'For Life!' Cowboys Ex Dan Quinn Shares Emotional Goodbye to Dallas

The Dallas Cowboys lost defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to the rival Washington Commanders. What did Washington's new head coach tell his former Cowboys players?

The Dallas Cowboys found themselves needing a defensive coordinator fairly late in the hiring cycle this offseason. After receiving reassurance that he’d be back in Dallas, Dan Quinn left to be the head coach of the Washington Commanders.

In doing so, he didn’t just put a dent in his former team’s chances (temporarily at least, Mike Zimmer was a highly touted hire), he’ll likely be an improvement over former Commanders head coach Ron Rivera. He’s closing the gap between the best and worst in the NFC East and, if successful, may take the “automatic” wins away from Dallas.

However, that’s a way of life in the NFL; there’s little malice to it. New York Giants running back Saquan Barkley could find himself elsewhere in the NFC East, and Cowboys corner Stephon Gilmore could be a Commander by the end of the month – there aren’t enough jobs to go around to pick and choose the ones that won’t hurt your friends.

As such, there aren’t exactly hard feelings between Quinn and his former team.

Quinn elaborated on the relationship he forged during his time in Dallas, how important they were to him, and how that affected his departure during an episode of “Pardon My Take.”

“When I left I texted them before I took the job,” Quinn said. “Just to say man like, a big piece of why I got this job is because of you guys. And so I wanted to make sure I shared that gratitude with them because like, I wouldn’t have been in this spot, to have chances, had it not been for them.

“Like I chose to go back to Dallas because of them as well the previous season. And so I wanted to fight for that and see where we could take it. It didn’t work out at the end, but I did want to show my gratitude for them.”

Quinn seemed to be well-liked by his players, and their prowess in the regular season certainly helped that cause. Unfortunately for Dallas, come playoff time, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and Green Bay Packers shot caller Matt LaFleur – running similar offenses – ended their season in three consecutive years.

In mentioning how “far we could take it,” Quinn may be offering a referendum on the Cowboys’ ceiling. After stalling out in the early rounds of the playoffs (again) it’s possible the defense – or the team itself – has run its course with its current core. How Zimmer’s defenses look in January will be telling.

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Nevertheless, Quinn emphasized the importance of the people he worked with. That shouldn’t be surprising given his leap to head coach, where he’ll bear responsibility for a full 53-man roster.

“There are some good dudes that I’ll be connected with for life on that,” Quinn said. “I love that part of the game, those relationships. Wherever it was, there are still people on every team that I keep up with and there will be a lot from this one as well.”