Plagued by injury concerns and an off-the-field controversy, the quarterback enters his third season under no shortage of scrutiny.
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Jayden Daniels’s former teammates were clearing out his vacated locker, which still had his nameplate across the top. In a video that surfaced on Instagram, one of them could be heard saying the quarterback “sucks anyways.”
Daniels had just announced his intent to transfer from Arizona State in 2022 after initially declaring he’d return for another season — and it didn’t go over well within the program or its fan base. He remained quiet in response, and eventually committed to LSU. Once he grew into a Heisman Trophy winner and was taken by the Washington Commanders with the second pick in the 2024 draft, the episode in Tempe faded from memory.
The way Daniels handled that saga provides insight into his approach to this offseason. His rookie year in the NFL seemed like one out of a movie script, but his injury-ravaged sophomore season was a disaster. That churned up speculation about his durability and whether his first season could be replicated.
Then came the cease-and-desist letter to LSU in August informing the school it couldn’t use his name, image and likeness in response to the team giving the No. 5 jersey he wore to cornerback DJ Pickett. Since then, Daniels has faced a wave of criticism from LSU fans and alumni, sports broadcasters and, of course, randoms on the internet. His detractors argued it was a weak move that indicated Daniels’s focus wasn’t with the Commanders.
This is the most criticism — on and off the field — that Daniels has faced since his tumultuous exit from Arizona State. Starting with Washington’s season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, how he responds will largely dictate the team’s fate. As he’s prepared for this moment, his attention hasn’t been on the chatter.
“Everybody has an opinion, no matter whether it’s good or bad. It’s nothing I can really control,” Daniels said Wednesday. “The only that matters to me is the people inside the building, my family, helping the Washington Commanders win football games and being the best version of myself.”
Asked where that perspective stems from, Daniels highlighted his religious beliefs.
“I would just say my faith in Jesus Christ,” Daniels said. “Without him, I wouldn’t be here. I never get too high, never get too low. I try to stay even keeled.
“They’re going to talk about you, regardless.”
Naturally, Daniels can’t turn things around on his own. This offseason, the Commanders decided the best way to support him wasn’t trying to replicate what worked well two years ago. In a sense, they hit the reset button.
The man tasked with orchestrating Washington’s offense — 31-year-old offensive coordinator David Blough — had no play-calling experience when he was promoted this offseason. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t prepared.
Blough was a self-aware player. He’d done enough to carve out a roster spot as an NFL quarterback, but he knew he’d never be a full-time starter. As his playing career drew to a close in 2023, he set a new aim: to become an offensive play-caller.
“That’s probably the closest that I could get to ever calling a play in the huddle again,” Blough told The Washington Post. “That’s what the hunt has been.”
Blough was only 29 when the Commanders hired him as their assistant quarterbacks coach in 2024, but he’d already started the process of formulating his scheme. He’d played for a number of noteworthy offensive coaches — Ben Johnson, Kliff Kingsbury, Kevin O’Connell, Darrell Bevell and Jeff Brohm, among others — and pulled ideas and concepts from them all.
He tabbed Johnson as the most influential among the group, but his system wasn’t going to be a carbon copy. It had to be built around Daniels.
“At the end of the day, it’s about, ‘Does this fit Jayden?’” Blough said. “Even if I love it and I believe in it, if it’s not right for us, then it’s not right for us. That trumps everything.”
Blough had his own ideas about how to make that happen, but he also wanted to reconstruct the coaching staff to add outside perspectives. The Commanders wanted to have continuity from how Kingsbury ran things when he was the coordinator during Daniels’s first two seasons. But they also needed to add new layers. That precipitated the hiring of quarterbacks coach D.J. Williams, who previously coached Drew Brees, and assistant quarterbacks coach Danny Etling, who worked with Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady.
“I’ve learned this in my first lap of the sun in this role: The most important thing that I can do in my role is help Jayden play well,” Blough said, “and the second most important thing you do is hiring.”
With that group assembled, Blough started working with Daniels to refine the approach. They already knew each other well, but building an offense together required starting with the basics. They couldn’t work on the field together until the start of organized team activities in May, but the foundation was laid over texts back in January.
“If you went through Jayden and I’s texts, I’m like, ‘Hey, we’ve always called it this,’ but he doesn’t know that,” Blough said. “Can I call it something that makes sense to him so that it will allow and empower him to take ownership and run with it? So we did the deconstruction process pretty heavily before we built it back up.”
Daniels’s evolution began before last season ended. While he was shut down for the final three games, the staff put together a tape that showed every play where he scrambled in 2025. He’d played just seven games because of various injuries, and his homework assignment was to determine which plays he should’ve given up on to avoid an unnecessary hit.
