All signs point in one direction for Commanders at No. 2 overall

The Washington Commanders had a 2023 season to forget, but have a new regime to, hopefully, reignite passion in their fanbase. Josh Harris owns the team, along with the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils. General manager Adam Peters comes from the San Francisco 49ers front office that builds a perennial Super Bowl contender on a yearly basis. Dan Quinn is the head coach after building a powerhouse Dallas Cowboys defense following his gig leading the Atlanta Falcons on the sidelines. Now, they have the chance to change the direction of their franchise in the positive direction with how they use the second overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on Thursday.

The expectation is that the Chicago Bears will use the first overall pick on USC quarterback Caleb Williams. From there, it's up to the Commanders to pick their quarterback, hopefully for the foreseeable future. It's obvious that's the move, considering they traded away Sam Howell to the Seattle Seahawks this offseason. So, who are the Commanders going to pick? Well, don't expect any surprises.

According to The Athletic national NFL insider Jeff Howe notes that "everyone polled" for his story believed that LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels was "destined for Washington with new general manager Adam Peters hot for the LSU product."

"The belief from rival teams is the Commanders had been leaning toward [Drake] Maye much earlier in the pre-draft process — before the Senior Bowl, combine and pro-day circuit — but Daniels has done enough to lock himself into the No. 2 pick."

Jayden Daniels heavily favored to be selected second overall by Commanders in NFL Draft

This isn't exactly the most shocking news. The belief for quite some time is that Daniels played well enough to be all but locked in to be the second player taken off the board. If you look at a number of mock drafts, the consensus is that Washington will take Daniels over North Carolina's Drake Maye or Michigan's J.J. McCarthy.

However, Howe does bring up that one executive from a team outside of the top 10 selections "wouldn't rule out a brief Daniels slide," possibly down to No. 4 overall, held by the Arizona Cardinals.

Daniels took the college football world by storm this past season, putting up video games with his arm and legs. With that, Daniels was able to win the Heisman Trophy over fellow quarterbacks and draft classmates in Washington's Michael Penix Jr. and Oregon's Bo Nix.

This past season, Daniels threw for 3,812 yards, 40 touchdowns, and four interceptions on a 72.2 completion percentage, while running for 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns on 135 carries.

Of course, this doesn't mean that Daniels is going to be the pick. The Commanders could prefer Maye or McCarthy and opt to take them with the second-overall selection. Would that create chaos? Yes. But as of now, Daniels is the favorite to go to Washington.