Ron Rivera: Former NFL star DeAngelo Hall gives harsh, rare take on current Commanders' coach
Ron Rivera is widely-regarded as one of the most respected coaches in the NFL and it’s rare to hear anything negative about him from former players, opposing coaches or anyone involved in the tight fraternity that makes up the league — but former Washington star cornerback DeAngelo Hall recently gave a rare scathing indictment of one of the most well-liked men in professional football.
The former Virginia Tech star and longtime Washington defensive back recently stepped away from his role as a broadcaster for the team. On Thursday, Hall went on 106.7 the fan in DC and provided a stunning take into his feelings on Rivera as a coach and gave a rare indictment aimed at the team’s coach ahead of his third season in DC.
Hall began by comparing Rivera’s approach to the inflation happening in America right now.
“I just think sometimes when you have guys who are singularly focused at the top down, it just makes it hard, it makes that environment hard. It makes doing the right thing long term different than doing the right thing right now,” he said. “I almost equated it to like inflation, right? Say the price to win the division was a dollar, right? We had 75 cents last year. We think, oh, because we got Carson Wentz, ‘We just added another piece. We have our dollar, guys! We’re ready!’ And it’s like, ‘Dude, nah man. Inflation prices now are two dollars, so don’t know if you guys are gonna make the dance or not because the price just went up.’
“And that’s the league, right? It’s constantly evolving, man, and I just feel like when I watch this team, it never fricking evolves. It just, it stays the same. And if you were successful doing something, instead of trying to go back and figure out what we did that worked, what we didn’t do that didn’t work, we just kind of stay status quo and say, ‘Alright, it’s gonna be as simple as it was.'”
Hall believes Scott Turner, Washington offense is major issue
Ironically, several of the top offensive minds in the NFL were former Washington assistants with Sean McVay being the most notable. Hall believes Ron Rivera’s decision to roll with Scott Turner as offensive coordinator — who got his first taste in the same roll with him in Carolina — isn’t set up for success.
“All of these guys,” he continued, “when you literally watch the game and how the run game marries with play-action pass and how guys come off the ball, and how you know we’re doing this, yet we can still get positive yardage and positive plays, on both sides of the ball. To me I just feel like we’re kind of playing with one hand tied behind our back, too.”
As far as the addition of Carson Wentz, Hall said he actually felt more confident about the Commanders’ offseason before they acquired the quarterback from the Colts.
“I laugh because I don’t know how they honestly thought they were a quarterback away. I actually, before the Carson Wentz [trade], I kind of felt better heading into this offseason than I did last year, when they didn’t want to make a move for a quarterback,” Hall said. “To me, it was so many other things that kind of didn’t happen right throughout the course of the season, that I did think they were a quarterback away.”
While the former NFL defensive back makes valid points, there’s an argument that points at this being either just an opinion or some sort of bad blood. Washington has quite literally dealt with a quarterback carousel since Alex Smith went down with the horrendous injury and the front office went all-in on former Ohio State great, the late Dwayne Haskins.
When Rivera took the helm, he inherited Haskins and gave him a shot as the starter. Maybe Hall knows something the public doesn’t, but the former first-round pick never panned out despite multiple attempts as the starter, which led to backups like Kyle Allen and then eventually Taylor Heinicke taking over.
Still, while battling cancer, a name change and the monumental task of rebuilding a franchise that felt beyond the point of fixing, Ron Rivera somehow led Washington to seven wins in his first year which was enough to win the division and earn a playoff spot.
But the longtime Commanders’ star cornerback points to the team’s defense — a unit that ranked first in the NFL after Ron Rivera and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio took over in 2020 — as the biggest problem.
“To me the defense was a glaring spot, right,” he said. “To have a guy like Chase Young go down and this defense almost plays better was a little bit mind-boggling to me. To have your first-round pick in Jamin Davis not be as instrumental in the success of this defense was head-scratching, calling games and not even seeing the dude out there until the fourth quarter, because somebody’s hurt or tired. William Jackson, the cornerback — to me, the secondary didn’t make as many plays as you needed to.
“And so to me as a whole, I thought the defense underwhelmed. I think offensively you have to be able to push the ball down the field. You’ve gotta scare defenses. You’ve gotta scare DBs like me. And watching this offense, I saw no one scared of it. And you have the players. Obviously it was not having Curtis [Samuel] out there all season, but even not even incorporating in Dyami Brown into the offense, a guy that you spoke so highly of.”
Deangelo Hall calls out Ron Rivera’s time in Carolina, scrutinizes Cam Newton’s development
One of the most eye-popping takes came when the former NFL star criticized the job Rivera did during his 9-year tenure with the Carolina Panthers.
“You look at what they’ve done in Carolina, you look at how he got here. You look at Cam Newton and if he ever really developed as a quarterback,” Hall continued.
It’s widely known Rivera was a major player in the decision to draft the former Auburn star. Cam NewtonNewton won the NFL MVP in 2015 when he led the Carolina Panthers to a 15-1 record and an appearance in Super Bowl 50, completing 59.8% of his passes for 3,837 yards, 35 touchdowns to 10 interceptions (99.4 passer rating) while rushing for 636 yards and 10 touchdowns.
While Hall made valid points and is entitled to his opinion regarding the current decision making, most Washington fans and supporters — and even respected minds throughout the NFL — have commended Ron Rivera for everything he has done over the two seasons considering the mess he inherited.
The controversial defensive back is right to his opinion and on paper, Ron Rivera is just a touch above average as he enters his 12th NFL season with a record of 90-82, which includes one Super Bowl appearance and five playoff trips. It’s fair to note, Rivera only has three seasons in that span where his team finished the year with a winning record.