Jayden Daniels, Commanders set for 'massive' Year 2 after bucking relentless NFL trend
Outside of the perfect in-season layout of one game per week and very short 18-week regular season, parity is why the NFL reigns supreme over all the other American sports.Each fanbase has a reason to be excited about its respective team's prospects just about every year and most even have a reason to think the […]
Outside of the perfect in-season layout of one game per week and very short 18-week regular season, parity is why the NFL reigns supreme over all the other American sports.
Each fanbase has a reason to be excited about its respective team's prospects just about every year and most even have a reason to think the season could end with a Lombardi Trophy in hand. The always-changing nature of the business creates excitement and optimism that fuels and invigorates the game and everything else around it.
Change is especially true for coaching staffs and players. Coaches are always getting plucked and players are always moving on for various reasons, but it's the former that can be most volatile, because coaches can get taken at any moment as long as certain prerequisites are filled. A player can't be snatched away one-year into a deal like, let's say, the Jags pried Liam Coen away from the Bucs after one year as their offensive coordinator.
The Commanders don't have to worry about any of that, though, as Dan Quinn returns basically all of his coaching staff from last year. Not only is that extremely surprising due to last year's success, but it's absolutely huge for a team looking to build off said success.
"It's a really big deal and that's that's why I did lead off with that intentionally, because I don't think we've got a chance to really talk about that as much as I thought we would," Dan Quinn said after Wednesday's OTAs. "Because, looking back for me, it's pretty rare… It fast tracks some of the things that we understand [and] it also allows us probably, to get a little deeper, you know, than we were in Year 1 [and] get [a] closer, better understanding of one another.
"That's been a big deal for me. Year 1 to Year 2 for a player is big; for coaches, it's big too. So man, I really appreciate that."
Jayden Daniels is the biggest beneficent of the Commanders' continuity
Continuity is huge for NFL teams, in general, but it's absolutely crucial for the quarterback position. If a signal-caller has to learn a new system on a consistent basis, or even different versions of the same system, it can easily hamper his ceiling and hold him back to an extent.
And now that the Commanders have seen what Daniels can do in an NFL season, making him as comfortable as possible is the No. 1 priority, through and through.
The end result in 2025 should represent a major payoff because of everything staying intact.
"It's really important," said Quinn when asked about keeping the environment around Daniels the same. "We wanted to keep really, for lack of a better word, an ecosystem [made] of some really strong staff members that we feel excellent about. So, for some to decide to stay here when they had other opportunities not to, I think that speaks [to] a lot of what they're building collectively, you know, players and coaches together, and so it meant a lot."
Daniels' work ethic is already in the elite tier and unlike most, so adding this element on top of that his him poised to take a massive leap in Year 2.
"It's huge. I think you look traditionally through the NFL, the guys who've had a ton of success have been able to stay in those long term [like the] all-time greats," said Kingsbury. "Just the comfort level, and then you being able to take the ownership of it and understand it inside-out, where now you're correcting people [and] you don't even need the coaches. He's kind of getting to that point…
"… The guys that I've been able to work with in year two, I guess the biggest deal is just the ownership of the offense and the mastery of it and where they are very comfortable and checks the line and corrects guys and the timing, the rhythm of plays, their footwork, marrying up with with every concept. I think that's where they really take a huge step. And traditionally, the second year has been a massive jump for those guys."
The Commanders are doing everything the right way and it should not only keep them on track in 2025, but help them take the next step that everyone in the DMV area -and in other places around the world- wants to see them take.
