It wasn’t exactly Jayden Daniels or bust for the Washington Commanders in the 2024 NFL draft, but the NFC East franchise was never going to take Drake Maye instead.
That’s according to ESPN Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter. He revealed to “The Pat McAfee Show” how “the Commanders, the two quarterbacks they had in consideration at 2 were Jayden Daniels and J.J. McCarthy. Drake Maye wasn’t going 2.”
Things played out in a pretty straightforward way during the draft’s opening round. The Commanders took Heisman Trophy winner Daniels with the second-overall pick, one spot before the New England Patriots selected Maye. McCarthy, meanwhile, heard his name called when the Minnesota Vikings made him the 10th player taken.
Schefter’s assessment of what the Commanders planned underlines the belief they had in Daniels. It also sets up this pick to be judged against how Daniels and Maye compare throughout their respective careers.
Commanders Resisted Drake Maye Temptation
Maye is arguably a better pure passer than Daniels, but Peters wasn’t about to be swayed. Instead, the Commanders’ general manager told McAfee, “we knew this one for a long time, Pat.”
What’s interesting is how close Daniels and Maye are in terms of their respective skill-sets. Both are strong-armed, mobile signal-callers.
Maye averaged 8.4 yards per attempt through the air at North Carolina, while also rushing for 1,209 yards and 16 touchdowns. Daniels’ numbers were also impressive in both phases, averaging 8.9 yards as a passer in college, but also topping 1,000 yards on the ground during his final season at LSU.
There wasn’t much to choose between Daniels and Maye, but the Commanders knew who they wanted. Peters and head coach Dan Quinn stood firm on their evaluation of two similar quarterbacks.
What’s ironic is how drafting McCarthy would have represented an entirely different direction.
J.J. McCarthy Would’ve Changed Commanders Draft
Putting McCarthy into the lineup would have put another slant on Washington’s draft class, but he was still considered a potential surprise pick. There were plenty of whispers the Commanders would choose McCarthy ahead of more touted prospects.
That’s despite an absence of similarities between McCarthy and Maye, as well as between McCarthy and Daniels. The national champion at Michigan is more of an efficient game manager used to a traditional, pro-style offense.
By choosing Daniels, Peters and Quinn have instead set the stage for a more creative brand of offense. A system likely to be built around Daniels’ rushing skills and boom-or-bust arm talent.
Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury knows how to spread the field and manufacture big plays for a dual-threat QB1. It’s what he did for Kyler Murray with the Arizona Cardinals, before helping refine No. 1 pick Caleb Williams’ game at USC.
Pairing Kingsbury with Daniels, not McCarthy, means the Commanders will be built for speed and athleticism. The latter trait was typified by the Next Gen Stats scores of many members of Washington’s draft class that included “a league-high six players with an NGS athleticism score of 80 or higher.”
Seven of the Commanders’ draftees “had an average athleticism score of 83, 2nd-highest by any team.”
The athletic profile of players Peters wanted is obvious, and choosing Daniels ahead of Maye and McCarthy set the tone for how a new regime intends to rebuild the Commanders.
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