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On the same day the Cowboys fired defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, the man who held that job two seasons ago has done some housecleaning of his own for a division rival, with ripple effects that could impact Dallas this coaching cycle.
The Commanders are parting ways with offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr., the team announced Tuesday. Head coach Dan Quinn hired both men to those roles when he left Dallas to take the reins in Washington for the 2024 campaign.
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Kingsbury was head coach in Arizona from 2019 to 2022 and then spent a year in the college ranks as a senior offensive analyst for USC working with Caleb Williams. Prior to both those jobs, though, the San Antonio native had been on the offensive staff at University of Houston, the OC at Texas A&M, and the head coach at Texas Tech.
Those in-state stints helped put Kingsbury on the Cowboys' radar early. His was a popular name in Dallas during the 2024 season, when the writing on the wall started to suggest that Mike McCarthy would not remain the Cowboys head coach much longer.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said of Kingsbury at the time, "I think a lot of Kliff. He's a friend. ... He was ideal in working with a young quarterback. That was a very, very good move for Dan to get Kliff."
Kingsbury's availability may not mean much to the Cowboys 14 months later, as Dak Prescott and the offense was one of the league's best for most of 2025 under Brian Schottenheimer. But Whitt could conceivably be someone to watch as Dallas looks for their fourth defensive coordinator in four seasons.
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Whitt joined the Cowboys staff in 2021 as the defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach under McCarthy and Quinn, who he had worked with previously in Green Bay and Atlanta, respectively. During his time in Dallas, Whitt was tabbed as a potential coordinator-in-waiting, going through the NFL's Coach Accelerator program. And he was considered to be instrumental in the development of cornerbacks Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland during their respective breakout seasons of 2021 and 2023.
Many inside and outside The Star felt Whitt might have been an option for the Cowboys DC job when Quinn left. Instead, Quinn hired Whitt to follow him to the nation's capital, and Dallas segued to Mike Zimmer.
Washington was Whitt's first time as a defensive coordinator. After a 12-5 season and a run to the NFC championship in his debut, though, Whitt's defense cooled dramatically in his sophomore season. Particularly rough was the Commanders' eight-game skid that lasted from mid-October to early December and saw the defense give up 25 or more points in all but one of those contests.
Quinn had taken playcalling duties away from Whitt by Week 11, but the change did not save the Commanders' season. They finished 5-12, and Whitt found himself out of a job 48 hours after the season ended.
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Despite the lackluster results in Washington this season, Whitt could still be a candidate to return to Dallas, either for the DC role or in an assistant capacity. His name will almost certainly be in the internal conversations as the organization lines up an interview slate over the coming days.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Could Cowboys ex-coach Joe Whitt Jr. return after Commanders firing?
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