Dan Quinn surprised no one this week when he named rookie Jayden Daniels as the Washington Commanders’ starting quarterback.
“I told you about a month ago that naming our starter at QB wasn’t a secret, and it was a process,” the Commanders’ coach told reporters. “And that process with time, I’d know, he’d know, and I’d let you know. And as much as we knew Jayden would get there, [General Manager] Adam [Peters] and I were most excited about watching how he would. And the how has been absolutely outstanding. He went through the whole thing. He didn’t miss a beat, hit the targets that we had put in front of him. We talked about the practices against the other teams, the games. So, he’s ready and he’s earned the right to do that. He’s really put in the work, while being surrounded by some excellent teammates here.
“Daniels is our starting quarterback.”
At least he didn’t name Daniels QB1, which should be a banned reference within the organization.
It was a necessary process with a predictable outcome. Quinn has preached competition throughout his newly-formed roster, and to not have presented a competition – even a perfunctory one — for the quarterback job would have sent a wrong signal not just to the locker room, but to the fan base the Commanders, under new owner Josh Harris, is trying to win back.
Quinn gave it just enough time to play out before it became an issue or a problem. The new Commanders starting quarterback may or may not see action in this final preseason game Sunday — the only preseason home game — but if Quinn and his staff have seen enough to name Daniels, the team’s top draft choice, the starter, it’s not clear what purpose a few more preseason snaps will serve. After all, Quinn said it’s what they saw in practice — as it often is — that sealed the deal.
“I think the practice before we left to go down to Miami was the best one I had seen from him,” Quinn said. “On the Tuesday prior to us leaving that Wednesday. The command of it, the accuracy, the details of it, that was one of the best practices I’d seen him have. It was the best practice I had seen him have. I think that was more in line with who he is, what he does, the checks, the calls, the communication, the delivery of the ball. He was just really on point. It was just cool to see all of that come to life.”
What would not have been cool was the alternative. That would have been a disaster right out of the box — more of a disaster than having to cut the placekicker you signed in March when you discovered he was accused of sexually assaulting two women on a plane last season and still searching for a new kicker two weeks before the season starts.
If Daniels, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner with 55 college games of experience at Arizona State and LSU, was not the Commanders starter for the opening game Sept. 8 in Tampa, that would have qualified as a disastrous start for Peters and Quinn, who as the leaders of this new band at Commanders Park, have seemed to hit many of the the right notes so far.
What Quinn did not do was anoint Daniels as a team leader.
“He doesn’t have to be the leader of the team,” Quinn said. “He has to play his position well and be a great teammate. And I told the group earlier, my favorite part of this team, and the best part of our team, is the team. It’s not that one person has to put them on your back and say the things to bring everybody up in the huddle. What Jayden’s got across is, I put the work in, and people trust me, because they do. They’ve seen how hard he worked, they’ve seen him go deliver on that hard work at practice and through the preseason game. As a young player, you’re really trying to earn respect and to show that I’ll do things that you can count on. And that to me is what he’s demonstrated to his teammates over and over again is, ‘Man, you can count on me. I’ll make the right call, put us in the right play, make the right decisions.’
“It’ll come in time,” Quinn said. “But I didn’t want to add extra onto him when we selected him. I just wanted him to be the best version of him right away. But he didn’t have to take on more than was required.”
I’m not sure who Quinn is talking to here. I would assume that Daniels will not be a team captain, which would seem to add that extra weight.
By the nature of the position, Daniels’ teammates will expect him to be a leader on the field.
The quarterback has to run the huddle, and his teammates will look to Daniels to be the leader in those huddles. But there is more to being a team leader than that, from the music in the weight room to locker room privileges — small things that teammates will look to, to see that those leadership responsibilities are earned rather than simply assumed.
The coach’s comments may be for the benefit of the fans who are desperate not just for a leader, but a savior to lead this franchise out of the grave. The expectations among those fans in the DMV are understandably high, and in the brief moments we’ve seen Daniels in preseason action, he has done nothing to diminish those expectations.
But the outside view is not as enthusiastic. Vegas has the Commanders over/under at 6.5 wins, and The Athletic published an NFC projection model that has Washington’s win total at 5.9.
Like Quinn said, it may come — in time.
⦁ You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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