Dan Quinn to Junkies: Jayden Daniels first player he started scouting once he was named Commanders HC
There’s no Ashburn Syndrome here – when Commanders head coach Dan Quinn joined The Junkies Tuesday morning, EB offered the following observation about the DQ era so far:
“It’s exciting and so refreshing to have a guy on the sideline that actually coaches and that's fired up. We've had guys here that just sit there and they fold their arms, but I just love your enthusiasm, I love your coaching style, and I think you're seeing the players emulate that. It's just awesome.”
“I appreciate it, man. There's some really fun guys to coach on this team,” was Quinn’s response. “If you were in this locker room and in the meeting rooms every day, oftentimes it's loud and fun and we have a good time. We wanna make sure we work our asses off and go for it in every way, but, really enjoy the people that we do it with too. This crew is getting tighter all the time, and I saw that on the sideline the other night when you see somebody make a big play. You can see when a team gets connected when that energy comes from the guys that aren't in the game bringing the energy, and I'd hoped that would happen. It’s a big deal, and that made me happy.”
So what’s it like for Quinn the second time around as a head coach, after going back to being a coordinator for the last three years and then once again becoming the CEO?
“I don't really delegate as much as try to make sure I'm present in all the calls, and then the replays and game management and time outs and that kind of stuff, it really allows you to lock in on that,” Quinn said. “We're gonna be in a lot of close games this year, and to win those, we've got to be really comfortable in those environments. That's why at practice, we put our guys into those spots a lot to make sure when those moments come, they feel as normal as all the other ones. So, that's kind of where I try to put most of my focus, just making sure that the most important parts of the game, I'm able to deliver on what the guys need.”
Well, on Monday, Quinn finally delivered the announcement of Jayden Daniels as QB1 in DC – which was like the worst-kept secret ever, something even Craig Hoffman said to ‘not mix up the inevitable with the predetermined.’ But when the Junkies asked about it, the convo was actually about how he felt seeing Giants Hard Knocks and their brass being excited to try to trade up for Daniels?
“I think maybe they caught it on camera, but there are a lot of teams that probably had that conversation,” Quinn laughed. “He was the first player that Adam and I watched back in the winter when I got here, and we went through LSU and Arizona State – and he showed me a game against Oregon when he was a freshmen, so we had so much work already done on him that it was pretty clear to see how tough he was, the playmaking, and the decision making. You’re right, you knew this day would happen, I guess what was exciting to see was how; he is absolutely gone for it. On the details, making sure to get there early to get things right. Oftentimes, he'll come in the next day and already have gone through the script, gone through the things that you needed to do. So that part I was really pumped up to see how he would compete for this thing, how he would go after it, and he absolutely like just did not stop – and some of his teammates have kind of taken on that mindset.”
But, did they know, or how much did they know, that Jayden has never really practiced sliding and said as much in his first press conference Monday after being named starter – and how important is that given some of the hits we’ve seen Daniels take?
“Hope is not a good plan, so we don't go with that one for sure, but some QBs are more dive and roll; that’s kind of what Lamar does and that’s what Jayden does, so not everyone is a leg-out, heel-behind baseball slide,” Quinn said. “If you’re a right-handed quarterback, you want to roll your left shoulder so you're landed that way, and some of the mobile guys are into that – and sometimes you see on the slide, the defender’s still there ready to contact and the guy gets hit up top, so we do that more than the traditional baseball slide. He caught an earful into not getting down into that space, because it’s important – if you get the first, you’re at the space, let’s fight for the other three or four yards on a different down, because we don’t want to see the big hits. He’s plenty tough enough, but you’re proven that, there’s no need to demonstrate or establish that.”
Other than that, though, is Quinn seeing what some outsiders are seeing, that Daniels might have it all to be an elite QB in this league?
“Absolutely,” Quinn said when asked if Jayden could run the whole offense right now. “We’re still kind of in training camp mode, so we still have two more days today and tomorrow that will kind of finish up what we call our installs – that’s like thinking about putting in your playbook and how you do that. Then the next week is kind of trimming some of the things down that feature certain players, certain things, and that's the process that you go through so as you're going through a week, you don't have the whole playbook up. But for him, he really puts in the work, and we're gonna feature the things that he excels at; he absolutely is ready to do that, and that’s what was cool to see. When I was talking about how he would go for it, he plays the position well, not just throwing it.”
