Over the years that I have been developing the Reacts surveys and publishing their results, I’ve found a few things to be consistent about the process.
Firstly, in choosing the topic(s) from week to week, I need to pick something topical, but also something that will still be of as much interest on Saturday when the results are published as it was on Tuesday or Wednesday when the questions were first posed. For example, it’s probably not a good idea to give a list of names and ask which guy should be hired to a coordinator position if the decision might be announced on Thursday, and also probably a bad idea to ask if a player should be released if the decision could be made on Tuesday afternoon.
Secondly, choices need to be clear and not over-explained. Binary choices are best; if ratings need to be used, the levels should be clearly differentiated with a few words of explanation. Nothing derails a survey like a set of answers that don’t make sense to the respondents. When I’ve written bad questions in the past, I have sometimes abandoned the results and simply written about something else when it came time to publish the Saturday article.
Thirdly, I’ve learned that the best questions don’t really need any framing when the survey is published. For example, last week I asked for confidence in Dan Quinn and Adam Peters to be rated. I didn’t have to recap their two-year history with the team because those histories have been heavily documented. Respondents know a lot about them and often have deeply held beliefs. But there are times when framing is necessary, or at least helpful. For example, early in the season, I asked which of three running backs should get the most snaps in the coming game, and in the survey article, I provided snaps and stats for the 3 players to allow respondents to make an informed choice. Likewise, if I want to ask whether a player should be signed to an extension, I will almost certainly provide not only the player’s relevant statistics but also some digestible salary cap details so that the cap ramifications can be factored into the answer.
Finally, I have reached a point where I generally know before I ask the question what the results are likely to be. I often comment, when writing and publishing the results article, on whether the results were a bit more positive or negative than I had expected, but I am seldom totally surprised at the results.
In this week’s survey, I stayed away from the search for a new defensive coordinator, which, in any case, I asked about two weeks ago, since we could have gotten an announcement at any time.
I still stayed with the coaching staff, however, asking you to rate two of the decision that have already been announced: the promotions of David Blough an Darnell Stapleton to fill the previously vacant position of offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, respectively.
I opted not to offer a binary choice (e.g., “Do you approve of the decision?”), choosing instead to offer a range of numerical options with a few descriptive words to nail down the scale. I also opted NOT to frame the questions with background information about the two coaches, choosing instead to include a “0” response that allowed respondents to simply say that they don’t know enough about the coach to have an opinion.
When I put the short survey together on Tuesday, I was confident that I knew what the results would look like, and over the next few days, I planned out the article (yes, this article!) that I would write when those results came in. Of course, without knowing the actual results, I can’t fully plan the article, but I can develop concepts of a plan. and in this case my concepts were pretty fully formed.
As things turned out, I had to totally ditch the article that I had mentally prepared because I totally whiffed on my estimation of how Hogs Haven members would respond to these questions.
As with last week’s survey results, I have created a weighted average score to evaluate the overall rating for each coach. Unlike last week’s survey in which DQ and AP were known quantities, I have adjusted this week’s weighted average score to exclude any “0” ratings, meaning that the weighted average is based on only those respondents who expressed an opinion.
The resulting adjusted weighted averages (AWA) surprised me quite a lot by being much more positive than I had expected.
Both AWA scores are between 3 and 4 — between “ambivalence” and “good” — with David Blough, as expected, scoring slightly higher than Darnell Stapleton, who would have been unknown to all but the most passionate fans of the Commanders, Union High School, Hudson Valley Community College or one of the other 10 stops Stapleton has made as a player or coach since 2007.
Darnell Stapleton career summary
In 2008, Stapleton was a reserve for the first four games of the season, before starting the final 12 games at right guard in place of an injured Kendall Simmons. He also started the team’s three playoff games, including the Super Bowl XLIII victory over the Arizona Cardinals. He did not play in the team’s first three preseason games in 2009 before being placed on injured reserve on August 31, 2009, with a knee injury.
Notably, Stapleton started for the Steelers at right guard in their Super Bowl win at the end of the 2008 season before his playing career was cut short by injury.
Stapleton was unable to mount a comeback after his injury and started his coaching career in 2011. He has progressed from coaching in the Women’s Football Alliance and high school in ‘11 and ‘12 to eleven years in the college ranks before joining the Commanders staff in 2024.
His ten years of coaching college offensive linemen in 4 colleges started with the Bucknell Bisons and culminated with the Florida Gators. Based on that indirect evidence, it seems likely that the 40-year-old is a good coach and a good teacher who is now getting the chance to run his own position group in the NFL.
That’s the sort of ‘framing’ that I might have chosen to put in the survey article, but I decided not to do so because it would tend to skew the responses more positively. What I was interested in with this survey was not so much an ‘educated opinion’ as a ‘gut reaction’.
And, to be honest, I expected the reaction to be strongly pessimistic and critical of the organization.
Prior to the survey, I had the sense that Hogs Haven members were aggrieved that the team had moved quickly on David Blough and that the news that Mike McDaniel in particular had accepted the role of OC for the LA Chargers seemed to rub salt in the wound. I had the further sense that many saw the promotion of Blough as a kind of capitulation on the part of Dan Quinn akin to punting on 4th & 4 at midfield when trailing by 9 points with 5 minutes left in the game — a sign that DQ was on such shaky ground in Washington that he couldn’t attract a high-quality and experienced OC like McDaniel, Daboll, or others.
In short, I thought the decisions to promote the two in-house coaches would be met with a huge amount of criticism.
