By Moses Joshua 
Detroit showed real interest in David Blough — but Washington moved faster, leaving the Lions to regroup in a pivotal coordinator search.
When the Washington Commanders announced David Blough as their new offensive coordinator, it landed like a quiet gut punch in Detroit. The Lions had been circling their former quarterback, intrigued by his rapid ascent from practice-squad journeyman to one of the NFL’s most intriguing young assistants. Instead, the Commanders closed the deal, and the Lions were left watching a familiar face slip away.
NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport made the situation crystal clear when he broke the news.
“The Lions showed real interest in Blough, and Washington acted fast to hire one of the NFL’s youngest and brightest offensive minds. Big hire.”
Those seven words — Washington acted fast — may haunt the Lions’ front office for a while.
A Former Lion Who Grew Up in Detroit’s QB Room
Blough’s NFL career will never be remembered for gaudy numbers. He went 0–5 as a starter for the Lions in 2019, completing 54% of his passes for just 5.7 yards per attempt with four touchdowns and six interceptions. He later added an 0–2 stint with the Cardinals in 2022. But statistics only tell the surface story.
What Detroit valued was Blough’s mind.
After his playing days wound down, Blough transitioned into coaching under Kliff Kingsbury, serving the past two seasons as an assistant quarterbacks coach with Washington. It was his first coaching role, and by all accounts he absorbed everything — terminology, sequencing, game-planning, leadership — at warp speed.
For the Lions, who cycled him through the quarterback room during the early Dan Campbell era and even kept him on the practice squad in 2023, Blough represented continuity. He knew the building. He knew the culture. And he knew what it meant to grind through adversity in Detroit.
Why This One Stings More Than It Should
On paper, missing out on a first-time offensive coordinator shouldn’t feel devastating. It’s still early in the hiring cycle, and Detroit will interview assistants from playoff teams in the coming days.
But Blough wasn’t just another résumé in the stack. He was their guy — a former Lion described publicly as a “rising assistant coach,” someone they had real interest in and who embodied the collaborative, detail-driven style Brad Holmes recently emphasized.
Losing him to Washington doesn’t just remove a candidate; it removes a vision of what the Lions’ next offensive chapter could have looked like — youthful, familiar, and internally developed.
The Search Isn’t Over — But the Margin for Error Is Gone
Detroit parted ways with John Morton after just one season, despite finishing fourth in points and fifth in yards in 2025. Campbell even reclaimed play-calling duties in November, a subtle admission that the offense never quite found its rhythm.
Now the Lions are staring at a short list of possibilities: former Baltimore quarterbacks coach Tee Martin, ex-Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, and other playoff assistants who will soon become available. The pieces are there — but the Blough miss changes the tone.
This is no longer about finding a coordinator. It’s about finding the one who can recapture the magic of 2024, when Detroit led the league in scoring under Ben Johnson.
David Blough was supposed to be part of that story. Instead, he’s writing the next chapter of his career in Washington — and the Lions are left hoping their next swing doesn’t turn into another what-if.