The Washington Commanders are taking a quarterback in the 2024 NFL draft. They may say otherwise, but Washington’s moves this offseason tell you everything is set up to select a quarterback at No. 2 overall in this month’s draft.
USC quarterback Caleb Williams is most likely going No. 1 overall to the Chicago Bears. That means Washington has three intriguing choices at No. 2: Drake Maye (North Carolina), Jayden Daniels (LSU) and J.J. McCarthy (Michigan).
We’ve all heard the rumors linking Washington to each one of the young passers. That’s likely by design. Commanders general manager Adam Peters wants to keep everyone guessing.
What is Washington looking for in a young quarterback? Head coach Dan Quinn kept it simple.
“I think number one, just a relentless ‘dawg’ competitor, and like that has to be at the top of the list because to play this position, there’s going to be highs and lows,” Quinn told Chick Hernandez of WUSA9 at Jayden Daniels’ pro day last week.
“You better have resilience. You better be able to really lock in when it gets really hard because that’s going to happen.”
One final time, Quinn said you need to be an “elite contributor.”
Maye, Daniels and McCarthy all fit that to a tee. In some of the interviews he’s done with different outlets, Maye mentions how his competitive spirit began when he was young, being the youngest of four brothers, who all ended up as college athletes.