New Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has certainly coached his share of athletically amazing quarterbacks. He had that Patrick Mahomes guy at Texas Tech from 2014 through 2017, and Baker Mayfield for a year before that. He had Kyler Murray from 2019 through 2022 when Kingsbury was the Arizona Cardinals’ head coach, and Murray was the first overall pick in the 2019 draft. Last season as USC’s senior offensive analyst, he worked closely with 2024 first overall pick Caleb Williams.
Now, Kingsbury gets to work with 2024 second overall pick Jayden Daniels as his new franchise quarterback, and when you look at Kingsbury’s offenses over the years at Arizona, the fit could be fascinating.
First of all, Kingsbury wasn’t always beholden to spread concepts. Yes, the Cardinals ranked first in usage of 10 personnel in his first year there (a whopping 32%), but by 2022, Arizona was running barely any four-receiver stuff — this was now an 11 personnel team with more two-tight end formations than anybody would have expected. There were a few things Kingsbury wanted to do with Murray that he couldn’t always do, but Daniels should be able to fill those roles more than estimably.
We’ll start with quarterback draws, which Murray could do pretty well, and Daniels can do to an extreme degree. Last season, Daniels had 12 quarterback draw runs, and got plays of 12, 14, 17, 27, 35, and 40 yards out of them.
Kliff Kingsbury: I would like a quarterback who can demolish defenses with draws
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) May 5, 2024
Jayden Daniels: I got you, coach. pic.twitter.com/07m2OCquEq
Most of the time, Arizona’s fade balls were disasters. They weren’t throws Murray was comfortable making, and as a result, Murray’s receivers were in bad placed to catch them more often than not. When I watched tape with Daniels last December (the day before he won the Heisman Trophy), we specifically discussed his amazing accuracy with fade balls. Because he’s a better fade thrower than anybody else in this class, and there aren’t many NFL quarterbacks to rival Daniels’ oeuvre in this regard.
Kliff Kingsbury: I would like a quarterback who can competently throw a fade ball, and a receiver who can catch it
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) May 5, 2024
Jayden Daniels: Coach, I think we'll be fine
Terry McLaurin: Coach, there is no evidence of an accurate fade ball thrown in my direction, but I have faith pic.twitter.com/ojG5iyqZIY
Daniels is also a much better progression passer than you might expect, especially from the pocket. This is not a quarterback who bails when things get tricky. Last season from the pocket, Daniels completed 208 of 288 passes for 3,311 yards, 1,802 air yards, 35 touchdowns, four interceptions, and a passer rating of 144.0. No other NCAA quarterback had a better passer rating from the pocket than Daniels did, so before you rush to judge him as a run-around guy just because he’s an athletic freak… well, there’s more on the ball here than you might have recognized. And his average throw depth from the pocket was 9.8 yards, so this wasn’t dink-and-dunk.
Kliff Kingsbury: I would also like a quarterback who can go through his progressions without imploding like Ren & Stimpy in "Space Madness"
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) May 5, 2024
Jayden Daniels: Coach, I got this pic.twitter.com/IOlCrS4G7o
“What’s great about Kliff is he can really mold the offense around anyone,” Commanders general manager Adam Peters said of the new combination. “He’s gonna build the offense around Jayden. And he’s worked with a lot of athletic quarterbacks, so he knows how to do that and there’s some terminology carry over… They’ve discussed a little bit of that, so they’re already vibing, and it’s gonna be a really great marriage with him and really all of our offensive coaches.”
The vibe could be quite something when it manifests itself on the field.
