Ron Rivera hired as new Redskins head coach

December 31, 2019

EDITOR’S NOTE:

January 1, 2020:

The Redskins announced Rivera’s hiring and scheduled his introductory press conference for Thursday, January 2, 2020, at 2 p.m.

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Redskins owner Daniel Snyder ushered in the post-Bruce Allen era today by hiring former Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera as the Redskins’ new head coach.  Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports the deal is five-years in length. Julie Donaldson of NBC Sports Washington reported prior to today that Rivera would have total control and final say on the upcoming NFL draft, and that he had been told that former Redskins’ president Bruce Allen would be out of the picture as well. At the time of her reporting, there was no official word that Allen would be fired or reassigned; however, the picture became more apparent when Snyder fired Allen Monday morning.

The Redskins published a statement from Snyder Monday morning that shed some light into his outlook for the Redskins future. Snyder mentioned he was very aware that his team has not met the high standards set by the great teams of the past, and he is in the current process of reevaluating his team’s leadership, culture, and process for winning football games. Rivera, 57, is an excellent start to Snyder’s new vision. “Riverboat Ron,” a two-time NFL Coach of the year (2013 and 2015) and the winningest coach in Panthers history, is known for having an old-school mentality, a great defensive mind, and aggressive coaching style. He was 76-63-1 as Carolina’s head coach, with four playoff appearances, including a 15-1 NFC championship team in 2015. Panthers owner Dan Tepper, who acquired the Carolina Panthers in 2018, fired Rivera at the beginning of December, hoping to elevate the Panthers organization as a whole.

In recent years in Carolina, the Panthers struggled defensively, and Rivera felt that the defense became too complicated for the players, so he chose to take over play-calling and simplify things defensively to help his players play at a high-level. However, things did not improve in 2019. Rivera’s team struggled to play disciplined football, and his defenses were mostly porous each week. In 2019, the Panthers defense ranked 23rd in yards per game and 31st in points per game. Additionally, one of the issues Tepper had with Rivera is that Ron struggled to incorporate new-school analytics in his coaching methods and during game-day situations. In totality though, Rivera’s units in Carolina were generally in the top half of the league team at sacking the quarterback, stopping the run, and forcing turnovers.

Offensively, Rivera’s offenses have struggled for the majority of his tenure in Carolina. There were two seasons, according to football outsiders, where the Panthers respectively ranked in the top ten offensively (2013 and 2015). Outside of those years, the offensive units ranked mediocre or worse during his tenures. Things changed when Rivera hired Norv Turner as his offensive coordinator, and his offense was one of the best in the NFL prior to Cam Newton‘s shoulder injury. This is good news for the Redskins, and if Rivera can find the appropriate offensive coordinator (which may be incumbent Kevin O’Connell), he may bypass the struggles he experienced in Carolina.

Daniel Snyder needs a culture change from the top down, and Rivera’s presence provides the right opportunity to bring the necessary change to Ashburn. He is well-respected both league-wide and by his players. Coaches are sometimes just in need of a fresh start, and this is that opportunity for Ron. He has plenty of young defensive talent in Washington, and with the team holding the second overall draft pick in the upcoming 2020 draft, he has the opportunity to develop and mold the defense into a dominant unit in Washington. Additionally, the Redskins are in a similar situation on offense as was Carolina when Ron was hired, in that Washington has a young quarterback in Dwayne Haskins who requires stability and a strong leader as a coach. It will not be easy in Washington, and there will be challenges, both known and unforeseen, but Rivera has been given the first crack at taking it on as the Redskins head into the new decade.