TEMPE, Ariz. — The optimism in Washington for rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels was steadily brewing through the season’s first two games. The buzz reached fever pitch on Monday night after Daniels threw an amazing fade ball to beat an all-out blitz, icing the Commanders’ upset win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Intrigue now lies in how the Week 3 NFC Offensive Player of the Week improves moving forward — and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury’s role in Daniels’ development.
Daniels put together a nearly perfect statistical game. He completed 93 percent of his passes, threw for a pair of touchdowns and ran in another. What’s most impressive about the start of his career is how he’s already improved on weaknesses in his college scouting report and how you can see him learning from his mistakes in real time.
The same couldn’t be said for Daniels’ offensive coordinator when he was the Cardinals’ head coach. We saw Kingsbury and his offense start off hot in Arizona with Kyler Murray only to hit a wall after relying too much on the shifty quarterback’s ability to create plays. Will his system adapt further in his second stint in the NFL to aid and develop Daniels?
There’s a reason why the former Texas Tech star quarterback, under “Air Raid” innovator Mike Leach and later the Red Raiders head coach with a future star named Patrick Mahomes, took a year off from the NFL and returned to college. Kingsbury spent 2023 as an offensive assistant under Southern California head coach Lincoln Riley. This wasn’t Kingsbury retreating from the spotlight after the 4-13 stumble with the 2022 Cardinals led to his firing after four seasons. Life in Los Angeles was akin to a sabbatical.
Kingsbury took time to “reevaluate some of my processes and how I operate,” he said at his February introductory press conference with Washington. As the Commanders prepare for Sunday’s meeting with the Cardinals this week in Arizona, Kingsbury filled in some of the tinkering plans. He spent that year studying “a bunch of NFL film” and picking the brain of Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken, who jumped from the same role with the University of Georgia the year prior.
Kingsbury also used his front-row seat with the Trojans to examine Riley’s schemes that were used in recent years with two Heisman Trophy winners, Caleb Williams and Baker Mayfield, along with Jalen Hurts. Being around the college players and getting to be the “good cop” for a season “reenergized” and “remotivated” the offensive-minded thinker.
“I tried to figure out, ‘Hey, if I’m going to do this again, how can we take the next step and be better moving forward?’” Kingsbury said Thursday before practice at Arizona State’s facilities. He believes the time on Riley’s staff “made me a better coach.” The payoff is showing over the opening three games with Daniels.
“(Jayden) plays with an attacking mentality. That’s what you want, and that’s what this offense is based upon,” Kingsbury told The Athletic following an August joint practice in Miami. “That’s the way he likes to play.”
Of course, Daniels is not Murray. There are even some things he’s already doing better than Murray did early in his career like attacking the middle of the field — something Daniels didn’t do often at LSU. Yahoo Sports’ Nate Tice wrote that Daniels didn’t look entirely comfortable and was hesitant to attack the middle of the field in college.
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According to Tice, “Daniels threw over the intermediate part of the field (10-22 yards) and between the numbers on only 9.3 percent of his dropbacks, which ranked 163rd out of 196 qualifying college quarterbacks since 2019.”
In three games, Daniels hasn’t attacked the middle of the field often (21st in attempts between the numbers) but he’s been efficient when he has — third in expected points added (EPA) per pass attempt among quarterbacks with at least 50 overall pass attempts, according to TruMedia.
Week 2, 8:16 remaining in the second quarter, first-and-10
In Week 2 against the Giants, the Commanders had a dagger concept called in which Daniels looked to Terry McLaurin running the deep post to his left first.
McLaurin beat the corner, but the free safety was in position to make a play if Daniels threw it. Instead of getting to his next progression, Daniels tucked the ball and scrambled.
If he got through his progressions, he would have found receiver Dyami Brown wide open running a dig route.
Kingsbury called a similar concept the following week against the Bengals but with a different route on the front side.
Week 3, 12:15 remaining in the second quarter, second-and-10
Instead of a deep post, Daniels would first look to tight end Zach Ertz running a stick route.
Daniels saw Ertz was covered and looked to McLaurin, who ran the through route this time but was covered.
Daniels then got to this third read, which was Luke McCaffrey running a dig route. McCaffrey did a good job of settling into the zone. Daniels was on the same page and connected for a gain of 11 yards. All rookies make mistakes, but you want to see them quickly learn from them. Daniels does.
Kingsbury has plenty of experience coaching mobile quarterbacks. His first move after being hired by the Cardinals in 2019 was to oust former top-10 pick Josh Rosen to draft Murray with the No. 1 overall pick. Like Daniels, Murray was very productive in the air and on the ground out of the gate. Kingsbury’s Cardinals offenses with Murray had their highs but had limitations and it eventually plateaued.
But Kingsbury hadn’t coached in the NFL before being hired by the Cardinals. Now with the Commanders, he can build on this next iteration of his offense based on his experience.
Before Monday night’s game, Bengals corner Cam Taylor-Britt said Washington had a “college offense” and though it could be taken as a slight, he’s not wrong. Of course, “professional” concepts are mixed in, but it’s as close to a college offense as you’ll find in the league. You still have to stop that college offense though and the Bengals did not come close as the Commanders scored on every single one of their drive.
The Cardinals led the league under Kingsbury in no-huddle snaps by a huge margin — they nearly doubled the number of snaps of the second-closest teams. Using tempo is a great way to keep defensive looks simplified because it minimizes communication and can cause defensive mistakes but there are drawbacks. It limits what you can do offensively and if the offense isn’t moving the ball, you’re creating quick three-and-outs and putting a lot of stress on your defense.
