The worst-kept secret in the league is that Jayden Daniels will be the starter for the Washington Commanders by the time of the opening kickoff for week one of the NFL season. Head coach Dan Quinn has been adamant that they are not naming a starter quite yet to see how things transpire throughout training camp, but he also acknowledged the fact that Daniels would most likely be the team’s day-one starter.
Even without knowing whether or not he will be the Commanders’ starting play-caller in 2024, Daniels has some inkling that he will indeed be the guy. At this point, it doesn’t seem as if the non-decision by the team to announce has had any impact on Daniels as all reports have praised the former LSU Tiger standout for his play thus far into camp.
When speaking with the media following the team’s last practice of the week, Daniels pointed towards his competitive nature when posed with whether or not he’d prefer to be named the starter already.
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“No, I mean I like competing. I’m a competitor so regardless if I was announced (as the) starter or not, you still got to compete,” Daniels said Friday. “You still can’t be content (with) your job, comfortable, and think it is just your job and [you’ve] sealed the deal. You got to go out there and compete. So for me, it is not a problem at all. I like competing. That’s up to (head coach Dan Quinn) and (general manager Adam Peters) for the decisions and stuff like that. But for me, I can control how hard I go out there and practice and how I compete.”
Daniels clearly isn’t letting the fact he hasn’t been named starter get to him. He should know that he is in line and shouldn’t worry about Mariota behind him. The extra work with other players outside of the ones will provide Daniels with a variety of different looks and force him to be on the page with the entire offense. Injuries and unforeseen circumstances can call for the next man up and getting Daniels valuable reps with the non-starters will help raise the floor and ceiling of what the 2024 Washington Commanders can be.
READ MORE: Washington Commanders Training Camp Notebook: Jayden Daniels Leads Game-Winning Drive
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