SNIDER: Another year, another Commanders starting QB
The Washington Commanders will open this season their eighth straight season with a different starting quarterback. Those are lottery-type odds with little payoff.
Jayden Daniels is the latest starter, after coach Dan Quinn named him on Monday in the worst-kept secret in a town that thrives on them. You don’t need 10,000 suspected spies around Washington to know Daniels would be the starter. Just watch the draft when he was chosen No. 2 overall.
Then again, Heath Shuler was Washington’s No. 3 overall pick in 1994 and handed the job. He quickly handed it back by never finding a linebackers on the field that would turn open lanes into interceptions that he didn't like. Shuler did it so often that his own teammate – linebacker Marvcus Patton – gave Shuler a black eye following an interception during a late-season practice.
Quinn wanted to see how Daniels did over the offseason and training camps before anointing him. That’s fair, and Daniels was terrific in two preseason efforts. He completed a long ball, ran for a touchdown and rarely threw an incompletion.
That Daniels worked hard, knew the playbook by the first practice, learned from mistakes and became a locker-room favorite made it even easier for Quinn. Marcus Mariota suffering a groin injury as the No. 2 made for no drama, too.
Daniels is the team’s most exciting passer since Robert Griffin III in 2012. If not for bad luck, injuries and attitude, RG3 might have been legendary in a town that loves passers. Instead, he became a cautionary tale.
Washington has drafted 11 quarterbacks since 1937. The first was the team’s best player ever – Sammy Baugh. Two passers never played for Washington and aside Griffin, the rest were nothing burgers. The team has relied on trades for many of its top guns. Sonny Jurgensen, Billy Kilmer and Joe Theismann alone accounted for two decades. Brad Johnson was probably the best non-drafted passer over the past quarter century in leading the team to the 1999 playoffs.
The last seven years have illustrated Washington’s combination of bad luck, bad play and bad karma.
Kirk Cousins opened 2017 in his last season locally before contract disputes sent him to Minnesota. President Bruce Allen was outmaneuvered by Cousins in creating a massive career payday elsewhere.
Washington pivoted to Alex Smith in 2018. Sadly, he suffered a horrific leg injury reminiscent of Theismann in 1985. Smith’s comeback was epic, but only for a short time before retiring.
Case Keenum opened in 2019. No one is sure why. Keenum went 1-7.
Moving on, Dan Snyder came off his yacht in 2019 to overrule coach Jay Gruden and scouts to take Dwayne Haskins, who was a high school friend of Snyder’s son. Haskins played one great year at Ohio State, but was 3-10 in Washington over two seasons. Despite a mediocre 2-5 as a rookie, Snyder forced Haskins to start 2020, when he went 1-5.
Ryan Fitzpatrick earned $10 million by playing the first 20 minutes of the 2021 opener before suffering a season-ending injury. He never played again.
Coach Ron Rivera bet his reputation on Carson Wentz in 2022. Wentz went 2-5 and was gone the next season. Rivera lasted one more year before fired.
Sam Howell was a gutsy pick by Rivera to open 2023. It was a decent year overall. Well, half year until Howell and the team wore out and lost the final eight games. Howell was traded over the offseason because the Commanders wanted a rookie with its No. 2 selection.
And that brings us to Daniels. Nothing inspires hope like a good rookie quarterback. As in, he’ll even start in 2025.
