Kevin Sheehan discusses Kliff Kingsbury gushing about Jayden Daniels' work ethic

Kliff Kingsbury, the Washington Commanders' new offensive coordinator, spoke for the first time since his introductory press conference this week at minicamp and we all finally got to hear about his plans for the quarterback room and No. 2 overall draft pick Jayden Daniels.

When asked about his goals for the QBs this year, the first-time NFL OC said they "just want to make everybody the best they can be nin the room."

"[Head coach Dan Quinn] has been preaching competition the entire time," Kingsbury said. "And so, all those drills are just set up for us to get game-type reps and improve as players. And that's how it's set up. That's what we've talked about. And those guys have done a good job kind of straining in every drill."

Competition and straining in every drill are good things for a young quarterback, but a lot of the success of Daniels in his first year in the NFL will come down to how well he takes to the mental side of making the jump to the professional ranks.

When asked about what kind of learner the new QB is, Kingsbury said: "He works really hard at it, so we've only had him a couple days, but he works really hard at it. And what I liked most, probably about the college tape was just the drastic improvement you saw year in, year out.

"I mean, that shows that the guy's putting in the work and studying and doing those things you have to do to try and be great."

Kevin Sheehan called the jump from year to year an "underemphasized" part of Daniels' career trajectory. But that wasn't the only thing that caught his attention from the OC's comments.

For Sheehan, "I think one of the things that we don't have to worry about as a fan base – knock on wood as I'm saying this – is I don't think we have to worry about hearing, whether it's direct or indirectly behind the scenes, that this is a guy that's not getting it. Or this is a guy that's not prepared. Or this is a guy that doesn't put in [work or] he's still learning how to be a pro from a work-ethic standpoint.

"Now we may see ups and downs, we probably will in his rookie year. Defenses confusing him, him having to see things more than once or twice as a rookie. But I don't think we're ever going to hear 'this guy isn't prepared,' 'this guy doesn't put in the work.' That has been a consistent theme since they drafted him on April 25."

Need some more support for Sheehan's assertion? Well, here's what Kingsbury said about something that impresses Kingsbury about Daniels that we may not see: "Everything he does is intentional. He has a plan for studying, he has a plan for practice, he has a plan for watching film. He knows what he wants to be and where he wants to go and to be that young and coming in there with that mindset is really encouraging."

How about adjusting to an NFL playbook?

"His football IQ is really high," Kingsbury said. "I think protections, I've been really impressed by that. A lot of guys coming into the league, that's not an area that they major in in college. They don't have a lot of time. It's four hours per day. They have rules. But he's really well versed in the protections and he works at it."

Will Daniels have input on the plays?

"We're working through that part. I've always told those guys, if you like it, tell me. If you don't like it, tell me," the OC said. "I could think it's the best play in the world, if you don't like it, it's not going to work. And that's kind of the relationship I want to have with those guys. And so we get more comfortable together, I think we'll have that type of dialogue."