David

Blough

The former NFL quarterback was on the Lions’ practice squad as recently as 2023. Blough, 30, has just two years of coaching experience, both with the Commanders as their assistant quarterbacks coach. The Athletic’s Nicki Jhabvala notes that Blough “helped fill in when QBs coach Tavita Pritchard left for Stanford” in November. The Commanders were evidently impressed with Blough’s ability to rise to the occasion. The Lions had requested an interview with Blough for their vacant offensive coordinator role earlier this week.

Terrell, then Commanders receivers coach, got a request for the Cardinals OC job before coming over to join Jonathan Gannon’s staff when Ron Rivera was fired. It sounds like with the Cardinals in the midst of a regime change of their own, Terrell has a chance to be considered for their OC role or perhaps reprise his passing-game coordinator role for the Commanders. They also interviewed in-house candidates, some of which are speculated to be David Blough, Brian Johnson, and Anthony Lynn, for the vacancy.

Blough is a former quarterback who most recently coached with the Commanders. He was the assistant quarterbacks coach in Washington and became the quarterbacks coach after Tavita Pritchard left for Stanford. The 30-year-old has familiarity with the Lions, having spent three of his four seasons in the league with Detroit. After the firing of offensive coordinator John Morton, Blough is the first name up in the Lions’ search for a new offensive coordinator.

The Jets wanted to interview Blough for their QB coach opening, but the Commanders opted to block the move at this time. Blough is now expected to remain in Washington for the 2025 season barring any unforeseen developments.

The Jets and Jaguars are interviewing Blough for their quarterback coach vacancies while the Bears want him as a pass game coordinator. Blough only joined the coaching ranks a year ago following the end of his playing career. His success working with superstar rookie Jayden Daniels has obviously earned him a promotion.

Blough, who played QB for three years in Detroit and one in Arizona, will work under new Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury and work with third-year QB Sam Howell and whichever signal caller Washington drafts this spring.

Blough spent time with the Lions, Vikings and Cardinals last season after the Lions released him shortly after training camp. Blough would spend much of last season on the Vikings practice squad but was signed to the Cardinals’ active roster late in the season. In his two starts for the Cardinals, Blough completed 38-of-58 passes for 402 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. He’ll likely battle for a spot on the 53-man roster this offseason.

Blough won’t return even if he clears concussion protocol as the Cardinals have nothing to play for in the fourth quarter of their blowout loss to the 49ers. Blough joined the Cardinals as a reserve option after Kyler Murray went down with a torn ACL. Colt McCoy eventually suffered a season-ending concussion and Arizona chose to start Blough over Trace McSorley. Blough didn’t fair much better than McSorley had, tossing two scores and two interceptions across a pair of starts. He will get signed after his stint in Arizona ends but profiles as a practice squad quarterback for the 2023 season.

With Kyler Murray done for the year after suffering a torn ACL, the Cardinals had an open roster spot and a vacancy in their QB3 role. Blough will take the spot behind Colt McCoy and Trace McSorley. Blough hasn’t thrown a pass in a regular season game since 2020 and hasn’t made a start since 2019.

Colt McCoy is done for the year because of a concussion, giving Blough his second start with the Cardinals. In his first, he threw 40 passes but managed just 222 yards. He found the end zone once. Blough peppered Trey McBride with targets, putting him in play as a streaming option at tight end. Other than him, this is a big hit to the fantasy values of the rest of the Arizona players for Week 18.