The Commanders made it clear that they are staking their future on quarterback Jayden Daniels when they made him the second overall pick in the draft last month, but there’s still some question about when the future will meet the present.
Daniels addressed that question during an appearance on the All Facts No Brakes podcast with Keyshawn Johnson. Johnson asked Daniels if he expects to be the team’s starter in Week One and the rookie answered that he’s “confident in my abilities” while saying the decision was not for him to make. Johnson pressed Daniels for more of an answer about whether he thinks the team plans to bring him along slowly.
“From what I heard, they said whenever I’m ready, I’m ready,” Daniels said. “So whenever I feel like I’m ready, I’m ready. . . . They didn’t tell me, ‘Oh, you’ve got to start Week One.’ They just said, ‘Whenever you’re ready, you’re ready. Whenever you feel ready, we feel you’re ready, we’re gonna throw you out there.’”
It’s hard to imagine Marcus Mariota showing the Commanders enough to justify keeping the second overall pick of the draft on the bench, especially when Daniels’ ascension to the No. 1 job represents the start of what the current management hopes will be a brighter era of football in Washington. That doesn’t mean Daniels is close to a finished product, but it should mean the Commanders let him sort that out on the field.