Ed McCaffrey now has two sons in the NFL following in his footsteps, and of course one of them is right here in DC, in the form of 2024 draft pick Luke – who, like his dad and unlike brother Christian, is a wide receiver (even though he used to be a quarterback).
“I was excited to root for the Commanders. I got to go to every single home game, went to a couple of the away games, and t was a whole lot of fun. I'm so excited that the fan base is picking back up, and what at magical season,” McCaffrey told G&D. “Dan Quinn came and did a phenomenal job, Jayden Daniels was more than advertised, and Luke got to come in and play with him in his rookie year and loves his teammates, loves the culture, loves what they're doing there. They came so close, but it was such a phenomenal season, and I think everybody's pretty optimistic and feels good about the future.”
Luke had just 18 catches last season in a receiver group that was rather non-descript, but Ed thinks that as he gets more reps, he’ll become a more valuable weapon – like he was in the return game when Austin Ekeler and Jamison Crowder were on the shelf.
“It’s all about reps. It’s hard as a rookie to break in with a football team, especially one that had a lot of veterans, but Luke loved the receiver room and the tight ends,” Ed said. “Tough to earn your stripes and get on the field as a rookie, but I think it was such a wonderful experience for him. He was confident, he was ready to make a play, and he was ready if they called upon him, but the team had a lot of success doing a lot of different things, and there were a lot of talented skill guys with more experience on the field. He's hungry this year to be the best player that he can be so he can contribute, get on the field, and make plays for his team.”
As Ed noted, a player’s rookie year is “the longest year of your life” to go from the college season to the Draft prep to OTAs and the NFL season, so having an offseason to study and learn and rest a little should help him ‘improve leaps and bounds.’
“He wants to play, and be on the field and have passes thrown his way just like every receiver, but it speaks to the mental strength you have to have to be a pro athlete, but especially to be a receiver,” Ed said. “You don't call the play and you can't throw yourself the ball, so you have to stay ready for when you get that opportunity. I was proud of Luke for doing that all year long, because it is hard to go a quarter, a half, a game, two games without a catch, and then all of a sudden, the ball is getting thrown your way.
But that's the challenge of every receiver, so what you got to do is keep working hard and keep earning it in practice, and when you get those opportunities, make the most of them.”
Ed knows, having broke in on a Giants team that had just won a Super Bowl and winning a Super Bowl in San Francisco in his lone year there beside Jerry Rice and John Taylor – but he went on to be a starter on a pair of Super Bowl winners in Denver, so the future can be bright.
“Dan Quinn’s an experienced head coach, but you have to get the quarterback position right, and they did. And it starts with ownership; give credit to Washington's ownership, they hired the right head coach, brought in the right players, and they bought into the culture,” Ed said. “That’s what enabled them to have some success, and so I'm excited about the future.”
Oh, and before he went, Ed played a little fact or fiction on some of the cultural things Luke had told G&D earlier this year that dad has imposed on Luke and Christian – so you gotta listen to it all above!