ASHBURN, Va. — The Washington Commanders opened up training camp confident they had the answers to creating a winning team.
The questions is, will that winning team reveal itself in 2024, or will it take another year or two to really get things going in the right direction for a Commanders franchise in desperate need of good vibes that extend to the win-loss column.
As Washington opened camp we had plenty of questions that needed answers. As it enters Day 2 of Week 2 on Thursday, we have some already.
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Former LSU Tigers Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels looks fairly reserved on the field, at the mic, and just in general.
He’s had moments of youthful excitement, but overall there seems to be one speed for the young playmaker and even when he’s moving faster it doesn’t look like he’s expending a lot of energy to do it.
That was never more evident than when facing a pass rush that won early pressure up the middle of the pocket flushing the rookie to his right side where he both moved slowly but moved quickly to escape the pressure and find an open receiver on the sideline that would have earned his team a new set of downs.
The saying, ‘slow is smooth and smooth is fast,’ comes to mind when watching Daniels run, and the fact that he doesn’t panic in the face of Pro Bowl-worthy interior defensive linemen like Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne only adds to the asthetic.
Brian Robinson Jr. and Austin Ekeler are the top two running backs on the Commanders roster. That much we knew already.
The question was whether or not Chris Rodriguez Jr. would be able to hold off Jeremy McNichols in the battle to be the third back in Washington. So far, it looks like McNichols has the early lead for the gig.
While Rodriguez was here last season – his rookie season – and showed flashes of ability when given the opportunity, he’s far less established in the NFL than McNichols who is entering his 7th season with his sixth franchise.
The last one McNichols played for was the San Francisco 49ers where Commanders general manager Adam Peters came from as well as offensvie run game coordinator and running backs coach Anthony Lynn. So there’s no accident to McNichols arriving to Washington with coach Lynn, and it looks like that familiarity and experience is paying off for him through one week in training camp.
Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu firmly pushed fourth-year linebacker Jamin Davis down the depth chart we all assumed.
The arrival of rookie linebacker Jordan Magee from Temple seems to have pushed Davis down even further.
Granted, the Commanders defensive staff is trying to convert Davis into a bonafide edge rusher currently, but regardless of what’s going on with him the fact that Magee has earned first team reps when the team is in a three linebacker set is impressive.
And the best part is he doesn’t look out of place so far. The grain of salt here is that there’s yet to be any live hitting and even when there has been ramped up contact in Commanders practice it’s still friend-on-friend so the attacking is never going to be full speed.
That’ll change a bit next week with a joint practice against the New York Jets followed by both team’s first preseason action of the year.
Expect Magee to play, and play well, in his NFL preseason debut.
Week 2 is underway for Washington and as we begin to learn things we’re also on the hunt for new lessons every day.
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Stick with CommanderGameday and the Locked On Commanders podcast for more FREE coverage of the Washington Commanders throughout the 2024 season.
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