The Commanders are at risk of losing a key coach, but could also be rewarded in the process
The Commanders could lose Anthony Lynn to the Bills, but it would come with two third-round compensatory picks if he’s hired as the head coach.
The Washington Commanders’ offseason has already been full of coaching changes, and even more could be on the way.
They quickly promoted David Blough as the new offensive coordinator, and continue to search for the next defensive coordinator. In the meantime, other teams around the league are going through their own changes, and they could impact the Commanders’ own staff.
The Buffalo Bills have requested to interview a key position coach for the Commanders, who would be a massive loss with a lot of inexperienced coaches, but they’d also be rewarded for it.
The Buffalo Bills request to interview Anthony Lynn for their head coach opening
The Bills made the bold and shocking move of moving on from Sean McDermott after coming up short in the playoffs once again. Now, they have some big shoes to fill and have started to request interviews for their head coach vacancy. One of their first interview requests was for the Commanders’ running backs coach and running game coordinator, Anthony Lynn, who would be a massive loss.
Lynn is one of the most experienced coaches on the staff and should be a top priority for the Commanders to keep. They have a first-time offensive coordinator, a QB staff in their early 30’s, and now an offensive line staff that was promoted from within that lacks experience as well. All of these moves come with great risk and uncertainty, and having a veteran coach like Lynn on staff will help things run smoothly. The loss would come with one key reward, however, that fans would gladly welcome with open arms.
The Commanders would be rewarded a compensatory pick if Anthony Lynn is hired
The NFL has the Rooney Rule that rewards teams if they lose minority coaches to the coaching cycle and are hired as a head coach, which could happen to the Commanders. If Lynn is hired as the Bills’ head coach, they would be rewarded a third-round compensatory pick in the 2026 and 2027 NFL Draft. So yes, losing Lynn would hurt with a very inexperienced offensive coaching staff heading into next year, but the Commanders would be rewarded two third-round picks out of it, and we all know how key those picks are.
The Commanders have lacked draft picks for two straight offseasons, and don’t have any players worth trading to recoup any of the lost capital, so this would be one of the only ways to be rewarded an extra pick. they could also earn one in the offseason if they lose key free agents, and don’t sign enough players, but that shouldn’t even be an option this year for Adam Peters.