The Washington Redskins reached an agreement to make Ron Rivera their next coach Tuesday, according to multiple reports.
Rivera, 57, agreed to a five-year deal and will become the 30th coach of the franchise. The agreement comes just a day after Rivera and his wife visited Washington to meet with owner Dan Snyder. An official announcement is expected Wednesday.
The former coach of the Carolina Panthers, Rivera will inherit a Redskins team coming off a 3-13 season. He is just the second of eight head coaches hired under Snyder with a defensive background. With the Panthers, Rivera constructed a top 10 defense in five of his eight-plus seasons as coach.
Rivera was available after the Panthers fired him in on Dec. 3 — two days after Washington notched one of its three season wins with a 29-21 road victory over Carolina.
Rivera led the Panthers to the Super Bowl in 2015, but the team missed the playoffs in three of the next four years. Panthers owner David Tepper, who took over in 2018, said he wanted a coach more attuned to his analytics-driven vision.
The 57-year-old Rivera’s reputation as a proven winner — he’s 76-63-1 over his coaching career — will be put to the test in Washington, which just wrapped up the decade of the 2010s with the NFL’s fourth-worst record — 62-97-1.
Rivera succeeds Bill Callahan, who took over on an interim basis in October after Jay Gruden was fired.
But first, Rivera has to put together a staff — a process that appears to have started.
ESPN reported former Oakland Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio is the “leading candidate” to become the Redskins’ defensive coordinator under Rivera.
Del Rio has been out of football since he was fired by the Raiders in 2018, but he is a well-established defensive coach. Interestingly enough, he hasn’t served as a defensive coordinator since 2014, when he had completed a three-season stint with the Denver Broncos. Del Rio, though, performed well enough in that role to entice the Raiders to hire him in 2015.
On Twitter, Del Rio, who had been serving as a football analyst for ESPN, also appeared to confirm the news with a series of tweets.
“I’ll be back! Cheers and Happy New Year,” Del Rio said, replying to a fan who tweeted that he missed the coach on the sideline.
“Thanks for the kind words,” Del Rio said in response to a tweet from agent Nicole Lynn saying she would “love to see this” for the coach when quoting the initial ESPN report.
The Redskins are in need of a defensive overhaul after they finished 27th in total yards and points in 2019. They gave up 435 points in 16 games, the third-most in franchise history. The defense’s performance was especially disappointing given the young talent on the roster, particularly along the defensive line.
Elsewhere, one of Rivera’s biggest responsibilities in the coming months will be to oversee the development of Dwayne Haskins as the quarterback prepares for his second year. Even with Rivera’s defensive background, the Panthers had success because quarterback Cam Newton emerged as a dual-threat and MVP winner in 2015.
When Rivera was fired, Newton thanked Rivera in a social media post.
“Thank you for believing in me,” Newton said. “I can go on and on, but most importantly, thank you for allowing me to be me.”
The NFL Network first reported Rivera’s hiring.
The Redskins may also be making changes in the front office after team president Bruce Allen was fired on Monday. Eric Schaffer, Allen’s No. 2 and the team’s primary contract negotiator, is expected to assume a bigger role.
The Redskins aren’t the only franchise in transition. The Cleveland Browns “mutually parted ways” with general manager John Dorsey on Tuesday after he and owner Jimmy Haslam could not agree upon a new role that would keep him with the team. Dorsey lasted two seasons in Cleveland.
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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