It might seem like the smart thing for the Washington Commanders to do would be to just come out and name 2024 No. 2 overall pick Jayden Daniels the starter as soon as humanly possible.
Key word being “smart.”
Daniels is young, but he has experience — he’s only 23 years old but started an incredible 55 games in college for Arizona State and LSU, including a Heisman Trophy-winning season in 2023.
His main competition is veteran Marcus Mariota, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft and one of the biggest quarterback busts in recent NFL history. Mariota not only flamed out with the Tennessee Titans to start his career, but also famously quit on the Atlanta Falcons after being benched as the starter while being filmed for the Netflix documentary series “Quarterback” in 2022.
Mariota signed a 1-year, $6 million contract with the Commanders in March 2024.
“At least five teams — and maybe six — figure to have quarterback competitions this summer,” Jones wote. “The Commanders have not yet named Jayden Daniels the starter over Marcus Mariota so in theory, Quinn and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury could be in evaluation mode.”
Kingsbury Good With College QBS, Bad in NFL
Kingsbury comes to the Commanders as offensive coordinator after one season as an offensive analyst at USC preceded by four seasons as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals and five seasons as head coach at Texas Tech — two jobs he was fired from.
Much of Kingsbury’s success has come with developing quarterbacks on the college level. He was the offensive coordinator at the University of Houston when Case Keenum set NCAA records and the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M when Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy in 2012.
As the head coach at Texas Tech, Kingsbury made walk-on Baker Mayfield the starting quarterback as a true freshman then oversaw the career of Patrick Mahomes with the Red Raiders, turning him into a first-round pick in the 2017 NFL draft.
In the pros, Kingsbury’s quarterback experience has been limited to selecting Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray at No. 1 overall in the 2019 NFL draft then going nowhere with him over four seasons.
If there’s been a defining characteristic to Kingsbury’s career — even above developing excellent college quarterbacks — it’s been losing games.
Kingsbury never finished higher than fifth place in the Big 12 in five seasons, and across nine seasons as a head coach in college and the NFL his overall record is 63-77.
Bears Already Named No. 1 Pick Williams as QB1
The Chicago Bears have already named 2024 No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams as their starting quarterback — the only of the record-tying six quarterbacks taken in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft to be named a starter so far.
Out of those six, Daniels, New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy and Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix are all in quarterback competitions that could stretch into training camp.
In 2023, the first three quarterbacks selected in the draft were all opening-day starters — No. 1 Bryce Young for the Carolina Panthers, No. 2 C.J. Stroud for the Houston Texans and No. 4 Anthony Richardson for the Indianapolis Colts.
