The Commanders didn’t take Jayden Daniels with the second overall pick for him to spend an extended period of time on the bench, but Daniels isn’t taking the starting quarterback job for granted.
Marcus Mariota signed with the Commanders this offseason and has experience as a starter that will give him at least a nominal chance of winning a competition for the job before September. Head coach Dan Quinn said on Friday that there’s “no timeline” to name Daniels the starter and the incoming rookie said he’s prepared to go out and win the job in the coming months.
“It is not a given I’m a starter Week One,” Daniels said, via John Keim of ESPN.com. “I got to earn it. I got to learn the playbook, earn the respect of my teammates, and go out there and try to win football games.”
It would be a major upset if Daniels isn’t starting for the Commanders in the season opener, but the team is likely happy to hear that he isn’t taking it for granted.