Washington Commanders Looking to Poach Falcons Offensive Coach

The Washington Commanders have reportedly requested to speak with Atlanta Falcons quarterback coach D.J. Williams for an unspecified position. This report first came from ESPN’s NFL insider, Jeremy Fowler.

The Commanders have requested to interview Falcons assistant D.J. Williams for QB coach, per source.

Williams, son of Washington legend Doug Williams, helped develop Michael Penix the last two seasons in Atlanta.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) January 13, 2026

The Falcons’ conference rival fired offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, just one year after he coached Jayden Daniels to an Offensive Rookie of the Year award and helped lead the Commanders to the NFC Championship Game. They were quick to hire assistant quarterbacks coach David Blough to take on Kingsbury’s position.

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Blough was in his third season in his role, but took on increased responsibilities after Tavita Pritchard left for the Stanford Cardinal head coach post. It would be reasonable to expect that Williams would be the replacement for Blough’s vacated position on the Commanders’ staff.

Williams, the son of Washington legend Doug Williams, was promoted to quarterbacks coach for the 2025 season after serving as the offensive assistant and assistant quarterbacks coach for the Falcons in 2024. In his two seasons in Atlanta, he worked closely with quarterbacks Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix Jr.

In 24 games (22 starts), Cousins completed 469-of-722 passes (65.0%) for 5,229 yards, 28 passing touchdowns, and 21 interceptions for an 87.2 passer rating. Meanwhile, Penix completed 227-of-381 passes (59.6%) for 2,757 yards, 12 passing touchdowns, and six interceptions for an 85.8 passer rating over 14 games (12 starts).

He joined Atlanta’s staff after spending five years as an offensive assistant with the New Orleans Saints.

“D.J. is one of the guys we interviewed in the first process, the early process here, and he was such an impressive interview that we called him back and had to figure out a way to get him on board with us,” ex-Falcons coach Raheem Morris said about Williams during Training Camp last summer. “He was under contract with the New Orleans Saints, and we took a grace period to wait for those guys to allow us to be able to hire him. And we waited for him. It allowed us to really hire an extra coach because of how impressive he was, his information about the quarterback, his information about what they do, and his information about how he likes to train.

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“His detail, his work with now whoever's in those roles, whether it be the starting quarterback, the backup quarterbacks, the developing quarterbacks. He's done such a great job with all of those guys in all facets, whether it be protection, whether it be progression, whether it be dealing with the performance team and how we want to do those things. His maturity level has been absolutely outstanding.”

Williams, who is still under contract with the Falcons, is the second member of the offensive staff to receive some interest from teams around the NFL.