Safety Landon Collins hasn’t had a chance to work on the field with the new coaching staff of the Washington Redskins in person. However, that doesn’t mean they haven’t already made a strong positive impression on Collins.
Collins spent just five games under previous Washington head coach Jay Gruden before Gruden was let go in mid-October. Now Collins gets Ron Rivera as head coach and Jack Del Rio as defensive coordinator and Collins is excited about what is to come.
“It feels different because of the coaching staff,” Collins said, via Ethan Cadeaux of NBC Sports Washington. “They changed the whole coaching staff, they switched the defense around. I can’t speak offensively, but defensively, it was much needed.”
Washington would continue on without Gruden in a season that would turn an 0-5 start into a 3-13 finish. Del Rio had already impressed Collins during his first meeting with the new defensive coordinator. Rivera has done the same in the way he’s handled meetings with the team.
“It was straight to the point,” Collins said. “He was telling us his high expectations of the team and where he wants to go with us and what he looks from us once we all get together. It’s very good, very stern.
“Every experience with each head coach is different. It depends on the guys we have around. We have a fairly young team. A coach with a stern background coming in with a focal point of how he wants things to be run, just to get guys to grab their attention...I know he’s a guy that’s going to get the job done”
Rivera made the playoffs four times in nine seasons with the Panthers and earned a trip to the Super Bowl in 2015. Washington made the playoffs just twice over that span and failed to advance out of the opening weekend. They haven’t won a playoff game since 2005.