NFL Coaching Matters: 2022 Washington Commanders Offense and Coaching Staff Preview

August 1, 2022

Eli Grabanski breaks down the 2022 Washington Football Team's coaching staff in search of buy-lows, fantasy football sleepers, and risers based on play-calling and historical data.

After every NFL season, NFL teams take the time to evaluate not only the players but also the coaching staff and front office as well. While many teams choose to retain the same head coach, offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator, a few other teams opt to go in a new direction with their coaching staff.

One team that managed to maintain its core coaching staff this offseason was the Washington Commanders, with head coach Ron Rivera, offensive coordinator Scott Turner, and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio all returning for the 2022-23 season.

This final entry in the 'Coaching Matters' article series will look at the potential impact this coaching staff will have on the players and try to pinpoint the Commanders players' fantasy values in it.

The Baseline

To get a better understanding of the value the Washington Commanders' coaches bring to this team, we can look at the NFL league averages in each of the past two years in a variety of statistical categories and then compare them to the averages achieved by the Washington Commanders' coaches. Here are 'The Baseline' NFL league averages over the past couple of years:

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

Defense Impact

2022 Offense

2022 Offensive Coordinator: Scott Turner

After a four-game stint with the Carolina Panthers as an interim play-caller at the end of the 2019 season, Scott Turner was brought on to be the Washington Commanders' offensive coordinator in 2020. Given Turner's offensive background, let's take a look at what his offenses have done in the past at the NFL level to get a better understanding of how Washington's offense might look in 2022.

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

Scott Turner Takeaways & Expectations

Over the course of Scott Turner's 37 games as an NFL offensive play-caller, his offenses have averaged 35.86 passing attempts per game - which is around the league averages the past couple of seasons.

In addition, over the course of his career as a play-caller, Turner's quarterback room has averaged 3.32 carries per game.

This rushing usage under Scott Turner is a little below average for the quarterback and given that the passing usage isn't particularly impressive either, the Washington Commanders starting quarterback probably will be in the bottom half of the league's starters in terms of fantasy value. Based on this information, Carson Wentz should be viewed as more of a streamer for the 2022 season.

Examining Scott Turner's running back rooms over the course of his career, there is quite a bit to be encouraged about. Over the course of the 37 games that Turner has been a play-caller, his running back room has averaged 21.73 carries, 88.65 rushing yards, and 0.84 rushing touchdowns per game on the ground.

The number of running back carries per game under Scott Turner has been fairly mediocre, but his backs have made up for it with their efficiency in scoring rushing touchdowns - which is a great sign if you plan on rostering one of Washington's running backs in your fantasy league.

But besides the amount of volume (carries) on the ground that Turner has historically provided, we also need to consider how that volume has been distributed over the course of his career - is Turner rolling with a bell-cow or a running back by committee approach?

Looking at the data, Scott Turner has leaned towards a bell-cow approach on the ground in two of his three seasons as an offensive coordinator. While the backfield is more crowded this year after the team drafted Brian Robinson in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft, it seems likely that the team continues to lean towards this approach - which bodes well for Antonio Gibson.

The final aspect we should look at regarding Scott Turner's running backs is how much he has traditionally utilized them as pass-catchers. Over the course of his career, Scott Turner's running back room has averaged a whopping 9.11 targets per game.

This usage is one of the best marks in the league among active offensive-minded head coaches and offensive coordinators who have previously coached at the NFL level and extremely encouraging to see if you are rostering one of the Washington Commanders' running backs. The two biggest beneficiaries of this usage will be J.D. McKissic and Antonio Gibson, and if Antonio Gibson can eat into J.D. McKissic's receiving workload more in 2022, he'll return great value at his ADP. Overall, this is an offense whose running backs you should invest in as long as Scott Turner is the offensive coordinator.

Jumping to the wide receiver position, Turner's offense has provided his wide receivers with 18.65 targets per game over the course of his 37-game career as an offensive coordinator.

This number is below the NFL league averages we've seen in the last couple of seasons of 20.21 targets (2020) and 19.75 targets (2021). What this suggests is that the Washington Commanders' wide receivers may have a harder time seeing their volume (targets) increase under Scott Turner since he hasn't prioritized the position as much as other play-callers. If you plan on investing in Terry McLaurin, Curtis Samuel, or Jahan Dotson, you are doing so because you are confident in their talent and believe they can be efficient with Carson Wentz throwing them the ball - not because you think they will be among the league leaders in targets.

Lastly, Turner's historical usage of tight ends has been above-average. Over the course of his career as an offensive coordinator, Turner's tight end room has averaged 6.70 targets per game.

These numbers are pretty mediocre relative to the NFL league averages the past couple of seasons of 7.03 targets per game (2020) and 6.93 targets per game (2021). Because of this, Logan Thomas and John Bates should be viewed more as upside streamers for the 2022 NFL season.

