3 sparks that could ignite the Commanders offense in 2024

Commanders must give Jayden Daniels freedom

There's no way around it. No matter what someone puts on tape in college, when they get to the NFL it is a completely different game.

There's no way to know for sure who a player is going to be. Often the only thing a team can do after doing their research is to develop a game plan and then watch like the rest of us how they perform under the bright lights.

Sometimes a quarterback like Russell Wilson gets drafted into a perfect scenario as late as the third round and turns out to be a future Pro Football Hall of Famer. Sometimes a quarterback gets taken No. 1 overall like JaMarcus Russell and becomes arguably the biggest bust in NFL history.

A lot of these things are out of the hands of even the coaches. College tape simply doesn't always translate to the NFL.

Besides instilling in him the desire to not take unnecessary hits, the best thing the Washington Commanders can do is to let Jayden Daniels play freely. Let him be himself. He is a true unicorn in the sense that he is an exceptionally athletic quarterback who also shows great accuracy. He also has shown a growing ability to read defenses and go through progressions.

Despite the recent roster additions, if the Commanders are going to become a future power, it is going to involve Daniels becoming one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. If that is going to happen, a rare talent like him can't be ushered into the league with training wheels unless he is going to back up a good starter. That's not the case here.

If Daniels is allowed to be creative and play with the verve he displayed at LSU, the Commanders are perhaps one wide receiver away from having a seriously explosive offense.