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What are the Commanders getting in Jayden Daniels?

What are the Commanders getting in Jayden Daniels?

So, it is indeed, Jayden Daniels, who the Commanders selected with their first selection in the 2024 NFL draft.

What do the Commanders get in selecting Jayden Daniels?

“Washington is going to get everything out of me,” said Daniels on NFL Network, only two minutes after he was drafted.

They receive a very awarded player. Daniels has won the Heisman Trophy, Walter Camp Player of the Year, Davey O’Brien Award, and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.

Daniels was also a finalist for the Maxwell Award, a First-team Associated Press All-American. SEC Offensive Player of the Year and First-team All-SEC.

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He was a captain at LSU, and in his last season (2023) Daniels threw 40 passing TDs (4 INTs), for 3,812 passing yards, including an impressive with 72.2 completion percentage. Running the ball Daniels accumulated 1,134 rushing yards (8.4 YPC) with 10 rushing TDs. Only player in FBS history to throw for 12,000 yards and rush for 3,000 yards in a college career.

In fairness, they also get an underweight quarterback who declined to be weighed at the Combine until his camp could put enough weight on him to reach 210 pounds at the LSU Pro Day. Perhaps Daniels will immediately begin a program helping him to gain muscle and good body weight.

The Commanders also receive a quarterback who can really move on his feet. Daniels can extend plays, and can also make huge gains when a lane opens for him.

Perhaps the biggest positive of the night is the reminder that five years ago, the previous owner entered the Redskins draft room and basically discarded all the thousands of hours of scouting and player evaluations by his paid staff so that he, the owner, could select a quarterback because he went to high school with the owner’s son.

It is a new era in Washington. No more Daniel Snyder, no more Bruce Allen. Adam Peters, the new GM, has made his first draft choice for the Commanders. That in itself may be a cause to celebrate.

Tonight was the fourth time Washington selected second in the NFL draft this century: LaVar Arrington (2000), Robert Griffin (2012), and Chase Young (2020).

 

Bears select WR Rome Odunze with 9th overall pick in 2024 NFL draft

Welcome to the Chicago Bears, Rome Odunze!

The Chicago Bears have selected Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze with the ninth overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft.

Odunze has the size (6-foot-3), speed (4.45) and elite ball skills that make him an enticing option to add to a receiver duo that already consists of DJ Moore and Keenan Allen.

Odunze is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons with Washington, including 92 catches for 1,640 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2023. Back in 2022, Odunze totaled 75 receptions for 1,145 yards nad seven scores.

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According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Odunze recently caught balls from new Bears quarterback Caleb Williams during a pre-draft workout. That session also happened to include their new teammates, Moore and Allen.

The addition of Odunze, who would be WR1 in any other draft class, gives the Bears one of the best receiver trios in the league with Moore and Allen.

After sharing a flight to Detroit together, Odunze and Williams will now be sharing a flight to Chicago as the newest members of the Bears.

Follow along with our live blog with live updates and picks during Round 1.

Bears QB Caleb Williams jersey number revealed

Caleb Williams has only been a Bear for a short time, but he already has a jersey number picked.

Caleb Williams has only been a Chicago Bear for a short time, but he already has his jersey number set. Shortly after he was selected with the No. 1 overall pick, the Bears announced Williams would wear No. 18 in the pros in a very cool reveal on social media.

Williams had worn No. 13 throughout college at both Oklahoma and USC, but wore No. 18 when he was in high school. Now, he’s going back in that direction with the Bears. Perhaps part of that is due to new wide receiver Keenan Allen, who was acquired from the Los Angeles Chargers in a trade back in March. Allen has worn No. 13 for his entire career and expressed a desire to keep it when he joined the Bears.

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Unfortunately, those fans who purchased No. 13 Williams jerseys will now have a fun collectible. Perhaps they can duct tape Allen’s name over the nameplate ahead of the 2024 season.

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Los Angeles Chargers select Notre Dame OT Joe Alt with the fifth overall pick. Grade: B

Joe Alt is Justin Herbert’s new protector, but where will he do so? It’s an interesting pick.