Fantasy Relevant Players: Carson Wentz, Taylor Heinicke, Sam Howell, Antonio Gibson, J.D. McKissic, Brian Robinson Jr., Jaret Patterson, Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Curtis Samuel, Cam Sims, Dyami Brown, Logan Thomas, John Bates

2022 Defense

2022 Head Coach: Ron Rivera

Ron Rivera has been the Washington Commanders' head coach since 2020. Prior to taking the job in Washington, Rivera served as a defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears (2004-2006) and San Diego Chargers (2008-2010), as well as the head coach of the Carolina Panthers (2011-2019). Given his defensive background, let's take a look at some team defensive statistics during Ron Rivera's career as a defensive coordinator or head coach.

2022 Defensive Coordinator: Jack Del Rio

Jack Del Rio has been the Washington Commanders' defensive coordinator since 2020. Prior to taking the job in Washington, Del Rio had served as a defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers (2002), as a head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars (2003-2011), as a defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos (2012-2014), and as a head coach for the Oakland Raiders (2015-2017). Given his defensive background, let's take a look at some team defensive statistics during Jack Del Rio's career as a defensive coordinator or head coach.

Other Notable Assistants

Special Teams Coordinator: Nate Kaczor - Nate Kaczor has been Washington's special teams coordinator since 2019. He has been coaching since 1991 and has previously spent time in the NFL as a special teams coordinator for the Tennessee Titans (2013-2015) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2016-2018).

QB Coach: Ken Zampese - Ken Zampese has been the Washington Commanders' quarterbacks' coach since 2020. He's been coaching football in a variety of roles and levels since 1990 and has previously spent time at the NFL level as a quarterbacks coach for the Cincinnati Bengals (2003-2015) and Cleveland Browns (2018). He also served as the Cincinnati Bengals' offensive coordinator from 2016 to 2017.

RB Coach: Randy Jordan - Randy Jordan has been Washington's running backs coach since 2014. Prior to taking this role, he previously served as a running backs coach at the college level for Nebraska (2004-2007), Texas A&M (2008-2011), and North Carolina (2012-2013). Jordan also played running back at the NFL level for the Los Angeles Raiders (1993), Jacksonville Jaguars (1995-1997), and Oakland Raiders (1998-2002).

WR Coach: Drew Terrell -  Drew Terrell will enter his second season as the Washington Commanders' wide receivers coach after previously serving as the assistant wide receivers coach (2020). He's been coaching football at the college and NFL levels since 2014.

TE Coach: Juan Castillo - The only major position coach that will change in 2022 for the Washington Commanders is the tight ends coach as the team goes from Pete Hoener to Juan Castillo. Castillo has spent time coaching on both sides of the football at the college and NFL levels since 1982. He spent time as a tight ends coach in the past for the Philadelphia Eagles (1997) but has otherwise primarily spent time as an offensive line coach at the NFL level with the Philadelphia Eagles (1998-2010), Baltimore Ravens (2014-2016), Buffalo Bills (2017-2018), and Chicago Bears (2020-2021). He also had a brief stint as the Philadelphia Eagles' defensive coordinator from 2011 to 2012.

OL Coach: John Matsko - John Matsko has been the Washington Commanders' offensive line coach since 2020. He's been coaching football since 1974 and has previously coached offensive lines at the NFL level for the Phoenix Cardinals (1992-1993), New Orleans Saints (1994-1996), New York Giants (1997-1998), St. Louis Rams (1999-2005), Kansas City Chiefs (2006-2007), Baltimore Ravens (2008-2011), and Carolina Panthers (2011-2019) prior to taking the job in Washington.

DL Coach: Sam Mills III - Sam Mills III has been the Washington Commanders' defensive line coach since 2020. He previously spent his entire coaching career with the Carolina Panthers, working as a strength and conditioning coach & defensive assistant (2005), defensive quality control coach (2006-2010), assistant defensive line coach (2011-2018), and defensive line coach (2018-2019).

LB Coach: Steve Russ - Steve Russ has been the Washington Commanders' linebackers coach since 2020. He's been coaching football since 2001 and has previously spent time coaching linebackers at the NFL level for the Carolina Panthers (2018-2019).

DB Coach: Chris Harris - Chris Harris has been the Washington Commanders' defensive backs coach since 2020. As a coach, he has previously spent time as the defensive quality control coach for the Chicago Bears (2013-2014) and as an assistant defensive backs coach for the Los Angeles Chargers (2016-2019). He also played safety in the NFL for the Chicago Bears (2005-2006, 2010-2011), Carolina Panthers (2007-2009), Detroit Lions (2011), and Jacksonville Jaguars (2012).

Enjoy this series? Be sure to check out all of the other 'Coaching Matters' team previews!

AFC North: Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals

AFC South: Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts

AFC West: Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders

AFC East: Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, New York Jets

NFC North: Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings

NFC South: Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

NFC West: San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, and Seattle Seahawks

NFC East: Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants

Follow Eli Grabanski on Twitter: @3li_handles

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