It’s not often an NFL team will lose an assistant coach to head off to become a college head coach during the middle of a season. It happened on Friday to the Washington Commanders, when quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard accepted the head-coaching position at his alma mater, Stanford.
Pritchard was in his third season as Washington’s QB coach, initially hired by former head coach Ron Rivera before the 2023 season. Pritchard was one of the few coaches new head coach Dan Quinn retained in 2024, and Pritchard developed a strong rapport with Commanders QB Jayden Daniels.
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Pritchard played quarterback at Stanford and then joined its coaching staff. From 2010-22, Pritchard was a part of Stanford’s coaching staff, including a stint as offensive coordinator, before joining the Commanders.
While losing Pritchard is disappointing, there is good news for Washington. The Commanders have a clear replacement already on staff: assistant QB coach David Blough.
Blough, 30, played quarterback at Purdue and spent five years in the NFL as a player. Blough had stints with the Lions, Browns, Vikings and Cardinals. He appeared in nine career games, making seven starts. It was during his time with the Cardinals in 2022 that Blough met Washington offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury. Blough made an impression on Kingsbury, and when he was hired by the Commanders in 2024, he immediately hired Blough, who had just finished his playing career.
This is an easy move for head coach Dan Quinn. Other NFL teams tried to hire Blough away after just one season, but he chose to stick with Washington. Now, if the Commanders promote Blough to QB coach, other NFL teams would have to offer him a promotion in the offseason to hire him. The only promotions available would be offensive coordinator or head coach. It’s doubtful any NFL team would be ready to hire Blough as a coordinator — yet. So, it would make sense for the Commanders to get this done soon.
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Washington also faces the possibility of losing Kingsbury in the offseason. Other NFL teams and perhaps some college teams will want to speak with Kingsbury about their head-coaching openings.
The Commanders once had two of the NFL’s best young offensive minds on their coaching staff, promoting them aggressively. Now, they (Sean McVay and Kevin O’Connell) are two of the NFL’s best coaches. While we aren’t saying Blough is in that class, at least not yet, there is a demand for his services around the NFL.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Washington Commanders: Next QB coach is already on staff
