Sources Clear Up WFT Del Rio 'Coaching Change' Rumor
ASHBURN, Va. - Two higher-up Washington Football Team sources vehemently deny to Sports Illustrated a national report that suggests coach Ron Rivera is considering "altering'' his Jack Del Rio-led defensive staff for 2021.
In building this staff, one notable area in which Rivera went "off the board'' was with Del Rio. Rivera hired the two-time NFL head coach and successful defensive coordinator who had been out of football for two years and most recently working in the extremely comfortable confines of ESPN, and Del Rio's top-boss experience came in handy as Rivera was going through his cancer treatments.
Is the union completely blissful?
Per Jason LaCanfora of CBS Sports: The Washington Football Team are among the teams "generating chatter around the league about potentially altering some staff on the defensive side of the ball.''
LaCanfora writes this in a "generically soft'' way; he does not specifically mention Del Rio. But that is the suggestion the reader is left with ... and in our conversations with two team sources, that suggestion is wrong.
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LaCanfora says that teams are "bracing for a purge of the defensive coordinator ranks in 2021" and says "upwards of half the league potentially" could be looking for new defensive bosses between new coaching staffs and teams making changes.
The building of a football team is a "never-say-never'' business and there is a lot of football to be played, including Washington taking on undefeated Pittsburgh on Monday. This is also an emotionally-charged business, and surely along this year's path to 4-7, Rivera and Del Rio and every other person on the staff has experienced some conflict or even disgruntlement.
But a "plan'' to change the course of direction of the defensive staff? We're issued an emphatic "no'' there.
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There is no evidence of a fractured relationship here. We can report that there has been some coaching frustration as some players have been slow and resistant to grasp what the staff is emphasizing.
But both Rivera and Del Rio have been very open and transparent about that. Otherwise? The conflicts are normal ... and our sources say the reports of a planned breakup are wrong.