Because the Cardinals went no-huddle so much, the receivers rarely moved around the formation or switched sides. Both themes have continued with the Commanders. In three games, the Commanders lead the league in no-huddle snaps by a wide margin and McLaurin has lined up out wide to the left on 76 percent of snaps through three weeks, which falls in line with receiver DeAndre Hopkins’ splits when he played in Kingsbury’s Arizona offense.
One of the reasons to move around receivers is to create mismatches, making it harder for defenses to double or bring extra attention to your top receiver. McLaurin had eight receptions for 39 yards in the first two games.
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“Yeah, I mean defensive coordinators are smart,” Kingsbury said when asked about McLaurin’s early lack of production. “They’re going to try to take him away, there’s no doubt. And that’s my job to find ways to answer that. And so far, I haven’t done a great job of it. And as a staff and me, we got to be better moving forward.”
Kingsbury adjusted and moved him around more against the Bengals. McLaurin only lined up left on the outside on 61 percent of his snaps, the lowest of the season.
Early in the fourth quarter against Cincinnati, Kingsbury lined up McLaurin in the slot to run a fade on third-and-5. He likely was trying to match up McLaurin with the Bengals’ nickel corner but Taylor-Britt followed him inside. The Bengals brought a cover 0 blitz and McLaurin was open but Daniels missed him.
On Daniels’ game-sealing touchdown throw to McLaurin, Kingsbury lined him up to the right. Presumably, Kingsbury wanted to match up McLaurin with Dax Hill, the Bengals’ No. 2 corner.
Week 3, 2:14 remaining in the fourth quarter, third-and-7
The defense was in a cover 0 blitz and on these blitzes, corners play off coverage and sit on routes with their vision on the quarterback, ready to jump short throws. With an all-out blitz, the assumption is that the quarterback will be forced to throw the ball quickly. Running a double move will almost assuredly beat the coverage but the problem is having enough time to make the throw. Double moves take time.
The Commanders couldn’t block everyone and Daniels had to deal with an unblocked rusher but he let the ball go early with anticipation and hit McLaurin perfectly in the end zone.
JAYDEN DANIELS. TERRY MCLAURIN. THE COMMANDERS.
📺: #WASvsCIN on ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus and ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/bP5qrpGN8q— NFL (@NFL) September 24, 2024
Usually, NFL teams like to hit underneath routes against this coverage because they are safer, and if a receiver can break a tackle, there’s no last line of defense. However, Kingsbury likes to answer cover 0 with verticals.
In 2021, against then-Vikings coach Mike Zimmer’s aggressive blitzing scheme, Kingsbury had slot receiver Christian Kirk run an inside vertical on fourth-and-5.
2021, Week 2, 6:12 remaining in the fourth quarter, fourth-and-5
Murray retreated to buy time before tossing up a beautiful moonball to Kirk for a 35-yard completion.
Another criticism of Kingsbury’s offense was its reliance on Murray’s ability to create plays throwing or running out of structure. Currently, Daniels leads the league in scramble rate and scramble yards. He’s also taken a lot of hits. Ideally, as he continues to develop as a passer, he won’t have to scramble as much.
Daniels has also been effective in designed quarterback runs. Though Kingsbury has a reputation as an air raid coach, he’s built strong, creative run games. Kingsbury’s Cardinals ranked sixth in offensive rushing success rate and the Commanders rank 10th in the same metric this season.
Also, from 2019-2022, the Cardinals ranked second in the league in throws at or behind the line of scrimmage (26.1 percent). This season, the Commanders rank third in the same metric (36.8 percent). The Commanders call a ton of screens. Part of it is to protect, the offensive line but part of it is an element of Kingsbury’s system.
Essentially, the offense in its current state doesn’t look much different than it did in Arizona but it’s in its early stages. Kingsbury is keeping the menu small for Daniels and it looks like he’s playing freely.
“The one major thing I try to do is make sure this was year one of the Commanders’ offense, not year five of the Arizona Cardinals,” Kingsbury said. “You want to start back with a real base install and then build it and grow it and go from there.”
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The rookie quarterback in Washington’s preseason opener, facing his first third down on his first NFL drive, notably checked out of the called screen pass and completed a 42-yard pass. While the choice spooked head coach Dan Quinn — the real-time goal was about protecting Daniels behind a thin offensive line — the choice highlighted Daniels’ confidence.
Kingsbury didn’t try keeping the rookie in check with heavy-handed instructions the following week. Instead, he encouraged Daniels to adjust the plays as needed. Daniels may be inexperienced on the NFL stage, but his mature decision-making and desire for “the ball in his hands” had already impressed the staff.
Washington linebacker Bobby Wagner, having spent his entire career in the NFC West before signing with the Commanders this offseason, got plenty of experience against the Cardinals during Kingsbury’s four years with Murray. What impressed the future Hall of Famer then continues as the coach tutors a new rising QB star.
“(Kliff) always does a good job of highlighting a player’s talents,” Wagner said. “Whatever Kyler did really well, he found a way to highlight that and he’s doing the same thing here. That’s the thing I’ve always been most impressed with.”
The conversation between Kingsbury and Daniels — McLaurin also had input on the touchdown play — has continued.
“We don’t want to run any bad plays,” Daniels said, “but I have the freedom to go out there to do stuff to get us in the right play within the structure of the offense.”
While Daniels is developing fast, the question is how will Kingsbury’s offense expand. The important part is he knew that the questions must be asked and answered.
“I had a lot of time on my hands,” Kingsbury said, “and hopefully evolved a little bit.”
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(Top photo: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)
