Tony Gonzalez: Sometimes QBs who can run become 'victims of their own athleticism'

Jayden Daniels led the Commanders in both carries and rushing yards on Sunday, toting it 16 times (11 of them scrambles) for 88 yards and a pair of scores.

Great that he’s a dual threat like that, but, as Grant Paulsen pointed out, that usage as an average extrapolates out to 272 carries – which would’ve been second in the NFL last season – and a whole lot of hits on those carries.

Not the plan for sure, and when Tony Gonzalez joined G&D Monday, he admitted it’s nice to have, and it’s sometimes ingrained in guys like that, but they can become ‘victims of their athleticism.’

“You look at all these ‘running quarterbacks,’, when anything gets unsure or in doubt, they use their legs. It’s something they've done since they've played Pop Warner and first played the position; they’re thinking, I can always rely on my legs, it’s easy,” Gonzalez said. “So a young guy out there, pocket breaks down, not sure about a read, you take off if you have the ability to do it. He does, and the flip side is you might get hurt. When you look back at the film, you're like, ‘man, I actually have guys open if I could just wait a little bit more,’ and I think you become a victim to your athleticism. That's why it's tough for these running quarterbacks to be a really, really good dual threat guy.”

It’s extremely tough to know how and when to balance the ability and talent with the need or the right moment, and frustrating for pass-catchers, too – and to Gonzalez, perhaps the best to ever do it as his position, it’s incumbent on those receivers to help navigate the young QB’s psyche.

“If I'm playing with a guy who's a ‘running quarterback,’ I'm gonna tell him, ‘hey, man, give me some time, let me get open, I can work for you and make it easier on you,’” Gonzalez said. “I'm not surprised by a young quarterback like Jayden doing what he does, but he's got to get better. You gotta take that off the table, for a lot of different reasons - when is the last time a pure running quarterback won the Super Bowl? It doesn't work in the long-term, just look at Lamar Jackson; you can be great all season and win MVP, but you gotta be able to sling that rock from the pocket. But, I'm sure he'll evolve and keep figuring that out.”