Washington was an intern for the Chicago Bears in 2005 as part of the Bill Walsh minority coaching fellowship program, but later returned to coach at Northwestern. In 2008, he was hired as a defensive assistant by the Bears. Washington was promoted to defensive line coach in 2010.
Washington was hired by the Carolina Panthers as their defensive line coach in 2011. In January 2018, Washington was promoted to defensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers after Steve Wilks was named head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.[1]
On January 10, 2020, Washington was hired by the Buffalo Bills as their defensive line coach. With this new role, he rejoined former Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Sean McDermott, who is now the head coach of the Buffalo Bills.
On March 15, 2022, Washington was promoted by the Bills as their senior defensive assistant/defensive line coach.
On June 21, 2023, Washington was promoted by the Bills as their assistant head coach/defensive line coach.
On January 27, 2024, Washington was named the defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears.[2] He began calling plays on defense for the Bears after head coach Matt Eberflus was fired on November 29.[3] On January 23, 2025, the Bears announced they would not retain Washington for the 2025 season.[4]
On January 31, 2025, the New York Jets hired Washington to serve as their defensive line coach.[5] Washington was fired on January 23, 2026, by head coach Aaron Glenn.[6]