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Report: Commanders to hire Vikings assistant coach Daronte Jones to be defensive coordinator

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones01/27/26brianjones_93

The Washington Commanders are finalizing a deal to hire Minnesota Vikings assistant coach Daronte Jones to be the new defensive coordinator, per Adam Schefter of ESPN. Jones spent the last three seasons as the Vikings’ defensive pass game coordinator.

Daronte Jones takes over for Joe Whitt Jr., who was fired at the end of this season after leading the Commanders’ defense for two years. According to Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic, Jones will take over a group that will have numerous holes, as Washington has more than 30 free agents on the roster.

In 2025, Jones helped the Vikings’ defense finish in the NFL’s top three in total yards allowed, passing yards allowed, and red-zone efficiency. Minnesota allowed just 19.6 points per game and finished with a 9-8 overall record.

Jones began his coaching career in 2001 as a graduate assistant at Lenoir-Rhyne. He then spent time at multiple colleges and high schools over the next 15 years, including stops at UCLA (secondary coach in 2010) and Wisconsin (defensive backs coach in 2015). In 2016, Jones made his NFL coaching debut as an assistant defensive backs coach with the Miami Dolphins. He spent two seasons in Miami before joining the Cincinnati Bengals in 2018 as a cornerbacks coach.

Can Daronte Jones turn the Commanders’ defense around?

In 2020, the Vikings hired Jones to be the team’s defensive backs coach, but he then joined LSU in 2021 to be its defensive coordinator. Jones returned to Minnesota in 2022.

The Commanders’ defense was one of the reasons the team finished with a 5-12 record this season. The group finished with a league-high 384 yards per game and had a -13 turnover margin.

“​​The things that I’m not pleased with are our turnover margin and not creating enough takeaways, not doing a good enough job with the ball,” Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said earlier this month in his end-of-season news conference. “Those are the things that come to mind first. We want to play bold. We want to play aggressively. But that … would be one that comes to mind first.”