Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels is working through his first NFL preseason. By the time he might get the hang of what to expect in August, September will be here. As such, his first regular season game will be here before he knows it.
Once September arrives, the games will matter. However, Daniels’ rookie season will be looked at as a practice season. That said, a bad rookie outing is only one more bad outing away from the sun setting on the quarterback. So, the sooner Daniels can get good tape out, the better.
Here’s a look at three ways Daniels can set himself up for success in 2024:
Don’t press to match CJ Stroud
At this point, fans, analysts, and pundits have all thrown a dart at the quarterback draft class and picked a quarterback they believe will have a CJ Stroud-esque season. Daniels needs to not let that bar force him to feel like he needs to win with his arm. Put simply, Daniels needs to let the game come to him. If he tries to get fancy with his arm, that’s where interceptions can come in bunches, especially as a rookie.
He doesn’t need to do it all. He has other veterans on the squad like Terry McLaurin, Austin Ekeler, Zach Ertz, and Brian Robinson Jr. to help take the pressure off. If he doesn’t like the look of a defense or can’t figure it out, he can lean on other players to bail him out.
Trust the process
It can be tempting as the second overall pick heading to a historically struggling team to lose faith. However, as a young player who has never played in the league before, even coaches that don’t currently play the game know more about professional football than Daniels. As such, especially in his early weeks with the team, he shouldn’t question any decision with his development.
In other words, Daniels needs to be a sponge for information and practice. He can’t think at any moment that he knows better. Put simply, he needs to keep an open mind.
Don’t let scrambling become a crutch
Daniels will have plenty of easy opportunities to scramble for big yards or to get out of trouble. It might work at times early in his career. However, if he leans on running too much, teams will scheme to stop him. Then, instead of practicing reading defenses and using his arm early in his career, he will be forced to adapt to throwing eventually. When that happens, that’s when players can fall off cliffs.
Put simply, Jayden Daniels needs to find a variety of ways to beat defenses so when they switch, he can also pivot. If he leans too hard into perfecting one trick, defenses will eventually ruin him when they find a fix and he has no backup skill set.
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