Commanders Sign Homegrown 33-TD Dual Threat QB to PFA Contract

When we talk about journeymen football players, the image that comes to mind is a grizzled, graying NFL veteran slogging his way through a decade-plus in the league — maybe on his sixth or seventh team, at that.

College football’s NIL era has kind of changed that — one great example of this came after the Washington Commanders signed Virginia Tech quarterback Collin Schlee to an UDFA contract following the 2025 NFL draft.

Schlee is a local product — he starred at Oakdale High School in Ijamsville, Maryland before playing 6 seasons of college football at Kent State, UCLA and Virginia Tech.

Schlee’s one season as a full time starter came at Kent State in 2022, but whenever he playe he usually ended up in the end zone. Schlee finished his career with 33 total touchdowns.

Commanders fan account We Want Dallas broke down Schlee’s signing and his upside on its official X account.

“Tall 6’3″ QB with impressive athletic testing (4.53 40, 39.5″ VJ, 10’8″ BJ, 6.91 3C),” We Want Dallas 5 year college player but underwhelming production (Only 21 career TDs over 40 games),” We Want Dallas wrote on April 26. “Struggled with accuracy (57.8%) throughout his career.”

“Schlee is going home,” Virginia Tech football wrote on its official X account. “Collin Schlee has signed a free agent deal with the Commanders.” 

While Schlee made the bizarre choice to declare for the NFL draft after the 2024 season — he’d already played 5 seasons in 6 years including his redshirt season in 2019 — he might have value as an athletic, Jayden Daniels-type clone to keep on the practice squad.

“The five-year NFL quarterback will likely be a late-round pick, at best,” Sports Illustrated’s Aidan Champion wrote on January 10 after Schlee declared for the draft. “He never quite flourished after moving on to the Power Four level and will probably have a tough time landing a roster spot at the next level. But we’ve seen quarterbacks in similar situations have success stories before.”

Schlee Showed True Dual Threat QB Skills

Schlee’s 33 total career touchdowns came pretty evenly dispersed between throwing and running — 21 passing touchdowns and 12 rushing touchdowns.

In Schlee’s one season as a full time starter with Kent State in 2022, he went 4-7 in 11 starts while putting up 2,588 yards of total offense, including 489 rushing yards while averaging 5.0 yards per carry.

Schlee went 1-1 in 2 starts at UCLA in 2023 while going 0-2 as a starter for the Hokies in 2024.

Commanders Have Little Mystery in QB Room

There isn’t much mystery as to what the Commanders’ depth chart will look like at quarterback this season.

Daniels, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, wasn’t just the best rookie quarterback in the NFL in 2024 — he was one of the best quarterbacks. Full stop.

The Commanders also brought back last season’s backup, Marcus Mariota, on a 1-year, $8 million contract on March 12.

The thing that will likely be determined during camp will be who the Commanders’ emergency third quarterback will be and it appears to be a 2-man race between second-year quarterback Sam Hartman and veteran Josh Johnson, who went 1-2 as the starter for the Commanders in 2018 and signed a 1-year, $1.42 million contract on April 11.