He walked onto a stage in Detroit in a light blue suit and impossibly sparkly earrings, doing nothing that will be required of him in the future but representing so much to so many just by his presence. There are few more tantalizing characters in any town than a talented quarterback who hasn’t yet taken a snap — and therefore hasn’t thrown an interception or missed a read or lost a game.
Welcome to Washington, Jayden Daniels. All you need to do now is save the city’s favorite franchise.
The Washington Commanders selected Daniels with the second pick in Thursday night’s NFL draft. It was, in so many senses, a widely anticipated move. Daniels’s résumé sparkles. His tape might be better. He won the Heisman Trophy last season at LSU, when he completed more than 72 percent of his passes and threw just four interceptions. With his arm and his feet, he accounted for 50 touchdowns and 4,946 yards of offense. It’s video game stuff.
What lies ahead, though, is not just a challenge. It’s a burden.
“I’m going to come in and really just try to play my role, whatever that is,” Daniels said Thursday night in a Zoom call with reporters.
Ha. Good one, Jayden. Your role is starting quarterback. From Day One. More than that, it’s to provide stability at a position — the most important position — for a franchise that doesn’t know anything of the sort.
This was Josh Harris’s first draft as the Commanders’ owner. It was the first draft for Adam Peters, Harris’s handpicked general manager. There were a handful of options — Drake Maye of North Carolina, J.J. McCarthy of Michigan. The job for whoever was the choice: start immediately, and star.
“I’m very confident,” Daniels said. “Obviously, it’s a new regime there, and I’m excited just to come in and really just change the culture and help the team win in each and every way that I can. Come in, work hard, and we’ll see where the course takes itself.”
On the night of the draft, this can feel franchise-shifting. For the next few months — as Daniels goes through minicamp and training camp and appears in the preseason before finally beginning his career in earnest — the perception will be that the fate of the organization hangs on his rocket of a right arm and his spindly legs.
In this case, there’s truth in all that. Washington’s stagnation for the entirety of this century — a span in which the franchise has more names (three) than playoff wins (one) — is rooted in its meddling former owner and its inability to find a reliable presence at quarterback. In that way, Daniels offers that most dangerous of sporting commodities: hope.
This should be an optimistic, exciting time for the Commanders. But there must be a reminder, especially around here, of the difficulties in projecting how talent will translate from college to the pros. Just three years ago, five quarterbacks went in the first round. Of those, only Trevor Lawrence — the first overall pick to Jacksonville — remains with his original team.
Each selection is a complex equation with its own unique set of circumstances. But there’s a cautionary tale wrapped up in what the other first-rounders brought their teams in return. Zach Wilson, taken second behind Lawrence by the New York Jets, was traded with a seventh-round pick to the Broncos, likely to serve as the backup to Bo Nix, who was taken with the 12th pick Thursday night. San Francisco traded three first-round picks to move up to third and select Trey Lance, who fractured his ankle in the second week of his second season and was dealt to Dallas for a fourth-round pick a year later.
Justin Fields and Mac Jones played three years apiece for Chicago and New England, respectively. Before this draft, they were traded for sixth-round picks. The future of those franchises were wrapped up in those players. Just three seasons later, they returned pennies on the dollar.
Is that failure entirely the responsibility of those quarterbacks? It can’t be. So much of any of their fates — and this includes the fates of Caleb Williams, the No. 1 pick Thursday night, and Daniels and Maye, who went third to New England — are wrapped up in the coaching staff that selects them and the roster that surrounds them. The former must have the vision to know how to use a player’s talents and the teaching ability to extract the most from him. The latter must have players who complement the new quarterback — an offensive line who can protect him, receivers who can get open for him, a defense that doesn’t demand he hang 30 points on the board every week just to compete.
It’s almost impossible to overstate how many careers hang in the balance based on the success or failure of this pick. New Commanders General Manger Adam Peters either has solved the most important position in North American sports for his franchise and can put his energy into acquiring the supporting players necessary — or he’ll be looking for a replacement in coming offseasons, which would set the entire operation back years.
Dan Quinn, the new coach with a defensive pedigree, is handing new offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury a shiny new toy. The potential outcomes: Daniels excels, and Kingsbury becomes a hot head coaching candidate. Or Daniels fails, and Kingsbury is looking for work.
The trickle-down here can’t be overstated, colored by the absolute baked-in volatility of the quarterback in Ashburn, a constantly evolving state that has defined the franchise — and limited its success — for more than a generation. This is the franchise that won three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks. Even its highs were marked by change.
Those highs, with the last championship coming after the 1991 season, were so long ago that plenty of adult Washingtonians have no memory of them. What they know is tumult. Since the turn of the century, Washington has started 27 different players at quarterback. It’s a fun parlor game to try to list them all. (Yeah, Kirk Cousins leads the way, and you can’t forget Robert Griffin III or even Taylor Heinicke or Alex Smith. But don’t sleep on Garrett Gilbert and Mark Sanchez and John Beck.)
So here comes Daniels. Thursday night, he put aside any concerns that he was reluctant to come to Washington by calling his new situation a “blessing.” He was asked about Peters, and said, “AP, he’s a dude.” He referred to Quinn as “DQ.” And he described himself thusly:
“A competitor, a leader, but someone that just wants to win at all costs and help the team win no matter what,” he said, “because it’s team-first always, so I’m excited.”
You and the entirety of an exhausted fan base, Jayden. Be excited. The work — so much work — lies ahead.
