There's something beautiful -- something pure -- about five different footballs cutting through the air simultaneously, each finding a different route runner. The whizzing, whirring whoosh of the rotations, followed by the thuds the pigskin finding its target. It's controlled chaos, somehow all over the place and incredibly precise, especially when NFL quarterbacks are doing it. For the Commanders, there's prized rookie Jayden Daniels, backup Marcus Mariota, reserves Jeff Driskel and Sam Hartman and ... wait, who is that guy not in uniform? He sure looks like like he can sling it, too.
That's because he can. That's David Blough, Washington's new assistant quarterbacks coach, decked out in all black Commanders gear and layering in throws short, medium and long. He's just months removed from retiring after spending the 2023 season on the Lions' practice squad. Across a five-year career, Blough played for the Lions and Cardinals and spent time with the Browns and Vikings as well. At 28, he's younger than both Mariota and Driskel, now his students.
"What could have been!" Driskel yells jokingly after zipping one to Terry McLaurin in the end zone, a comment that draws a laugh and a big smile from Washington's top wide receiver.
"I would say, outside of my dad, the most important men in my life have been coaches," Blough told CBS Sports. "People who have challenged me, taken me under their wing from middle school, high school, college, people who helped me reach my full potential and push me. When I was in high school, I wanted to be a high school coach, in college I wanted to be a college coach, and now here I feel like I can add something to the game of football at the highest level and be one of the good guys while doing it."
Blough is one of several recent former NFL players on Dan Quinn's new-look staff, and his addition makes sense in many ways, including his prior relationship with offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury in Arizona. Kingsbury brought Blough in late in the 2022 season after Kyler Murray's injury, and two weeks, Blough started and played well, nearly beating the Falcons.
"I just watched the way he worked and practiced and studied, and you could tell he if he wanted to coach, he had a bright future," Kingsbury said. "The sky's the limit. He has a great rapport with the players. Jayden really trusts him. The other quarterbacks really trust him, because he's lived those experiences and he's maximized himself as a player. He got every ounce out of himself, and that's through studying and understanding defenses and coverages, and all the nuances of playing the position. So he's been fantastic. He's gonna move up quick in this game."
Blough has spent time with several No. 1 picks: Baker Mayfield in Cleveland, Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff in Detroit and Murray in Arizona. Daniels, the No. 2 overall pick and Heisman Trophy winner, is next.
Blough is one of several voices in Daniels' ear, along with Kingsbury and quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard. Though they all deliver the same message, Blough has the advantage of having faced opposing coaches as a player.
"Just to experience it man, 'This is what defense they run, look for stuff like this,' you know," Daniels said. "Blough is very smart, so to be able to pick his brain just on different stuff, like, 'Oh, this [defensive coordinator] might have a tendency to do this on first and 10 once you cross the 50' and stuff like that."
It's these little insights that make Blough and the four other coaches who played in the last decade particularly valuable. Also on staff are defensive line coach Darryl Tapp, assistant defensive line coach Sharrif Floyd, assistant linebackers/pass rush specialist coach Ryan Kerrigan (the franchise's all-time sack leader) and assistant defensive backs coach William Gay.
They bring much more than the little edges, the things we can't see. You can see the energy. On a scorching day, running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. is wrapped up after a short gain during a team drill, but because it's the last play of the session, he keeps going to the end zone and the entire team follows him. Leading the charge down the defensive sideline? Gay, who's decked out in long sleeves and a beanie -- "my work hat!" he says excitedly -- despite the weather, and he's smiling and shouting the entire way.
"I can't be quiet," Gay said. "If I am quiet when I am in the building, please ask if there's something wrong with William, because I'm always talking. And that's just my everyday approach to life. I don't ever use the word 'stress.' Each and every day I wake up, I'm happy, because my grandmother always told me, 'You should be happy because you're on this side of the dirt.'
"So every time I wake up, there's always juice in me, I'm ready to roll, and then we're out here doing something that we love to do."
There was plenty of juice in Commanders' training camp. The team opened every practice with offense-vs.-defense races through stepover dummies, and the young assistants often brought the noise. Tapp, Floyd and Gay were especially vocal during team drills, both hyping up their players and playfully trash-talking the offense.
It's all part of what Quinn hopes is a rejuvenated Washington franchise. He, too, is an energetic coach, one who comes from the coaching tree of upbeat Energizer bunny Pete Carroll in Seattle. And as Quinn hopes to bring the Commanders back to relevance, he's trying to build every aspect.
"We're not just developing players," Quinn said. "We're developing coaches too, and we're not going to miss one step."
Blough very much appreciates the approach.
"He's one of the most intentional people I've ever been around in regards [to] finding somebody's superpower and trying to bring that out of them as best as they can," Blough said. "For me, it's looked like 'How do we help develop these young guys as soon as possible?'
"There's opportunities for me to get to develop my philosophy and how I'm gonna teach things. It's just a really intentional gift from DQ for me."
Kerrigan tries to balance being an ex-player, a player's coach and coach, period.
"Having had coaches that played before, it always was cool to be able to bond over their experience as a player," Kerrigan said. "I try to impart what I know as a player without being like, 'Oh, back in my day,' because I know that can be a little off-putting at times. ... Not everyone's the same, and so I think there's a line there where you gotta utilize your experience, utilize what you've been able to accomplish in the league while also not being such a 'Look at me.'"
They may not lace up the cleats to play any more, but they still wear them so they can deliver hands-on instruction. They may not be able to trash talk opponents or hype up their teammates, but they can still chirp, still encourage, still bring the juice.
When Blough isn't collaborating with Kingsbury and Pritchard, or watching film, or coaching, or filling one of several roles (passer, faux pass rusher, receiver) during practice, he gets to air it out as the signal callers aim for trash cans, a fun competition for all involved.
As for how he's doing in that competition?
"Maybe you should ask the QBs about that," he responds with a wry smile. "We get fined if we toot our own horn a little bit in the QB room."
Once a player. Now a coach. Always a competitor.
