‘I’ve Been Ready!’ Commanders Coach Joe Whitt Jr. Reveals Plan After Cowboys Move

The Washington Commanders gave Joe Whitt Jr. the opportunity the former Dallas Cowboys assistant has been waiting a football lifetime to get.

ASHBURN, Va. -- Washington Commanders coach Dan Quinn and general manager Adam Peters are getting a lot of praise for the staff they're putting together.

From the moment Quinn was tagged to lead the Commanders into what managing partner Josh Harris believes will be a new era of winning football for the franchise, defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. was the name everyone anticipated coming over with him from the Dallas Cowboys staff.  

And on Thursday Whitt told us he's ready to get started doing a job in Washington he's been waiting eight years to do. … a football lifetime, really.

Green Bay Packers cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt Jr. looks on during organized team activities / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel-USA TODAY Sports

“I probably felt that I was ready in 2015," Whitt said when asked if he could pinpoint when he knew he was prepared to take the next step in his coaching career. "That year, from a package standpoint, I had a great idea of what I wanted to do and how to once again, get at the quarterback and understand how to manipulate the fronts and the pressure. So, it was probably 2015 when I felt that I was ready and just haven't had the opportunity since then.”

In 2015 Whitt was the secondary and cornerbacks coach for the Green Bay Packers, a team that won 10 games and defeated Washington in the Wild Card Round of the NFL Playoffs before falling to the Arizona Cardinals.

The same Cardinals that were led by new Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury.

That year the Packers had the 12th-best scoring defense in the NFL, two Pro Bowl players in that unit, and was top 10 in interceptions with 16.

Whitt spent three more seasons with Green Bay before moving on to be the Cleveland Browns' defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach, then took the same position in 2020 with Quinn's Atlanta Falcons before heading to the Cowboys with him in 2021.

In Dallas, with Quinn as the defensive coordinator, Whitt waited patiently for his chance. This chance. The one he's getting while Quinn gets his second shot at being a head coach.

And there's no doubt in Whitt's mind he's ready.

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“I've been coaching in (the) league for 18 years," Whitt says. "I see a lot of these young guys get opportunities years, years, years prior and nobody really questioned them, you know what I'm saying? I've been ready and just the opportunity now has come with Coach Quinn. But a question of my ability to call defense, to structure a defense, to do that, I have full, full confidence in that.”