quinn, as well as his fit for Norton’s style of defense, makes him somebody the Commanders should re-sign.
Norton could have some intriguing options to work with, but another new position coach faces a tougher challenge.
Dan Quinn Hired 2 Other Assistants
Quinn is rounding out his staff, and he doesn’t mind taking a former NFC East rival. Bobby Johnson will be the Commanders’ offensive line coach after being fired by the New York Giants, per Pelissero.
Johnson’s a curious choice. Not least because the Giants allowed 85 sacks this season, the second-most in NFL history. Quinn’s Cowboys defense logged 12 sacks in two games against Johnson’s lines.
Like Norton, Johnson will need an infusion of marquee talent to help his efforts to rebuild a crumbling position group. Fortifying a line that surrendered 65 sacks this season will be crucial, since the Commanders are likely to draft a potential franchise quarterback with either this year’s second or even the first-overall pick.
Putting a stronger defense on the field will be just as important. The unit ranked last in points and yards allowed, so Quinn has overhauled the staff.
Norton’s joined new defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr., and they will work with ex-Broncos assistant John Pagano, according to KOA Colorado insider Benjamin Allbright.
The staff is taking shape. Now, Quinn and his assistants can turn their attention to free agency and the draft.
Bolstering talent is a must across a mediocre roster needing more than just superior coaching.
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