Official: The Washington Commanders have fired OC Scott Turner

It happened

Report: Washington will hire someone from outside the current coaching staff to be the new OC

Officially Official:

There was a lot of speculation that the Washington Commanders would fire Offensive Coordinator Scott Turner after another disappointing season. Multiple players complained about his play calling in a recent Washington Post article and Head Coach Ron Rivera has been giving very short answers when asked about his performance.

Rivera’s last public statement on Scott Turner:

“I think Scott did his job, did the things that e tried to do. “We’re going to self evaluate and go through that process.”

Scott Turner came to Washington with Ron Rivera and got his first full-time OC job here. He was the interim OC for the Carolina Panthers after Rivera was fired in 2019. His father Norv, a former head coach for the Redskins, was the Panthers OC and was “promoted” to the special assistant to the head coach role when DC Perry Fewell was named the interim head coach.

When Ron Rivera took over in Washington, he had Kevin O’Connell under contract as the offensive coordinator who was left over from the Jay Gruden regime. O’Connell was Washington’s QB coach and added the passing game coordinator title in 2018. He was promoted to OC the following year, but Rivera wanted to go with a familiar face. O’Connell joined another former Washington OC, Sean McVay, in Los Angeles and took the same job there. He is currently the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.

Scott Turner has dealt with the usual QB carousel that happens in Washington almost every year. There have been 8 different starting QBs, and 3 different Week 1 starting QBs in his time as the offensive coordinator. Turner has been both praised and reviled for his playcalling, but the general theme has been that he tends to try to outsmart his opponents while being to predictable. Fans have been calling this out since his first season, but when multiple players are expressing their frustrations to the media, it’s usually a sign that change is coming.

Scott Turner was signed to two-year extension last year. Dan Snyder is exploring options for a sale, and there were questions about whether any changes would happen during a possible transition in ownership. Coaching contracts are generally fully guarantied, so the only thing we can take from this firing is that Ron Rivera is still in charge, and has the authority to make decisions that will cost Dan Snyder money. That could easily change, and this move could have been approved by Snyder, but as of right now, we are no closer to knowing Snyder’s true intentions for his future as an NFL owner.