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Former Commanders coach Ron Rivera went on ESPN to talk all things NFL and when asked what Washington should do with the No. 2 overall draft pick, he said he prefers LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels.
ESPN’s show, “NFL Live,” displayed a graphic showing analyst Jordan Reid’s second mock draft of the season. He had UNC quarterback Drake Maye as his selection for the Commanders with the second pick in the draft.
“The big thing … that you have to look at is the style offense they are going to run though. You’ve got Kliff Kingsbury, a guy that likes the mobile quarterback, the quarterback that can move in the pocket, that can make the plays when they’re downfield and throw the football,” Rivera said.
Kingsbury is the Commanders’ new offensive coordinator after spending a year assisting USC and projected top prospect in quarterback Caleb Williams.
Mobile quarterbacks expose themselves to unnecessary punishment when on the run, so being able to withstand the rigors of the NFL is a question all quarterback prospects must answer in some form.
Rivera isn’t concerned about Daniels and his less-than-prototypical physique. Daniels is listed at 6-foot-4 and weighing 210 pounds, according to ESPN, but Josh Kendall at The Athletic believes Daniels hovers around 6-foot-2 and looks to be under 200 pounds.
Daniels, who combined for 50 total touchdowns for LSU in 2023, was one of two players to decline his height and weight to be taken at the NFL Combine. There’s no word yet if Daniels will put the questions about his varying measurements to rest at the LSU Pro Day set for March 27.
Has Ron Rivera Connected the Kliff Kingsbury Dots for Commanders?
Settling on a prospect due to a single attribute is not a great way to evaluate quarterbacks but Rivera has made an interesting connection between a skillset and success.
Although Kingsbury only spent one season as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Texas A&M University in 2012, freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel set college football on fire by running Kingsbury’s Air Raid system to perfection en route to a Heisman Trophy-winning campaign.
That led Kingsbury to become the head coach at Texas Tech University. Although Tech never won more than eight games in a season, quarterback Patrick Mahomes, now a multiple-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, ran for 22 touchdowns in his final two seasons in Lubbock.
In his first stint in the NFL, Kingsbury traded away quarterback Josh Rosen, whom the Cardinals had selected in the previous draft with the 10th overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft.
He did so that he could draft quarterback Kyler Murray with the first overall selection in the 2019 draft. Before the marriage dissolved and Kingsbury was fired, Murray’s best attribute was his ability to run the football and extend plays.
While the Commanders have yet to identify which scheme they want to run on offense, the skillset Rivera talks about has a distinct correlation to Kingsbury and his success.
The former Commanders coach’s tenure didn’t go as planned, but dismissing his opinion after closely working with both regimes in Washington should hold value when debating the direction Washington should take.
Ron Rivera’s Top Prospect for the Commanders
The context in which Rivera made his pick is with the understanding USC quarterback Williams would be gone with the first overall pick. If available, there is little doubt he would be the top choice for the former headman in D.C.
By bringing them up first, it sounds like Rivera is high on both Williams and Daniels, yet the inflection in his voice changes with his third quarterback.
Standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 223 pounds, UNC quarterback Drake Maye carries a more prototypical build. With a minimal injury history in college, concerns over his health in the NFL aren’t as big as they are for Daniels.
While Daniels is the more dynamic runner comparatively to the other top QB prospects, Maye is more mobile than some think. He ran for 16 touchdowns in his final two seasons in Chapel Hill.
His 302 career carries for 1,209 yards without missing a game due to injury highlights Maye’s ability to run the football and stay off the injury report.
Rivera appears to be on something by talking about mobility, the only problem is all three quarterbacks have the skillset needed to be successful in a Kingsbury offense.
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