When I spoke with Jim Harbaugh during Super Bowl week, he talked a lot about how important it was to protect Justin Herbert. Alt can do that, but I’m not entirely sure what the plan is when Rashawn Slater already at left tackle. Maybe they move Slater to the right side? In any event, Alt doesn’t look like a power right tackle to me — he never played a single snap there in college. I might have either traded down for more talent (which the Chargers need), or taken another tackle here. 

A four-star recruit out of Totino-Grace High School in North Oaks, Minnesota, Alt is the son of John Alt, who was selected in the first round of the 1984 NFL draft by the Kansas City Chiefs and went on to play 179 games at offensive tackle, eventually being enshrined in the Chiefs’ Hall of Honor.

Joe Alt was a quarterback and a linebacker in high school, but his dad estimated that he would eventually be an offensive line prospect as he grew, which was a good guess. Alt chose Notre Dame over several other schools because of the university’s reputation for academics, and putting their offensive line prospects in NFL uniforms.

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In 2023, his third season as a starter with the Fighting Irish, the 6-foot-8, 322-pound Alt gave up one sack, two quarterback hits, and two quarterback hurries in 368 pass-blocking reps. He allowed no sacks, two quarterback hits, and six quarterback hurries in 406 pass-blocking reps the season before, so the consistency as a pass-blocker is certainly there. And he’s more than capable of making things happen in the run game.

Alt brings Andrew Whitworth to mind — he doesn’t blow you away with his pure athleticism, but he does just about everything at a very high level, and that should transfer pretty easily to the NFL level.

PLUSES

— Keeps a wide base and strong fundamentals even when swerving to deal with speed rushers.

— Mirrors well through the rep. He doesn’t need to over-extend to make up for wasted moves.

— Fires out with a nasty demeanor; when he gets his arms out, a defender is in trouble more often than not.

— Recovers well if he does lose the leverage battle.

— Hits his targets at the second and third level.

MINUSES

— Athletic to a point, but he needs to keep his technique letter-perfect or things can go south quickly.

— Needs to avoid coming off the snap too upright; when he does, the usual stuff happens.

— Can fall off blocks at times when he loses his feet from under him.

Bill Belichick seems to have doubts about Patriots pick Drake Maye

Bill Belichick weighed in on the Patriots’ pick of Drake Maye

Bill Belichick is analyzing New England Patriots draft picks rather than making them.

The legendary former Pats coach watched Thursday as they selected North Carolina’s Drake Maye with the third overall selection.

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It doesn’t sound as if Belichick would have written that name on the card if he were still picking for Robert Kraft & Co.

Then again, he did choose Mac Jones with a first-round choice a few years ago and that didn’t work out.

Arizona Cardinals select Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr. with the fourth overall pick. Grade: A

The Cardinals hope they have the next Larry Fitzgerald in Marvin Harrison, Jr.

The Cardinals need receivers more than any other NFL teams needs just about anything, and it’s smart of them to go with Marvin Harrison Jr. here. Harrison might not be the most explosive receiver in this class, but he’s got everything else, and when you’re building a receiver room from scratch, that’s what you want. He reminds me of Larry Fitzgerald, another highly-drafted receiver who worked out pretty well for this franchise. 

Marvin Harrison Jr., the son of the former Indianapolis Colts receiver who totaled 1,102 catches on 1,781 targets for 14,580 yards and 128 touchdowns over 13 seasons from 1996 through 2008, was a four-star recruit out of St. Joseph’s High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He chose Ohio State over Syracuse (his father’s alma mater), Florida, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Penn State.

Harrison, thought by most to be the No. 1 receiver prospect in this class, caught 67 passes on 114 targets for the Buckeyes last season for 1,211 yards and 14 touchdowns. On throws of 20 or more air yards, he caught 15 passes on 24 targets for 598 yards and five touchdowns. Harrison is capable of burning defenders on any route, but he ran primarily go, dig, hitch, post, drag, and seam routes.

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PLUSES

— Contested-catch artist who can wriggle out of press coverage by slow-playing cornerbacks and adjusting his moves off the line of scrimmage.

— Has an impeccable understanding of voids in zone/man/match; he’ll become his NFL quarterback’s best friend.

— His release into route stems is absolutely filthy. Basically, covering him all day just sucks.

