When Ron Rivera took over as the head coach of the Washington Commanders in 2020, he brought long-time assistant Pete Hoener along with him to coach the tight ends.
Hoener got an excellent year out of Logan Thomas. The following season, a promising young tight end named John Bates was ushered into the league.
But Hoener was nearing 70 years old and ready for retirement. After he left, Rivera tried veteran Juan Castillo and newbie Todd Storm in the role with little success. Things regressed, and the Commanders removed their head coach from the equation.
With a couple of exceptions, Dan Quinn cleaned house when he came to town in 2024. While Adam Peters radically reshaped the on-field roster, the head coach assembled a new staff on the sidelines. One of the changes was hiring Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offensive analyst David Raih to assume the role of tight ends coach.
David Raih is one of the many under-the-radar assistants helping the Commanders
Raih’s name probably wasn’t familiar to many fans. However, he was very well known to Washington's new offensive coordinator, Kliff Kingsbury.
He was one of the assistants that Kingsbury tried to hire in Arizona when he became the Cardinals’ head coach in 2019. Raih served as their wide receivers’ coach for two years before accepting the offensive coordinator job at Vanderbilt.
Tight end coaches typically have backgrounds either in coaching offensive lines or wide receivers. Despite his youth, Raih offered both.
The former college quarterback had served as both a line coach and a receivers coach with the Green Bay Packers for five years before joining Kingsbury in Arizona. Raih even held the title of offensive perimeter coach for one season – something I have never seen before.
Raih had left the Cardinals by the time Zach Ertz arrived, but during his first season in Washington, he helped the veteran have his best year since 2021. That may have as much to do with the Pro Bowler's ability to stay healthy as anything his coach provided. With a veteran, it’s always unclear how much a position coach really helps.
But in his second season with the Commanders, Raih’s work with the younger tight ends is beginning to pay dividends. It isn’t yet apparent on the stat sheet, but anyone watching the games can see the improvement.
John Bates had looked like a promising young blocking tight end with the ability to make a few catches during his rookie season. But his progress since 2021 had stalled. It was not even certain that he would retain a roster spot under the new regime.
This season, Bates has returned to form. Despite an injury that has cost him a couple of games, he once again looks like a dominant blocker who can still serve as the occasional safety valve for Jayden Daniels. He is now looking like the closest thing Washington has seen to franchise legend Donnie Warren in several decades.
With Ben Sinnott and Colson Yankoff, the progress is still behind schedule. However, anyone watching both players over the past two seasons has seen a noticeable change.
Both of them – especially prized draft pick Sinnott – looked tentative. Yankoff played only on special teams, and though his athleticism was evident, he could get pushed around a little too easily.
This year, neither Sinnott nor Yankoff is being pushed around. They look like they belong. The 2024 undrafted free agent is even getting some offensive snaps and establishing himself as a very good special teamer.
Sinnott stepped in when Bates was out and blocked very well. We are still waiting for receptions from both to help diversify the offense, but whereas that seemed a long way off during their rookie campaigns, it now appears to be just a matter of time and opportunity.
If you are a believer in Pro Football Focus grades, there are some actual numbers to support the improvement. Bates’ early-season overall grade is up more than 20 points over 2024. It is the first time since his rookie year that he has been in the upper part of the league-wide rankings.
Sinnott is up almost 15 points over his rookie grade. The numbers for Ertz and Yankoff are not there. In the veteran's case, it might be an indication that with his 35th birthday rapidly approaching, he may be finally slowing down a bit. With Yankoff, this is partly due to his small sample size.
The jury is still out on Sinnott and Yankoff. They haven’t convinced anyone yet, and perhaps the same is true of Raih. But seeing the improvements on the field, it’s not a bad bet to think they will continue to rise. That isn’t something fans could often say under the previous regime, where young players rarely seemed to progress.
Now, Peters has created a more professional structure for the team. As part of that, Quinn has hired better coaches.
Raih is just one example.