Jayden Daniels rushed for 88 yards and scored two touchdowns in his NFL debut Sunday against the Buccaneers.
Daniels carried the ball 16 times in his first NFL game. But that wasn’t the plan going in. The Commanders never would’ve predicted Daniels would carry the football 16 times. Several of his rushing attempts were scrambles when either the pocket broke down or he left the pocket prematurely. Some designed runs were mixed in, too, but far fewer than the box score indicated.
Head coach Dan Quinn wants to see that number go way down, and he believes it will as Daniels continues to develop as an NFL passer.
“Certainly not all of those are designed quarterback runs,” Quinn said Monday. “I think that’s important to say, but I think he’d be the first to say the same thing. To say, ‘I had a chance to go rip it to somebody else.’ Sometimes you can see a rush or a pattern break and there’s open space and you go. For him, create it when it’s there, when you can get outside the pocket.”
Quinn’s words indicate that he and Daniels likely saw opportunities for him to throw the ball after looking back at the tape instead of running. But it’s not a concern.
“We’d love to see him remain a passer first, and I think it’s going to come with more experience, honestly,” Quinn said. “When I can go extend it to throw it, when, ‘Hey, this play’s over, I’ll get rid of it and move on to the next play.’ So, I think you’ll see that trajectory continue as we go. Certainly, 18 (16) carries is not the model that we’re looking for, certainly with Brian (Robinson Jr.) and Austin (Ekeler), and others here. But at the end of it, I do think we’ll continue to grow in that spot. But certainly not by design to have that many.”
First and foremost, it’s all about making plays. If Daniels can pick up 30 yards on the ground, the coaches want him to do it. They drafted him because of his dual-threat abilities. However, they want these types of runs to be more of a last resort than to run at any hint of trouble.
One positive from Sunday’s 16-carry performance is that NFL defenses will need to pay even more attention to Daniels running the ball, potentially opening up more opportunities in the passing game.
The Commanders host the New York Giants on Sunday in Daniels’ first NFL home game.
