For the eighth consecutive year, the Commanders will have a different starting quarterback on opening day. This one, though, has the fan base more excited than they have been since at least 2012 when Robert Griffin III arrived to town.
Jayden Daniels, the No. 2 overall pick, won the Heisman Trophy last season at LSU.
His presence, along with other moves the team made this offseason, gives the Commanders hope of winning now.
“He’s an absolute stud out there slinging it,” running back Austin Ekeler told Tom Pelissero of NFL Media. “I love his leadership that he’s shown early on. You know, he’s texting me about routes, he’s calling me out in practice, ‘Hey, Ek, this is what we need to do on this,’ or ‘What did you see on this choice route?’
“He’s got all of the right stuff that I love to see from a quarterback that he’s been bringing out in the first couple weeks that I’ve met him. Looking forward to his growth, and we have a lot of veterans like you mentioned that we brought in to help set the culture.”
The Commanders haven’t reached the playoffs since 2020 and have not won double-digit games since 2012. They are hoping for a Texans-type revival with a new coach and a rookie quarterback who was the second overall pick.
There’s a lot that goes into it before the Commanders get to January, or even September.
“It’s not even about NFC East, not about the Super Bowl -- it’s about what we have right now in the locker room,” said Ekeler, who left the Chargers to sign with the Commanders in free agency. “I can’t even see that far out. For me, it’s how do we establish a culture that brings the team together. That is the phase we’re in right now.
“I’m thinking how can we become the best team possible right now while we’re just together with each other because we have a lot of new pieces; we’ve got a lot of new parts. I don’t care about what happened last year. That’s how we’re judged in this league, absolutely, on what have you done for me lately. Well, that’s in the past. We have a new opportunity as a team to move forward. I’m not going to sit up here and say this is what we’re going to go do. I don’t care what we’re going to go do in the future. I’m too focused on now. I’m focused on right now because that is going to lead to what goes on in the future, which is what we want to do.
“Yes, we want to go in a direction to win games, but it doesn’t matter unless you take care of the opportunity right now, which is build the culture, build everyone up as far as being a good teammate, being bought into some type of standard, some type of culture, accountability, all these different things you need to go and make a run, and then we will proceed to the next thing.”