After going 4-13 last season, the Washington Commanders fired their coaching staff and now find themselves with the second pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. With a major need at quarterback, they appear poised to select either Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels with the No. 2 overall pick.
While he’s no longer the head coach of the franchise, Ron Rivera gave his thoughts on Wednesday on which quarterback the Commanders should take.
Washington Commanders Should Draft Jayden Daniels Says Ron Rivera
ESPN’s Adam Schefter asked former Commanders head coach Ron Rivera what he’d do if he had the No. 2 overall selection in the draft on NFL Live on Wednesday.
“The big thing, more so than anything else, is the style of offense they’re gonna run though,” Rivera said. “They’ve got Kliff Kingsbury, again, a guy who likes the mobile quarterback that can move in the pocket, that can make the plays when they’re downfield and throw the football.”
Rivera’s answer was a former Arizona State and LSU quarterback who has drawn a lot of buzz this offseason.
“Well, Jayden Daniels, because everybody expects Caleb [Williams] to go first,” Rivera said. “To me, if this is the style of offense you’re gonna have, you’ve gotta have that type of quarterback that can move around in the pocket, hold onto the football, find guys downfield, and just send it downfield to make guys make plays.”
Daniels, who was listed at 6-foot-4, 210 pounds with LSU, has garnered concerns about his slender frame. Rivera isn’t too worried, though.
“He is a big guy,” Rivera said. “He’s gonna add a bit of weight. I think he’s the type of guy that’s going to fit what Kliff Kingsbury wants to do.”
Daniels had a monster season in 2023, culminating in a Heisman Trophy. The LSU quarterback, who hadn’t passed for over 3,000 yards or 20 touchdowns in his previous four seasons with Arizona State and LSU, blew the cover off of his yearly totals.
Daniels went 236 for 327 (72.2%) on passes for 3,812 passing yards, 40 passing touchdowns, and just four interceptions. He was dynamic in the running game as well, posting 135 rushing attempts for 1,134 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns, two fumbles, and one fumble lost.
The Commanders hired Kingsbury as the team’s offensive coordinator during the offseason. Kingsbury, who formerly served as the Arizona Cardinals head coach from 2019-2022 and most recently USC’s senior offensive analyst, has connections with two quarterbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft.
One obvious link is to Caleb Williams. Kingsbury worked with Williams last year, with the latter completing 266 of 388 (68.6%) on passes for 3,633 yards, 30 passing touchdowns, and five interceptions in 12 games in the Air Raid system.
In the event that Williams would fall to the Commanders in the draft, the expectation is that the team would select him. Williams has ties to Washington D.C., growing up in town and playing high school football for the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference’s Gonzaga.
Williams, like Kyler Murray, played for Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma under an Air Raid system. Murray played his first four seasons under Kingsbury.
The Air Raid was also run by former North Carolina coordinator Phil Longo (2019-2022), who coached both Commanders quarterback Sam Howell and current prospect Maye. In his one year with Longo, Maye went 342 for 517 (66.2%) on passes for 4,321 yards, 38 touchdowns, and seven interceptions.
For comparison, LSU head coach Brian Kelly’s offensive system uses 12 personnel in a pro-style spread philosophy. He looks to perfect a certain play that his team can work off of to confuse defenses.
“My philosophy and our philosophy is we still want that play to have the quality elements of striking on a wide front where it can hit everywhere, and it forces defenses to defend that play, and you have complements off of it,” Kelly said to The Athletic. “So I think we look at the singular play more than anything else and evaluate it as such.”
KEEP READING: Jayden Daniels Shuts Down Rumors That He Doesn’t Want To Be Drafted by the Patriots
Pro Football Network’s own Dallas Robinson has the Commanders selecting Maye with the No. 2 overall selection and the New England Patriots picking Daniels at the following spot in his mock draft.
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