— Catch radius is also ridiculous. He’ll do as much as any receiver to mitigate inaccurate throws.

MINUSES

— Doesn’t have Tyreek Hill-level burner speed, but it won’t matter because he has so many ways to get open downfield.

— Focus drops can be a problem, even after he’s tied a poor cornerback into knots.

— Could work on blocking.

Harrison is absolutely plug-and-play in the NFL from Day 1. If he had a fifth gear at the third level of a defense, he might be the best player in this class, regardless of position. He has just about everything else.

New England Patriots select North Carolina QB Drake Maye with the third overall pick. Grade: B+

The Patriots have made Drake Maye their next franchise quarterback.

The Mac Jones experiment the Patriots fell into in the Tom Brady Replacement Program didn’t work out, but Drake Maye walks into the building in Foxboro with more to offer than Jones ever did. Maye is incredibly dynamic as a thrower and as a runner, and if he can clean up a few mechanical things, he’ll give the Pats far more of a chance than they’ve had since Brady walked out the door. 

Drake Maye was a four-star recruit out of Myers Park High School in Huntersville, North Carolina, and he eventually chose the option to stay close to home over offers from multiple major programs. He first committed to Alabama, but when Bryce Young also committed to Alabama, North Carolina head coach Mack Brown swept in and scooped Maye up — even enlisting Michael Jordan in the recruiting process.

Maye is projected by many to be either the first or second quarterback selected in the 2024 draft, and the athletic potential is off the charts. In his third season as the Tar Heels’ starter, the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Maye completed 269 passes in 425 attempts for 3,608 yards, 24 touchdowns, nine interceptions, and a passer rating of 100.2.

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As a runner, Maye gained 582 yards and scored nine touchdowns on 41 attempts. On throws of 20 or more air yards, he completed 40 of 85 passes for 1,452 yards, 13 touchdowns, four interceptions, and a passer rating of 113.4. When pressured, Maye completed 39 of 90 passes for 606 yards, seven touchdowns, five interceptions, and a passer rating of 69.0.

PLUSES

— Pocket movement is VERY underrated; he doesn’t automatically run to run under pressure.

— Arm talent and arm strength. Tight-window throws are no problem at all.

— Can make accurate off-platform throws as well as anybody.

MINUSES

— Not an anticipation thrower, and that shows up more than it should. He’ll spray the ball on easy throws FAR too often. My primary concern.

— Arm arrogance and inconsistent mechanics get in his way as a consistent, sustaining quarterback.

— Doesn’t always see things in ways that work; I would love to know where he thinks he’s throwing the ball at times.

Maye is a fascinating quarterback who can make plays where the tape just pops off your screen… but he also has more than enough tape to give you serious concern about his future potential. He’ll need an offensive coordinator and a quarterbacks coach tuned in to his attributes, while minimizing his liabilities. This isn’t a slam-dunk at all.

Commanders select LSU QB Jayden Daniels No. 2 overall in the 2024 NFL draft

Jayden Daniels is a Commander.

The Washington Commanders have found their quarterback of the future. With the second overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, the Commanders selected LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels.

Daniels, the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner, completed 72% of his passes for 3,812 yards with 40 touchdowns and only four interceptions. Daniels also rushed for 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Daniels began his career at Arizona State, where he played for three seasons before transferring to LSU ahead of the 2022 season.

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The 23-year-old Daniels heads to Washington in a quarterback room that features veteran Marcus Mariota and Jake Fromm.

The primary knock on Daniels throughout the pre-draft process was his size. While standing almost 6-foot-4, Daniels weighs 210 pounds, but LSU coach Brian Kelly said Daniels weighed 170 pounds when he arrived in Baton Rouge in 2022.

Since the year 2000, the Commanders have selected No. 2 overall four times: LB LaVar Arrington (2000), QB Robert Griffin III (2012), DE Chase Young (2020) and Daniels.

Washington Commanders select LSU QB Jayden Daniels with the second overall pick. Grade: A+

The Washington Commanders have taken Jayden Daniels with the second overall pick.

