The Commanders have turned to Steve Wilks for help on defense, and the move says plenty about where things stand six games into Dan Quinn’s season.
Washington hired Wilks, a former NFL defensive coordinator and ex-Cardinals head coach, as a part-time consultant to work with defensive coordinator Daronte Jones. According to the team, the decision was made about a month ago, though Wilks is only now settling into the job, which began last week after the ugly tie with the Giants.
This is not a hands-on coaching role. Wilks won’t be working directly with defensive players, won’t be on the field during practice, and won’t travel with the team for games. His job is to sit with Jones, break down film, and help him interpret what he’s seeing.
The need for help is obvious enough from the numbers. Jones’ defense has been better than Joe Whitt’s was last year, but that still leaves plenty of room for concern.
Washington is giving up the sixth-most yards in the NFL through six weeks and sits 24th in yards per play at 5.6. The pass defense ranks 22nd, allowing 6.6 yards per attempt, while the run defense is 14th at 4.0 yards per carry.
That’s not the kind of production a staff expected to contend with can shrug off.
Quinn’s choice last January to hire two first-time NFL coordinators, Jones on defense and David Blough on offense, always carried some risk. Now, with the Commanders 6 games into 2026, that risk is staring right back at them.
Washington has already been exposed by big plays, especially in the first two games against the Eagles and Cowboys. Then in game four, the defense wilted in the second half against the Colts’ run game, even with quarterback Daniel Jones clearly struggling to throw the ball.
There’s also the question of how this staff got here. Quinn is a former defensive coordinator and head coach, and Ken Norton is a two-time former defensive coordinator, so why was Wilks needed? The Commanders have offered no real explanation.
General manager Adam Peters’ involvement is another open question. Wilks and Peters were both with the 49ers in 2023, and Wilks was in town a week before the team announced the move. That doesn’t prove Peters pushed for it, and it doesn’t prove he didn’t.
Wilks brings plenty of NFL experience to the table. He was a defensive coordinator under Ron Rivera in Carolina in 2017, then held the same title with the Browns in 2019, the 49ers in 2023, and the Jets in 2025.
He was also head coach in Arizona in 2018, when the Cardinals went 3-13, and interim head coach for Carolina in 2022, when the Panthers went 6-6. He was fired after one season as coordinator in both of his last two stops.
Whether this was a late fix or something planned well before the Giants tie, the message is the same: Washington decided Jones could use another set of eyes.
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