As the 2024 NFL Draft closes in, and the general football-loving audience grows smarter with every passing year, it’s a little easier to distinguish what is a so-called “smokescreen” and what is genuine buzz around certain prospects. When it comes to LSU Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels, he’s been the favorite to go No. 2 overall to the Washington Commanders, with Caleb Williams to the Bears being a 99.9999% certainty.
But the Commanders’ new leadership put a unique twist on their pre-draft visiting process by bringing in all the top QBs for a mix and mingle before meeting with them individually.
A fascinating detail: the Commanders are hosting LSU QB Jayden Daniels, North Carolina QB Drake Maye, Michigan QB JJ McCarthy and Washington QB Michael Penix on their 30 visits TOGETHER tonight and tomorrow, per sources.
They're part of a much larger group of prospects coming.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) April 16, 2024
According to ESPN’s preeminent NFL insider Adam Schefter, this whole situation might’ve rubbed Daniels and/or his camp the wrong way, to the point where it might’ve alienated him from landing with Washington.
Schefter on Jayden Daniels visit with WAS "It didn't seem to go over too well with his agent who sounded off on social media that he didn't seem particularly pleased with the process. Daniels thought it would be a visit for just him, but WAS essentially opened up the process." pic.twitter.com/Y69c7pFcUN
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) April 19, 2024
Schefter "Jayden Daniels since the outset has had an interest in being other places. He just has. There have been plenty of players who have wanted to play elsewhere and teams don't care. They do what they do. I still think he's the favorite go to 2" https://t.co/hy2CZqmJ5o
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) April 19, 2024
Again, we should take all these silly subplots with a grain of salt, because they’re more often than not trivialities that don’t mean much in the end. Nevertheless, picking a franchise QB high in the draft is a years-spanning decision that impacts the entire organization, and the rest of the NFL for that matter. What the Commanders do at No. 2 will dictate how the rest of the draft unfolds, and they’ll have their pick of the litter among the best college QBs once Williams goes off the board.
An added layer to this Daniels controversy is the fact that his agent, Ron Butler, “liked” a couple suspicious posts on X/Twitter.
Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk bashes the #Commanders for bringing in 4 QB prospects all at once rather than individually:
“Why would you dilute your ability to get maximum time, and just the opportunity to evaluate, you're trying to evaluate four guys at once?" pic.twitter.com/u8HDqiTzgN
— brandon (@DrakeMayeMVP) April 17, 2024
How many companies do this? Puts them around their peers? Bring players from the team along and see how they interact. Who the fuck cares how they interact with players they will never play with? This doesn’t make sense to me.
— DG_28 (@A82Dg) April 17, 2024
Take from those what you will. It’s rather noteworthy, too, that in the aftermath of all this, North Carolina’s Drake Maye has suddenly become a real contender to unseat Daniels as the second QB drafted, per the latest odds:
We've got some MASSIVE line movement with Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/8OEcECPlpc
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 19, 2024
Those sportsbook numbers are highly speculative, yet they don’t come from out of thin air. Somebody may or may not know something, or there’s at least enough doubt around Daniels’ future to skew the lines Maye’s way. Additionally, Michigan signal-caller JJ McCarthy is by no means out of the mix for Washington. Remember this report from less than a month ago?
The belief amongst executives who know #Commanders GM Adam Peters is that the pick will be J.J. McCarthy at #2 overall (@TomPelissero). pic.twitter.com/0icibzRdEG
— uSTADIUM (@uSTADIUM) March 25, 2024
Now that could be a total smokescreen, but who really knows?
“NFL insiders told me repeatedly is that there are people within that organization that , even before lying season, made it clear that they thought JJ McCarthy was the best quarterback on the board.”
McCarthy to the #Commanders?? 🤔 https://t.co/ruM52YrBm6
— Casey Baker (@_CaseyBaker) April 19, 2024
With Daniels’ lean build, reckless running style, and loaded supporting cast at LSU — on top of how this pre-draft visit may or may not have went over — you could see the Commanders talking themselves into McCarthy. So-called “QB charting” can be paralysis by analysis to me a lot of the time. That said, this little anecdote on Daniels is interesting:
also this is Jayden Daniels' pressure response. This is legitimately crazy. I've never had a QB prospect under 40% stand and deliver before, and certainly not a Round 1 guy. https://t.co/VtRiMX5hTO pic.twitter.com/9pppboSa9s
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) April 17, 2024
The Commies, too, could easily be scared off by Maye’s innate inaccuracy and myriad YOLO throws on his tape and opt for a “proven winner” like McCarthy, who comes from a pro-style offense and led Michigan to a national championship.
If he isn’t off the board to Washington at No. 2, there’s no telling what teams might do to come up and get Daniels. The Vikings, Broncos and Raiders all need a QB and pick at Nos. 11, 12 and 13 respectively. I’d be surprised if either of the AFC West teams moved up for Maye or McCarthy, but Daniels might be worth the move. I still have Daniels penciled in at No. 2 like Schefter, yet these recent developments have me thinking of other possible scenarios.
Somebody do this to me and just get me to Thursday for draft night already.