Of all the quarterbacks in this draft class, Daniels has more on the ball in terms of the balance between structure from the pocket, and the ability to play above and beyond the Xs and Os. The Commanders had a quarterback very much like this when they selected Robert Griffin III with the second overall pick in 2012. History may be on the way to repeating itself. 

Jayden Daniels turned himself into a four-star recruit out of Cajon High School in San Bernadino, California, despite the fact that he needed a note from a doctor to compete on the freshman and junior varsity teams because he stood 5-foot-11 and weighed 130 pounds. Eventually, he got offers from Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State and UCLA. Daniels first wanted to attend USC, but his relationship with head coach Herm Edwards took him to Arizona State instead. After earning his degree in 2021, Daniels entered the transfer portal, choosing LSU over Oklahoma.

In 2023, Daniels won the Heisman Trophy in a season that saw him complete 236 of 332 passes for 3,811 yards, 40 touchdowns, four interceptions, and a passer rating of 143.7. The combination of a completion rate over 70% (Daniels’ was 71.1%), and a yards per attempt average over 10.0 (Daniels’ was 11.5), throwing 10 times more touchdowns than interceptions? Well, there’s a lot to like here.

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The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Daniels finished his 2023 season with 35 completions of 20 or more air yards in 55 attempts for 1,347 yards, 22 touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 146.8. Under pressure, he completed 25 of 50 passes for 557 yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 123.5. And as a runner, Daniels provided 1,250 yards and 10 touchdowns on just 65 carries — that’s a rather rich 10.4 yards per carry.

There wasn’t much Daniels didn’t do last season at an absurdly high level, and that has planted him in most minds as a high first-round prospect. The tape doesn’t lie, and the tape agrees. Daniels should be seen right up there with (or above) Caleb Williams and Drake Maye (or anybody else) as a true franchise quarterback prospect.

PLUSES

— Responsible for 103 explosive plays last season. There isn’t really a book on how to stop him at this point.

— The best deep fade thrower in this class by a mile.

— Took major steps forward as a pure passer in 2023.

— Full-field reader who can go from touchdown to checkdown and vice versa

— Most of his 17 explosive runs last season were by design; he’s not just scrambling and bailing back there.

MINUSES

— There is a Wile E. Coyote aspect to his predilection to take cartoonishly bad hits in the open field. He needs Tua’s ju-jitsu guy.

— Occasional delays in processing will have him making inaccurate throws on easy stuff, especially in quick game.

— Has an extra hitch at times when he’s indecisive that allows coverage to converge. Could throw his receivers open more consistently.

Easy first-pick grade here. This is all subjective, but I can’t think of a 2024 prospect I’d want more in my facility were I a QB coach.

Grading the Bears’ selection of QB Caleb Williams

The Bears found their new QB in Caleb Williams. Here’s how we graded the pick.

The Chicago Bears have chosen the next face of the franchise with the selection of USC quarterback Caleb Williams with the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, blazing forth a new era of Bears football.

The selection comes as a surprise to no one, as the team has been linked to Williams since the end of last season, when it became certain that Chicago would hold top priority in this year’s draft.

While the wider NFL world considered Williams’ union with the Bears inevitable, the decision was not so cut-and-dry for the team’s front office, as there was rampant internal debate on whether the Bears should keep Justin Fields and possible forgo taking a highly-touted QB in the draft.

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The allure of Williams’ generational talent won out, and general manager Ryan Poles promptly arranged a trade that sent Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for a 2025 conditional sixth-round pick. The deal was done, and Chicago’s future was settled; they would tie their fate to Williams with the hope that he can end a 38-year Super Bowl drought and bring home the Lombardi trophy.

It’s an understatement to say that this is a home-run pick for the Bears. They fix their biggest and most immediate problem by plugging in an immensely talented passer who will start on Day 1; furthermore, the team has surrounded Williams with a roster that is ready to win now.

The rookie will have a supporting cast that features electric playmakers like DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and D’Andre Swift, and he’ll be complemented by a stingy defense that asserted themselves as one of the better defenses in the NFL in the second half of the 2023 season.

All of that is not accounting for what the Bears will do later in the first round of this draft and beyond. Williams is coming to a Chicago team that is ready to take the leap; it’s up to Williams to be the final piece of the puzzle and bring immediate success to the Bears.

Grade: A+