That wasn’t really the case.
Instead, there was a lot of positive messaging in the comments of the survey article:
One Hogs Haven member, Atticus took the time to post very detailed thoughts on the promotion of Blough:
I’ve reflected on the Blough hire a bit more and have quietly landed on very pleased.
David Blough is clearly an up and comer who has strong advocates among the people who’ve worked with him most closely. Ben Johnson and Dan Campbell have both spoken highly of him. Yes, he’s relatively green, but as we’ve seen perhaps more than many fanbases, meteoric rises happen in the NFL all the time. Relative unknowns become proven stars quickly when organizations identify the right traits early. This hire feels like a bet on trajectory and process rather than resume length.
Beyond that, here’s what I like.
He knows Jayden Daniels
I understand the fair concern that “babying” Jayden isn’t good for his long term development. That critique came up around KK’s offense and why Jayden was such a fan of it. But this feels less about babying and more about sequencing development properly. Familiarity with Jayden Daniels the player and the person creates continuity that Washington simply wouldn’t get from an external hire. Jayden has already proven he can play at a high level in the NFL. With Blough, there’s a real opportunity to hit the ground running in 2026 with a coordinator who understands his strengths, his limitations, and how he processes the game.
More importantly, this is a QB development hire as much as it is a schematic one. Blough has lived in quarterback rooms and translated systems for players rather than forcing players to conform to systems. That’s a meaningful distinction at this stage of Jayden’s career.
His scheme background is diverse and practical
Blough knows Kingsbury’s offense and what Jayden likes and excels at, but he’s also been exposed to Ben Johnson and Kevin O’Connell and their West Coast oriented approaches. According to Kiem and JP, he’s more likely to install a Johnson or O’Connell influenced West Coast offense than simply run back the Air Raid. That’s encouraging.
A more balanced run game, heavier play action, and increased use of 12 and 13 personnel should serve Jayden and the rest of the offense well. It allows for progression-based reads without throwing Jayden into the deep end immediately. Ideally we see him under center more this year, but a gradual transition from the pistol makes sense. That compromise limits risk while expanding the offense’s ceiling.
This approach also aligns better with the current roster. It reduces pressure on the offensive line, creates cleaner throwing windows, and lets the offense dictate terms rather than react snap to snap.
The hire signals patience and organizational confidence
What stands out most is what this decision says about Washington’s process. This doesn’t feel like a panic hire or an optics-driven swing. It suggests the organization believes its quarterback plan is sound and is now focused on optimizing it rather than resetting it. Too many young quarterbacks fail because teams cycle philosophies every year. This move prioritizes continuity without stagnation.
There are real risks. Blough hasn’t called plays at scale and there will be growing pains. But this is the right moment in a quarterback’s lifecycle to take that risk. Jayden’s baseline competence buys patience, and the organization appears comfortable allowing the offense to evolve deliberately rather than all at once.
Ultimately, this hire feels less about winning headlines in 2026 and more about maximizing Jayden Daniels’ long term outcome. That’s a mature decision, and quietly, it’s a reason to feel good about the direction they’re taking.
This endorsement of the move is not surprising to me in that it came from Atticus, who typically takes a positive view of the organization, but reading through the comments as a whole, I was surprised by the seemingly broad based upbeat view.
Of course, it wasn’t all rainbows and Kumbayah in the comments:
And there were, of course, many people who take the view that very few, if any, of us know enough about either coach to form a meaningful opinion.
It turns out that Commanders fans have gotten what so many of us have constantly asked for in recent years — the team has decided NOT to let one or more bright young coaches leave in search of promotion opportunities, but to reward those bright sparks with promotions that keep them in DC. We won’t have to look at Blough or Stapleton like we do at LeFleur or McDaniel and ponder what could have been; they are staying put in Washington instead of being hired away by other teams.
At this point, I think the exciting (and nerve-wracking) part of the Blough hire will be finding out what he’s going to be about as an offensive coordinator over the coming 9 to 12 months. He could turn out to be a lump of coal in the stocking or the next Sean McVay. It will be fun (or incredibly frustrating) finding out which it is.
For my part, I’m feeling optimistic about what lies ahead with out new offensive coordinator.
And as far as the new OL coach, Darnell Stapleton is concerned, I am encouraged to learn that he is 40-years-old; that he has 11 years of college coaching behind him, including 2 seasons in the SEC; that he was an NFL player who started and won a super bowl after humble beginnings (undrafted in 2007); and that people in the Commanders organization have such confidence in him after working with him for 2 full seasons. Perhaps he’ll be the next Joe Bugel, who spent 11 years coaching in the college ranks before making the leap from Ohio State to the NFL, presumably a largely unknown quantity to fans in the pro league.
As I’ve said already, I was pleasantly surprised how open-minded and optimistic Hogs Haven readers are as a whole, to these promotions. I hope we’ll all be rewarded with a resurgent offense in 2026 and beyond under the guidance of these young coaches, and that we’ll have reason to someday bemoan that we had more young geniuses on the coaching staff (like McVay, LeFleur and McDaniel) who were eventually allowed to ‘get away’ and become successful head coaches for other NFL teams. The spotlight will certainly be shining brightly on the coaching staff over the coming 12 months. Hopefully, based on their great success, other NFL teams in search of head coaches and coordinators will sniffing around and trying to hire them away as ‘young and impressive coordinators and position coaches’ to inject something special into those struggling teams in the next year or two.
