Washington Commanders QB Coach Ken Zampese gets his interview for the team’s OC job today

Zampese time

Washington confirms today’s interview:

The Washington Commanders have started the interview process to replace former Offensive Coordinator Scott Turner who was fired last week. Yesterday the team announced they had interviewed former NFL OC/HC Pat Shurmur for the open position. He is one of several outside candidates that Ron Rivera will be interviewing. There is one name that has come up as a replacement that is already on the coaching staff.

Commanders QB Coach Ken Zampese was seen as the only viable internal candidate to replace Turner. He has been an offensive coordinator in the NFL before, with the Cincinnati Bengals(2016-17). He was their QB coach for 13 years before getting promoted. Zampese only had one full season in the role, and he was fired after the team went 0-2 to start the 2017 season.

Ken Zampese has also been an offensive coordinator in college, holding the position at Northern Arizona in 1995, and in the AAF with the Atlanta Legends in 2019. He has been a quarterbacks coach for the majority of his NFL career, and that was the role Ron Rivera hired him to do when he became the head coach of the Washington Redskins in 2020.

Zampese does not have an inspiring track record, and seems to have reached his ceiling in the big leagues. He does have one very important thing going for him, he is presumably still under contract and his transition into the position wouldn’t cause much change. Assistant QB coach Luke Del Rio would likely get promoted to QB coach. These moves would probably be cheaper for owner Dan Snyder, who is expected to sell the team soon. Zampese is also not getting any other opportunities at an offensive coordinator job in the NFL from any other team. Desperate and cheap are a combination that an outgoing owner can get behind as he boards his yacht to England.