“The first order of business was to say, ‘Of these, which play is it time to move on to the next play?’” Coach Dan Quinn told The Post. “As a competitor, that wasn’t so easy for him in his first two years.”
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The Commanders still want Daniels to use his speed and athleticism to extend plays and scramble when needed, but they intend for it to be a feature of the offense, not a primary weapon. In practice, Daniels became more discerning about taking risks. A couple of weeks ago, Quinn praised Daniels on a play where he escaped the pocket and threw the ball away.
“I was like, ‘Man, that was a great decision,’” Quinn said. “For him, it’s knowing when to go to the next play. … I don’t think he had that part of his game in order, and he does now.”
Washington also recognized that the offense had to lessen the load on its quarterback so he wouldn’t feel the need to press as often. Under Blough, the aim is to make the offense less predictable.
That meant significant change for how Daniels operates. The Commanders spent the past two seasons almost exclusively operating a no-huddle, shotgun offense focused on pushing the pace. This year, he’ll huddle to communicate plays, make audibles at the line of scrimmage and work from under center at a much higher rate.
“He has a foundational excellence of the fundamentals of the position that I knew would translate if he’s in the gun or under the center,” Blough said. “If you ask him to do something, he’s going to try it. If you challenge him, he responds.”
Blough also planned on cutting Daniels’s rushing attempts. In doing so, he put an added emphasis on the traditional run game. He switched from a gap-based blocking scheme to a zone-based blocking scheme, which calls for offensive linemen to block an area instead of a specific defender. If executed well, that’ll give running backs multiple running lanes.
The Commanders will use heavy personnel sets with extra tight ends and offensive linemen more often. They’ll also increase the amount of eye candy — think wide receivers going in motion right before the snap — and play action to help marry the pass and run game and make it more unpredictable for defenses. It’s all part of an effort to create more advantages for the offense, and to avoid asking Daniels to always be the one making a play.
“There will be staples of what our identity will look like, but there’s going to be some things that are easy for us and hard for defenses,” Blough said. “We’re going to make the same things look different and different things look the same and teach in a creative way. And there’s things that I think will be really evident when they come to life on the field.”
Being able to design a great offense is one thing, but having the ability to effectively teach it is another. Throughout training camp, Quinn applied pressure for Blough — and first-time defensive coordinator Daronte Jones — to show they could do that. Instead of running heavily scripted practices, Quinn worked in a lot of “call it” periods where neither play caller knew what to expect.
“How do you make sure that you are getting everything you need from a system standpoint?” Blough said. “You have to be incredibly organized. … That way, for our staff and our players, there’s no fog for them.”
While installing the offense, Blough focused on ensuring that Daniels and his teammates had a thorough understanding of the broader concepts behind the play calls. The teaching strategy Blough and the coaching staff used the most were mnemonic phrases: A tool where patterns of letters, rhyme schemes, songs, imagery, acronyms and more are used to associate information with something that’s easy to remember.
“I think he’s done a really good job of just making it easy for us to digest,” wide receiver Terry McLaurin said. “Now, it’s on us to go execute it.”
Laremy Tunsil recoiled and took a knee as he grabbed his left arm. The veteran left tackle suffered a torn triceps during a pass blocking drill in training camp and landed on injured reserve. The injury could cause him to miss the entire season. Along with Nick Allegretti missing most of training camp because of a calf injury, as he transitions from being a backup guard to the starting center, the loss of Tunsil has turned the Commanders’ offensive line from a strength into a potential weakness.
The additions of offensive weapons such as Stefon Diggs, Chig Okonkwo, Rachaad White and Antonio Williams and the adjustments to the offense and Daniels’s playing style were positive developments this offseason. But the state of the O-line has heightened concern about Washington’s ability to protect its most important player.
“We certainly believe in ‘next man up,’ but you never really necessarily replace a Laremy,” Blough said. “At that point, you go into assessing: How do we help Brandon [Coleman] play the left tackle spot. … How do you build the concepts where it looks a little different?”
Despite those question marks on the offensive line, the Commanders remain optimistic about the offense. If suboptimal circumstances arise, they have an unwavering belief in Daniels’s ability to navigate them.
Although Daniels played just three snaps in the preseason, he had an excellent training camp. He was a decisive decision-maker, and a far more vocal and effective communicator.
“You see how much stronger he’s gotten in his command of the offense,” Quinn said. “The trust in him is so high.”
Daniels ultimately conducts the synergy between the staff and the players. Ahead of the start of the season, they feel like they’re in lockstep.
“When you are on the same page with the quarterback,” McLaurin said, “you can make any play right.”
As long as Daniels is out there, the Commanders are convinced they have a chance. Not one for bold proclamations, Daniels backs up their confidence with his demeanor rather than his words. Now, with the season here, it’s time to translate that into action.
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