Jayden Daniels is set to make his preseason debut for Washington Commanders on Monday night matchup against the Bengals
Jayden Daniels is taking the field for the first time this offseason
The Washington Commanders need to get off to a hot start this season, with the Week 1 opponents being NFC East rivals, the New York Giants, and an overall tougher schedule than last year.
The best way to start hot is to have your starter knock off the rust with real in-game reps before the season. After sitting out in the first preseason game, the Commanders will finally roll out a majority of starters available on Monday night.
Jayden Daniels gets to make his preseason debut against the Cincinnati Bengals, the same team he had his breakout game against last season.
Jayden Daniels’ MVP season loading
Commanders HC Dan Quinn addressed the media after practice on Saturday and said we would be seeing Daniels and the starters that are available on Monday night for the first time.
“For him (Jayden Daniels) and a lot of the guys that are going to get some of their first playing time”, Quinn told the media. “I would say it’s a little bit customized, but we’d like to see a few series, and we’re excited to see the guys. They’re excited to get performing too, so we customized it a little bit, and as a staff we’ll visit some tonight and tomorrow, but now we’re also excited to get the guys going.”
The starting offense needs to get real game reps together, especially with WR Terry McLaurin coming back, and the injuries on the offensive line. McLaurin obviously won’t be playing Monday night, but the rest of the team gets to gel before he returns. This is also our first look at the Daniels and Deebo Samuel connection, which has been strong all of training camp.
Not everyone will be out there, though, as Zach Ertz, Brandon Coleman, Noah Brown, and Laremy Tunsil will be out once again for the offense. This gives other players a chance to get on the same page, especially on the offensive line, with Sam Cosmi still on the PUP list as well.
Quinn said that the starters won’t be out there for a long time, but every snap counts before the season, and the starters lost a lot of reps when the joint practice with the Baltimore Ravens got called off. This might be the only real reps we see from the starting offense before the season kicks off.
Luckily, the Bengals have been playing their starters much longer than usual in the preseason, and it’ll be a real test for the Commanders on both sides of the ball, but also for Daniels, seeing different looks from another team.
It might not be much, but we are finally getting our first look at what the offense looks like right now, and how it can improve once McLaurin and the rest of the offense come together. Daniels and Samuel can get things off to a hot start and calm some nerves with a big play or two.