The Washington Commanders are not just preparing for a new season but are also in a fresh phase. They have a new quarterback in rookie Jayden Daniels, whom Washington picked second overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.
As a team viewed by many heading into the draft needy of a signal-caller, Washington is expecting a lot from the former LSU Tigers star. Daniels knows the pressure of being a QB1 on an NFL team. It's far different than what he's used to back in college. At the same time, he's also humble and aware enough to realize that he's not proven anything yet in the pros to be called a star.
Recently, Daniels was asked by a reporter about what's life like for a “star quarterback.” Daniels fielded the question without any sense of pretension.
“I mean I ain't a star quarterback,” Daniels said (h/t Scott Abraham of 7News DC).
“I'm a rookie to answer that but just coming out here and just being able to experience different things like that was my first time throwing out a first pitch. That was my first time going to a soccer game and just seeing the atmosphere and seeing different sports and be able to just go out there and support them…coming into a new town new community. And be able to go out there and support, showing them love. So when our season comes around, you know the players at the [Washington] Nationals game, people on the Team USA for soccer want to come to a game, they can come show love too.”
Daniels, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a recent Washington Nationals home game against the Atlanta Braves, is in the middle of his preparation for the 2024 NFL regular season with the Commanders. Washington doesn't have just a new quarterback but also a fresh face on the sidelines in Dan Quinn, who will be tasked with turning things around for the NFC East division franchise. In the 2023 NFL season, the Commanders, then under Ron Rivera, won just four games against 13 losses to finish fourth in the division for the second year in a row. The Commanders have also finished third or fourth in the NFC East in seven of the last eight seasons.
Commanders QB Jayden Daniels preparing for rookie season
With Daniels, the hope for Washington is that it finally found the perfect long-term option under center. Whether he's the guy or not remains to be seen, but he appears to be turning heads already in the offseason.
“What you don't see on the tape is how much this guy loves football,” Quinn said of Daniels back in May, per John Keim of ESPN. “He works so hard at it that it's one of the things that makes my heart smile about him is the type of competitor he is and where he goes about his business. And so he's here early, he just goes for it, and not everybody has that trait to say I'm not going to be stopped. And so it's really cool.”
The Commanders ranked just 25th in the NFL last season with 19.4 points per game and 24th with 312.8 total yards per outing.
During her five-year stint in college with the Arizona State Sun Devils and LSU, Daniels gathered a total of 12,749 passing yards and 89 touchdowns against 20 interceptions on a 66.3 percent pass completion rate.
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