Thus far, the Washington Commanders have interviewed more defensive coaches than offensive assistants and coordinators, which may indicate where the club leans in terms of a candidate's background.

The Commanders have requested to interview two of the top offensive coordinators, Ben Johnson and Bobby Slowik, but they may face stiffer competition for both candidates with the league favoring offensive hires.

Mike Macdonald has talked to five out of the six teams with a vacancy, but he has a connection with Commanders' senior vice president of football strategy Eugene Shen, who rose through the ranks within the Baltimore Ravens front office before he came over to Washington.

In 2014, the Ravens hired Macdonald and Shen. The former started his pro coaching career as an intern and the latter assisted the coaching staff with data and analysis. Both spent several years in Baltimore, though Macdonald left to become Michigan's defensive coordinator in 2021 and then returned in 2022.

The MMQB's Albert Breer heard that Commanders owner Josh Harris may try to emulate the Ravens' organizational model.

"I don't know whether he's settled on a model yet, but I have heard he's intrigued by the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles, and how they've built their football operations out."

Last October, the Commanders hired Shen to lead their analytics department. Now, they may poach Ravens assistants and coaches to work under new general manager Adam Peters. Macdonald could be one of them.

Maurice Moton covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @MoeMoton.