Luke McCaffrey has caught all seven of his targets for 79 yards through four weeks, but he’s only the second-best rookie on the Commanders offense right now.
No slight, of course, given his QB is Jayden Daniels, and his offense has seen Tress Way punt just once in the last three games, that coming late in the second quarter Sunday after almost 10 full quarters without a boot.
“This has been awesome; I think it's a lot of guys doing what you're supposed to do, and getting their job done,” McCaffrey told Grant & Danny. “The special plays come when they present themselves, and then it's a lot of just operating. I think everyone can attest to this, but I think it's a lot of guys just having fun out there playing free, playing fast, and enjoying it. I can't wait to bring it back to the DMV and play at home this week.”
Week 1 was an adventure on all sides of the ball, and McCaffrey admitted that he just assumed everyone was better given the nature of an NFL career, but over the last three weeks, things have clicked big time – starting with the signal-caller.
“I just assumed that when you're playing at this high of a level and things operate according to plan, you get your job done just like everybody has, so I think it's been so cool to see just the way that guys come out and compete with intention every single week, and every single rep in practice,” Luke said. “Hopefully we can use that to keep growing and keep getting better, but Jayden’s been pretty on it since the jump. What’s so cool is watching how he's gotten comfortable, how he's gained confidence, and how he's grown in this short period of time from OTAs to Week 5. It’s been cool to be able to go along with this journey of his.”
McCaffrey was a quarterback early in his college career, so he gets the position and can see the Commanders’ success from that lens – but did ANYONE see the Commanders having more scoring drives than Daniels incompletions through four weeks?
“We have a lot of smart cats on our team, a lot of guys who really understand and love the game of football, and I think that goes a long way to build a cohesiveness that we all kind of get to play together, we get to play at a high level, and be on the same page,” McCaffrey said. “I think that's all played into it; just being able to learn Kliff’s scheme, being able to see how he dices it up, and I think he's done such a great job through these first couple weeks. When you have a quarterback that can mash and create chemistry with the coordinator and the rest of the team, it’s cool, because a lot of weapons can attack a defense. It’s been a lot of fun to just see how many guys we have that can hurt other teams.”
McCaffrey himself has gained a lot of confidence in his short time with the Commanders, and he credits the entire coaching staff for giving all players the chance to ‘take risks and make mistakes and do whatever we can to learn and grow.’
And when you have a QB like Daniels, who can keep plays going, and a group that’s willing to do whatever it takes (even if their ‘star’ isn’t getting much shine), well, you get what you’ve seen.
“Your best plays aren't always gonna be the ones that are your highlights; sometimes your worst plays end up being your highlights, just because you're covered and you make a great catch,” he said. “What I think is so cool is how we've been able to open the offense up all together, been able to get so many guys open at different times. It's just a matter of when and where depending on who clicks, right? It’s so cool to be a part of a team that has such great depth, such great character, and then a lot of unselfish guys. That equates to success in the long-term, and we're gonna go out there and compete and battle every single rep.”
Take a listen to McCaffrey’s entire visit above, which touches on some of the other nuances of playing receiver in this offense, a lot of Yellowstone references, Kliff Kingsbury’s return to Arizona and more!