After beginning his NFL coaching career with the Bears in 2008, Washington returns to Chicago as the team's defensive coordinator after spending the previous four seasons in Buffalo (2020-23).
In 2023, Washington was promoted to assistant head coach/defensive line coach. He originally joined the Bills in 2020 as their defensive line coach before he was promoted to the senior defensive assistant/defensive line coach for the 2022 season.
The Bills' 2023 defense ranked fourth in sacks (54.0), tied for 10th in tackles for loss (86), sixth in opponent gross passing yards per game (216.2) and tied for sixth in touchdowns allowed (34). The Bills also ranked eighth in scrimmage yards allowed per game (326.8) and fourth in points allowed per game (18.3).
Under Washington in 2022, the Bills finished the season ranked first in the AFC with 17.8 points allowed per game and ranked second in the NFL with 286 points allowed. DT Ed Oliver earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week after recording 6 tackles, 2 TFLs, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a sack ending in a safety in Week 11 vs. the Lions. Oliver marked the eighth player Washington has coached to that honor.
In 2021, Buffalo's defense ranked first in the NFL in points allowed per game (17.0) for the first time in franchise history and also finished first in yards allowed per game (272.8) and passing yards per game (163.0). They recorded 19 sacks and fueled a four-game win streak to finish the regular season. Rookie DE Greg Rousseau earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week after logging the first interception of his career and also finished with five tackles and a sack at Kansas City in Week 5. With Washington's guidance in 2020, DE Jerry Hughes earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week after he tallied 2.0 sacks, one interception, a forced fumble, a pass defensed and six total tackles in Week 8.
Prior to arriving in Buffalo, Washington spent nine seasons (2011-19) with the Carolina Panthers in various roles. He served as the defensive coordinator from 2018-19 and helped LB Luke Kuechly to a first-team All-Pro season in 2018 and second-team All-Pro honors in 2019. Under Washington in 2019, the Panthers defense ranked second in the NFL in sacks (53).
With Washington leading the defense in 2018, Carolina's secondary improved from 28th to 12th in interceptions, 32nd to 13th in passes defensed and 18th to 9th in tackles for loss. As a defensive line coach from 2011-17, he led one of the most productive defensive lines in the NFL. Since 2012, no group of defensive linemen produced more sacks than Carolina's 219, part of Carolina's NFL-leading 280 total sacks. Carolina ranked in the top 10 in sacks in five of his seven seasons as defensive line coach, including a No. 1 ranking in 2013, a No. 2 in 2016 and a No. 3 in 2017.
Washington began his NFL coaching career with the Bears in 2008, when he served as a defensive assistant for the team for two seasons before his promotion to defensive line coach in 2010. In Chicago, he presided over a group that accounted for 25 sacks and helped the Bears rank ninth in the NFL in total defense, second in rushing defense and fourth in scoring defense in 2010.
Washington began coaching in 1997 when he served as a graduate assistant at Texas A&M for one season before joining Ohio University's staff as an assistant coach from 2001-03. Following three seasons with the Bobcats, Washington joined Northwestern's coaching staff for four seasons as their defensive line coach (2004-07).
A Shreveport, La. native, Washington played tight end at Grambling State from 1989-90 and graduated with a degree in education from Grambling State in 1993. Him and his wife, Amy, have a son, Ellis.
