I may be quite high on what the Washington Commanders could do this season, but I seem to have grossly overlooked the lack of depth in their quarterback room behind Jayden Daniels. Perhaps the Commanders subscribe to the Bill Polian notion of quarterback depth? If their Peyton Manning were to go down for any length of time, the team will be screwed anyway, but does it have to be this way?
After seeing the results of Monday night's preseason loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, it became readily apparent that neither Sam Hartman or Josh Johnson are going to keep this NFC team afloat should anything happen to Daniels. Since I have nothing but negative things to say about Marcus Mariota, let's just say that his injury keeping him out of the game did a great deal of service to him. What to do?
Honestly, it might be time to trade for a viable backup behind Daniels. No, I do not think Hartman, Johnson or Mariota are that. Some have argued for The Fake Slide King Kenny Pickett to come to the rescue. He is a glorified clipboard holder at this point of his career, but at least he knows how to be on rosters of winning teams! Pickett is not going to get that in Cleveland, as he will not make that team...
Overall, I failed to recognize a potential shortcoming with the Commanders heading into this season.
Washington Commanders really need a better backup for Jayden Daniels
Between Hartman and Johnson, the Commanders' passing attack threw the ball a combined 19 times. 10 of those passes were completed for 85 yards. Another two went into the hands of Bengals defenders. Washington was able to score both of its touchdowns on the ground with Daniels taking it in for one and promising rookie running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt taking in another one himself.
With Flacco winning the Browns starting job, and Daniel Jones doing the same over in Indianapolis, that could put NFL veterans like Pickett and now Anthony Richardson into view. Pickett does not play a similar style to that of Daniels. Mariota may be a close approximation of that, but the man has made a living of making one horrible decision at a time. Perhaps Richardson could be a decent trade target?
Overall, I do not think Washington needs to mess around with its backup quarterback situation any sooner than making sure its starting receiving corps is healthy and ready to go this fall. They have had issues at guard as well. So in a way, backup quarterback problems are really only a tertiary one for them. In the end, I am still quite bullish on the Commanders, mostly because Daniels is so special.
The best plan of action is for Daniels to play every snap in all 17 of their games during this season.