Commanders' D.J. Williams shares his thoughts on playing under center

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D.J. Williams knows a thing or two about playing quarterback. He also knows quite a bit about the history of the Washington Commanders. So, it made perfect sense for the two sides to come together this offseason when new offensive coordinator David Blough was looking for a promising, young quarterbacks coach.

Williams, of course, is the son of the legendary Doug Williams. Doug Williams is in the College Football Hall of Fame and was the first black quarterback to win the Super Bowl. In fact, Williams was Super Bowl XXII MVP while playing for Washington. After a 12-year NFL playing career, Doug Williams went into coaching, including two stints at Grambling State, the alma mater of both him and D.J.

Williams has also spent many years in NFL front offices. He's been with Washington since 2014, through three different team names, multiple head coaches and GMs. Currently, Doug Williams is a senior advisor to GM Adam Peters.

Back to D.J. The younger Williams played quarterback at Grambling State when his father was the head coach. After an injury ended his playing career, D.J. eventually turned to coaching, joining the New Orleans Saints in 2017. In 2019, he was promoted to an offensive assistant role. The Atlanta Falcons hired him as an assistant quarterbacks coach in 2024 and promoted him to quarterbacks coach in 2025.

This offseason, D.J. and the Commanders surprised Doug Williams when he accepted the position as quarterback coach in Washington.

One of the talking points surrounding the Commanders all offseason has been the transition to an offense that requires the quarterback to play more under center. In former offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury's offense, quarterbacks Jayden Daniels and Marcus Mariota were rarely under center. In Blough's offense, that will change.

Williams doesn't see it as a big deal.

"That's football," Williams laughed as he told reporters last week after one of Washington's OTAs. "If you talk about 15-20 years ago, there wasn't even a conversation. It's only a conversation because we kind of went away from it. Everybody wanted to be cool and play in the shotgun, but at the end of the day, it's still football, and you have to take a snap from under center. So, I just laugh because we've gotten so far away from the fundamentals of football. When you first start playing quarterback, that's the first thing you do: take a snap from under center."

Williams is not at all concerned about Washington's quarterbacks learning to play under center, since they've all done it at some point.

Many perceive that going to an offense that plays more under center will be a big adjustment for Daniels. In Daniels' two seasons at LSU and his first two NFL seasons, he's primarily played from the shotgun. However, before transferring to LSU in 2022, Daniels played under center at Arizona State. The Commanders believe that Daniels, with his football aptitude and rare talent, will only improve in a more traditional NFL-style offense.

D.J. Williams has no concerns about Daniels.

This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Washington Commanders: D.J. Williams on playing under center in 2026

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