The Washington Commanders officially started a six-week break, Thursday. And coach Dan Quinn still hasn’t named a starting quarterback. Give him a bit more time.
It’ll either be Jayden Daniels, the dazzling former LSU star who won the Heisman in 2023. The Commanders selected him with the second pick of April’s draft. Or it’ll be Marcus Mariota, the one-time sensational star from Oregon who won the 2014 Heisman winner and went No. 2 overall in the 2015 draft. For Plans C and D, the Commanders have veteran Jeff Driskel and undrafted rookie free agent Sam Hartman.
Although Daniels and Mariota share similar resumes, naming Daniels as the Commanders starter probably is nothing but a formality. Quinn may not want to do so in mid-June, but Daniels likely will get those first-team reps, barring something unforeseen, when the Commanders report for training camp. It starts July 26 in Richmond, Va. Until then, the Commanders web site doesn’t list any quarterbacks on the team’s unofficial depth chart.
Although Quinn wouldn’t dub him QB1, the Commanders coach said “there’s no doubt” that Daniels has made progress through OTAs, which were capped off by this week’s minicamp. On Thursday, the final practice, Daniels handled most of the first-team snaps with Mariota at No. 2. In fact, Quinn described Daniels has having enjoyed “unbelievable progress” in the new offense.
“We wouldn’t have given him those spaces and those times and those (first-team) reps if he hadn’t,” Quinn said. “But it was really clear that he’s put in the work and he was ready to do that.”
Commanders QB will be one of most intriguing NFL plot lines
The Commanders quarterback story will be one of the closest followed story in the NFL when training camps across the league start in late July. Quinn, the former Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator, is in his first year with the team. He hiredKliff Kingsbury, the former Arizona Cardinals head coach, as his offensive coordinator.
Kingsbury has helped groom some of the most dynamic quarterbacks around. He coached Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech. He was there for Johnny Manziel‘s Heisman run at Texas A&M. Kingsbury selected Kyler Murray with the No. 1 pick of the draft when Kingsbury was coach at Arizona. He also worked with Caleb Williams, this year’s No. 1, when both were at USC last fall.
So it’ll be interesting to see what Kingsbury can do to help refine Daniels’ playmaking skills for the NFL game.
Meanwhile, Daniels is taking over as face of the franchise. Repping the Commanders, he threw out the first pitch at a Nationals game last week. And he also was there for a U.S. men’s soccer match.
He’s trying to take it all in stride.
“I mean, I ain’t a star quarterback yet. I got a long way to go,” Daniels told reporters this week. “I’m a rookie.”
And he’s probably not far from being the starter.
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