The Jacksonville Jaguars have requested to interview the Dallas Cowboys offensive and defensive coordinators, Kellen Moore and Dan Quinn, for their vacant head coach position. This request comes as part of a new league policy that allows for interviews to occur during the last two weeks of the regular season.
This provision is only granted to teams who’ve already fired a coach during the year. The Jaguars dismissed first-year HC Urban Meyer about two weeks ago after going 2-11 in his first and probably only NFL season.
Jaguars have requested permission to interview both Cowboys coordinators, DC Dan Quinn and OC Kellen Moore for their HC job, per league sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 28, 2021
Going into 2021, many expected Kellen Moore to be among the top head coach candidates around the league and for college teams as well. He reportedly turned down his alma mater Boise State back in January to return to the Cowboys.
But while Moore remains an attractive option, it’s been Dan Quinn whose stock has risen this season. Turning the Cowboys from one of the league’s worst units to a turnover factory has given the former “Legion of Boom” coordinator renewed notoriety.
Quinn was hardly a flop as the Falcons head coach from 2016-2019. He had a winning record in both the regular season and playoffs, even leading Atlanta to the Super Bowl in his first year. But with Kyle Shanahan’s offense getting more of the credit, and the Falcons going 7-9 in his final two seasons, Quinn was ultimately let go.
The Jaguars are hardly one of the most attractive landing spots for a prospective head coach given their common residence in the NFL’s basement. But with Trevor Lawrence already in place as a supposed franchise QB, and a division without a clear long-term frontrunner, it could be an opportunity to have success quickly.
Dan Quinn has a connection for insight into working for the Jaguars, particularly owner Shad Khan. Quinn inherited the Seahawks defense in 2013 from Gus Bradley, who took over as Jacksonville’s head coach that year.
So far these are only requests; the Cowboys have a right to refuse. But most teams don’t block their assistant coaches from interviewing even during the playoffs.
Kellen’s offense in general and play calling in particular have been very uneven this season. McCarthy is used to calling his own plays and has plenty of other experienced OC’s on staff: Joe Philbin, Ben McAdoo, and Doug Nussmeier (college). All else fails, Jason Garrett is available. 😉
The options aren’t as good on the defensive side. George Edwards is the only one with DC experience. Not to mention, Quinn brought Witt, Durde, and Harris with him and would likely take as many as possible with him again to a new job. Nussmeier is the only other offensive assistant with more ties to Moore than with McCarthy.
So, of the two, I’d much rather see Moore leave than Quinn. The team could weather that change much easier. Also, I bet the Jags would rather hire an offensive minded coach to develop Trevor Lawrence.
Lonewolvez28…. I had the same thinking about who would be the best coordinator to keep if we had to lose one of them!! I just have 1 thing to correct about your comment….. And that’s Harris…. Harris was already on our team last season….. Dan Quinn just decided to keep him as the DBs coach when he came to coach our defense!! If I’m not mistaken, they do have ties from years ago, but Quinn didn’t bring Harris over with him, Harris was already coaching the DBs when Quinn came over!!
I hope they don’t leave us!! Especially Dan Quinn, he’s made our defense into a top 10 unit in just a half a year…. Imagine what he can do with another year!! Even if people can’t agree that our defense is a top 10 unit, I know everybody can agree that he turned them into the exact opposite of what we were last year!! And I know he can do even better with another year and maybe even give us the best defense in the NFL within another year or 2!! And as far as Kellen Moore goes, I don’t wanna see him go either, but him and Mike Mccarthy have been around each other enough to where Mike should be able to do the same thing Kellen is doing!! But I’d rather have Kellen on the team with us!! So I hope Jerry is able to talk both of them into staying with us for a few more years…. At least!!