Will Jayden Daniels, Commanders take the next step?

Yahoo

4 days ago

Yahoo Sports' Jason Fitz and senior NFL reporter Jori Epstein discuss Washington's outlook following a 12-5 record last season which included a surprising run to the NFC Championship Game - and if the team can avoid a sophomore slump for its star quarterback. Hear the full conversation on 'Inside Coverage' - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
Frank is convinced the commanders will take a step back this year.
We all know it, although it should be noted, he still thinks it's a playoff caliber team.
It's just, you know, we've fallen in love.
You saw him up close and personal, like, what's, what's sort of the vibe?
Like, what's your sense?
Yeah, I think that this is a team that should be more talented and more fundamentally sound, but not necessarily have as good of a record because of the fluke success they had.
I believe that Jayden and Daniel should be OK. Like, I'm not super concerned about a sophomore.
I'm curious what you think about this.
Dan Quinn, the coach, will even tell you that usually he looks at players making a second-year jump from year one to year two.
Jayden told me that he felt like the game slowed down like twenty times as much from when they first played Tampa in week one to when they played Tampa in the playoffs.
So I do think there are a lot of ingredients for success that make me feel good about this offense, about Jayden and Daniels.
The defense will have questions, but I think there's reason to believe that their talent fits their scheme a little better this year.
And then the question to me is just like, OK, you're playing good teams.
How do you match up against them?
I think also last year was a master class from Cliff Kingsbury on how to call an offense and how to develop a quarterback.
So every time we say, well, defensive coordinators have had the whole offseason to get ready for Jayden Daniels.
I mean, Cliff Kingsbury's had the whole offseason to figure out how to better utilize Jayden Daniels.
Keeping Cliff Kingsbury as an offensive coordinator, I think it was a huge win for this organization.
Now he's had months to sit back and say, OK, I know exactly what Jayden does and what he's comfortable with.
I, I, there's a huge opportunity when you've got somebody that I think showed such great ability last year to get the most out of that offense and Jayden.
I think Cliff is a cheat code in this process.
So you have a wonderfully talented quarterback with an offensive coordinator that has shown the ability to really understand the best way to get the most out of that player.
That's dynamic to me.
So I'd be really shocked to see a sophomore slump out of Jayden Daniels because I just think the, the pieces around him and the way that they've sort of uh, isolated him in this, like to make him the best he can be.
I feel like the commanders have done a masterful job of surrounding him with what he needs.
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