Dan Quinn wants to take away Jayden Daniels' superpower, and he's probably right

While there were things to like about Jayden Daniels' Washington Commanders debut in Week 1, they still lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 37-20. Daniels won the Heisman Trophy last season with the LSU Tigers. He went No. 2 overall to Washington in the 2024 NFL Draft. To me, he is my favorite first-round quarterback prospect by a considerable margin. I think he can be a special player for this team.

On the afternoon, Daniels completed 17-of-24 passes for 184 yards. That is fine, but is is also pedestrian for NFL standards. Where Daniels really made some noise was in the ground game. He had 16 carries for 88 yards and two rushing touchdowns. Though did not turn the ball over, he did fumble three times on the afternoon. It is why head coach Dan Quinn wants him to be about the ball.

During Monday's press conference, Quinn told the Washington media what he needs Daniels to do.

“We’d love to see him remain a passer first. I think it’s going to come with more experience, honestly. When I can go extend it to throw it, when, ‘Hey, this plays over, I’ll get rid of it and move on to the next play.’ So, I think you’ll see that trajectory continue as we go."

It should be noted many of Daniels' runs were not designed. They happened after a play broke down.

"Certainly, [16] carries is not the model that we’re looking for, certainly with Brian [Robinson] and Austin [Ekeler] and others here. But at the end of it, I do think we’ll continue to grow in that spot. But certainly not by design to have that many.”

Quinn is absolutely right in his assessment of Daniels' play. He may be a defensive-minded head coach, but he has a tremendous knack for evaluating quarterbacks and prioritizing offensive excellence around him. The pairing of Daniels with new offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has the potential to do extraordinary things in the league, but it remains paramount that Daniels stays healthy.

Here is what Quinn had to say at the podium heading into the Commanders' second game of the year.

Let's discuss what needs to happen for Quinn and Washington to get the most out of Daniels' talent.

Dan Quinn is absolutely right that Jayden Daniels must grow as a passer

It may take a minute to get going, but I envision Washington being one of the most exciting teams in the league at the end of the season. They may not be a playoff-caliber team this year, but I think Quinn learned a ton with Dallas after failing in Atlanta as a first-time NFL head coach. He knew how to delegate in Atlanta, but he could have been more assertive at times in crucial situations for Atlanta.

In my estimation, Daniels has the potential to be some variation of Lamar Jackson and Dak Prescott in Washington. Even if he is just Kyler Murray, well, Kingsbury had a ton of success coachign him up in Arizona for at least a little while. Quinn's last three quarterbacks were Russell Wilson in Seattle, Matt Ryan in Atlanta and Prescott in Dallas, all of whom experienced their peaks when he was on their staff.

To me, Daniels is more talented than all three combined. Ryan was a gifted passer at Boston College, but not much of an athlete. Wilson and Prescott were great college players too, but neither were first-round picks for various reasons. In short, Quinn knows exactly what he has in Daniels and he is not going to let Daniels ruin himself like his Heisman fraternity brother Robert Griffin III did back in 2012.

Washington may have been chaotic before, but Daniels has the right guys around him to shine there.