Insider notes on Commanders’ HC hunt after Ben Johnson’s return to Detroit; Dan Quinn, Mike Vrabel among options

The weird and wacky offseason coaching carousel seems to be finally winding down, as the Seattle Seahawks settled on their head coach. Only the Washington Commanders need to fill an open vacancy. Yet Washington fully expected to have their coach in hand at this point, at least until their next head coach-in-waiting changed his mind midair.

The first curveball thrown in the coaching carousel was the Dallas Cowboys choosing to keep Mike McCarthy after yet another early exit from the playoffs. When Dallas was dominated by Green Bay in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, everyone expected the team to hire Bill Belichick, but Dallas shocked everyone by keeping McCarthy. It’s something that has been discussed often here at the Senior Bowl.

Bill Belichick’s next destination seemed to be the Atlanta Falcons; that was until the organization hired Raheem Morris. As I reported hours after the hire, Belichick’s desire for complete control has franchise owners and other high-level executives within the team hierarchy concerned.

As explained to me Wednesday at practice, Belichick has told teams in interviews that he doesn’t want total control if hired, yet there is concern that desire will change once he’s put in charge.

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What's next for Commanders in head coach search?

Dallas Cowboys v Washington Commanders

The next curveball was Ben Johnson deciding he did not want any of the remaining jobs when he seemed to be a shoo-in as the Washington Commanders’ new head coach.

As has been reported, Commanders officials were flying to Detroit for a final meeting and were ready to make Johnson their head coach when they received word he would be staying with the Lions this season.

Now the Commanders are the team still searching for a head coach. The belief is Dan Quinn, who lost out on the Seattle Seahawks job to Mike McDonald as I alluded to on Sunday, will end up as the head coach.

The specter of Mike Vrabel looms large, but the belief in Mobile is that the former Titans head coach will take a year off and see what awaits him in 2025.

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