Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels' third season in the NFL might be the most crucial one of his career. By this time next year, the verdict from the football world will be in.
He'll either be seen as one of the league's top rising young superstars or an injury-prone one-year wonder who had no answers after opposing teams got tape on him.
It's imperative for Washington that Daniels can prove the 2024 version of himself is the real one. It won't be easy, and further complicating matters is that he'll have to do it while learning a significantly different offense.
Thankfully, new coordinator David Blough seems to know exactly what his quarterback needs.
The Commanders are taking a leap of faith by promoting Blough, who, until last November, was only the assistant quarterbacks coach.
Quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard left to take the head coaching job at Stanford, and then the former Detroit Lions and Arizona Cardinals quarterback was given another raise after Washington parted ways with Kliff Kingsbury.
Blough is only three years removed from being on an NFL roster, but teams have raved about his potential in the coaching ranks. His first big litmus test as a coordinator will be fixing what went wrong with Daniels last season.
Jayden Daniels is learning a new offense and playbook.
— Scott Abraham (@Scott7news) June 2, 2026
So far, so good.
OC David Blough said, "just trying to open his eyes maybe under center to some of the play action concepts...we are not creating essentially new concepts. We are just asking him to do different things." pic.twitter.com/7EngISWyeJ
Last season, Kingsbury did not put Daniels in positions to succeed. He repeatedly failed to establish the run, and his quarterback had to play superhero with a decimated wide receiver room that couldn't create separation. He was scrambling even more often than he did as a rookie, and there were very few schematic adjustments to make life easier for him.
Kingsbury ran his offense last year as if it were still 2024. For someone whose fatal flaw as a head coach was that his strategies would get exposed throughout the season, it was grounds for a change.
Enter Blough, who hopes to bring a multi-dimensional offense to Washington that will involve making Daniels into a more well-rounded field general.
Blough will likely run his unit similarly to the Lions and the Chicago Bears under Ben Johnson. That will involve play action, the run game, and sets with multiple tight ends. As for Daniels, it means he'll have to get a little uncomfortable.
And that's exactly what he and Washington need. Daniels has shown a willingness to learn new skills. With Blough pushing him to expand his game, the Commanders should be in great shape.
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