Dan Quinn calls Daron Payne an 'absolute dog as a player'

With Dan Quinn now the head coach of the Washington Commanders, he now gets to coach Daron Payne instead of coaching against him. While speaking to reporters last week, Quinn was asked what has impressed him the most about the star defensive lineman.

“It was easy to see this guy’s an absolute dog as a player,” Quinn said. “That was like we’ve known that for a while. I guess what was more impressive to see was he had more pass-rush skills than I thought. You see him how square and strong he is. You know he’s a good run defender, but seeing his quickness for that size, it was rare.”

Payne is entering his seventh NFL season and spent his entire career in Washington. He was selected by the Commanders at No. 13 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft after helping the Alabama Crimson Tide win two national championships. Payne was named to the All-Rookie Team in 2018 and had a breakout season in 2022, posting 64 tackles, 11.5 sacks and five passes defended. Last year, Payne posted 53 takes, four fumbles, four passes defended, two forced fumbles in two fumble recoveries.

2024 will be an interesting season for Payne and the Commanders with Quinn as the head coach. In his NFL career, the Alabama native has played for two head coaches – Jay Gruden and Ron Rivera (Bill Callahan was an interim head coach in 2019) Washington has made the playoffs just once during that span (2020) and has not won a conference title since winning its last Super Bowl in 1991.

Daron Payne says Commanders’ defense will be ‘hunting’ in 2024

While speaking to reprters last month, Payne talked about the defense being better in 2024. “We are really working on just flying around and getting to the ball, hunting. That’s the main emphasis right now, just you want everybody hunting,” Payne said, per Commadners Wire. “Coach Quinn is just letting us be explosive. Be explosive guys! Get after the quarterback, get after the run games.”

Payne added: “I usually stay around here and train (offseason), train hard. But like I said, with the new defense we have, they want us hunting so we got to be around the ball. They want us flying, so I feel like that’s just getting me in shape already.”