Jayden Daniels decision made by Washington Commanders before pre-season opener
The Washington Commanders have yet to name their starting quarterback heading into the season with second-overall draft pick Jayden Daniels continuing to battle with veteran Marcus Mariota
Jayden Daniels is set to play in pre-season games for the Washington Commanders, and is expected to see playing time this weekend with the team seemingly unfazed of the risks they’d be taken in allowing him to take the field.
Over the last few years, NFL teams have regularly held their starting players out of preseason games, with coaches unwilling to risk injuries to their important players heading into the season.
Selected with the second-overall selection in this past year’s NFL Draft, Daniels was chosen as the man to be the face of the franchise in what they hope will be in an exciting direction, under a new ownership, general manager and head coach. However, he appears to still be battling for the starting spot heading into the season – where he will look to impress ahead of veteran journeyman Marcus Mariota.
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A competent quarterback, Mariota has shown that he’s more than capable of winning games in the NFL, after being selected with the second overall pick himself nine years ago. But Commanders fans will be disappointed to see him win the job over Daniels, with Washington intriguingly making the decision to allow him to play in preseason.
All the news that has emerged out of Washington’s camp has been that Daniels has impressed, with the team’s new defensive captain Bobby Wagner singing his praises to reporters earlier this week.
And while his head coach Dan Quinn appeared to insinuate that they’ve been extremely happy with Daniels’ progression, he has yet to have been made the official starter – with the team having ‘a plan’ in how to manage him – which seemingly includes him playing in preseason.
“We have an effective plan for him and Jayden’s the type of guy that wants to go nail it,” Quinn said. “Others want to look down the line, but he’s doing outstanding. We’re really pleased where he’s at, but we’re not changing the timeline or the guidelines of how we’re going to approach things.”
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Should he indeed be playing, Daniels is likely to be one of only a few starting quarterbacks to see the field at all in preseason, with more and more coaches opting to use their rotational players for all three of the games before the regular season.