There’s some big-time optimism around the Commanders these days, but if you ask Joe Theismann – which Craig Hoffman did on Thursday – it starts with the selection of Jayden Daniels at No. 2 overall.
“They had to draft Jayden,” Joe said. “We need the quarterback, and I think there’s been 35 since I got hurt, if not more, that have started games, and you can’t win without consistency at that position. You can build around it, but if you don't have something to build with, it doesn't work; consider it the axle of a wheel, and the spokes are everybody else: without the axle, you don't have a chance.”
But there’s one thing Joe says Daniels can’t do: play in the preseason?
“These guys don’t get much of a chance to really work together in camp, and you're never gonna see anybody get hit get hit during the preseason, so the first time that they're really gonna be involved and have any kind of contact is for the opening game – and that’s why Jayden Daniels shouldn’t play in the preseason,” Joe said. “I know, how are we gonna be able to understand how good he is when he's got people around his feet and it's a different world than college football? But I’ve watched him work and practice, and I’ve visited him. I like him a lot, but our business is a tough business to learn, and that's the biggest thing that we're gonna have to take a look at.”
And the reason is simple: what Daniels could, or would, do in a handful of preseason series isn’t worth the “development” at the risk of blowing the biggest pick of the new era so far.
“Why would you put your starting quarterback out there? Your starting offensive line will probably play a series, maybe two? Give them a little chance to get their feet wet, but you don’t want to risk them out there in a preseason game,” Theismann said. “They would tear Dan apart if Jayden got hurt, so where’s your risk/reward? Give them a chance to grow into the position, like every rookie quarterback that starts, but I would be surprised if you see him for more than a series, possibly two in the preseason. He’s not gonna play in the third for sure, and there’s a big long period of time before the opener, too, so as far as that goes, do you really risk him out there in the second game?”
There’s that, and, well, even if we know what Marcus Mariota is so it’s not about QB evaluation, there are a lot of other players on offense who really need to be looked at, and Daniels under center doesn’t make sense in that vein.
“The other part of it is, how am I gonna be able to evaluate the guys that I'm looking at to fill out the roster if I don't have them out on the field – and if I put the guys that don't have experience out there with him, I run the risk of getting them killed,” Theismann said. “So it’s sort of a quandary, but in my mind it's no question, a decision that I don't take the chance of putting him out on that football field and having something happen to him in the preseason.”
That may become more and more prevalent, too, if the league goes to an 18-game schedule, which Theismann thinks is “nuts” – and it may hurt the league?
“I think the number was 65 quarterbacks played a game this past season, give or take, and how many guys period played all 17 games?” Theismann said. “If you go to 18 regular-season and two preseason games, how do you evaluate the players on the field? We’ve seen a lot of players who were great in t-shirts and shorts that couldn’t play the game, so you’ll defeat the purpose of having a good, solid football team and giving coaches and GMs a chance to evaluate new players they bring in. So, in Jayden’s case, I wouldn’t play him, but then you have to look at the first two or three regular-season games as glorified preseason games. We open in Tampa, and what do you think the temperature will be? It has a chance to be really, really hot, so you go down there and your starters don’t have the conditioning in a game situation when they have to go 60 minutes full out. That’s another one of the challenges you’ll face, is keeping everyone healthy. In Jayden’s case, it would be wonderful to play him, but if something happens, you don’t have the time to wait for him to come back.”