Rookie QB Showdown Featuring Commanders Given Top 10 Status

Getty Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels.

The Washington Commanders haven’t had a lot of eyes on the franchise in recent years — it’s what happens when your team hasn’t had a winning season in almost a decade.

In 2024, with a new head coach, sort-of new owners, a new general manager and a new franchise quarterback … things could be shifting.

Yahoo! Sports’ Frank Schwab listed the Commanders’ Week 8 home game on Oct. 27 against the Chicago Bears at No. 9 on his list of the Top 10 regular-season matchups in 2024 — a game that will likely feature the top two picks in the 2024 NFL draft squaring off for the first time.

Chicago selected USC quarterback and 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams No. 1 and Washington selected LSU quarterback and 2023 Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels at No. 2.

“Maybe this isn’t a matchup between teams we’ll see in the playoffs this season, but we get to watch the top two picks of the draft square off,” Schwab wrote. “No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams starts a brand new era with the Bears. The Commanders grabbed their quarterback of the future with the second pick in Jayden Daniels. It’s also notable that the Bears host the New England Patriots on Nov. 10; the Patriots used the third pick of the draft on QB Drake Maye.”

QBs Just Missed Each Other in Pac-12

Williams and Daniels never faced each other in college, where they were essentially ships passing in the night in the Pac-12 Conference.

Daniels played at Arizona State from 2019 to 2021 before playing his final two seasons at LSU. With the Sun Devils, Daniels he threw for 2,381 yards, 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while rushing for 710 yards and 6 touchdowns in his final season in 2021 before bolting the Pac-12 for the SEC.

Williams went 5-2 as a starter at Oklahoma as a true freshman in 2021, famously coming off the bench to lead one of the greatest comebacks in Big 12 history in a 55-48 win over Texas. Williams left the Big 12 for the Pac-12 in 2022, following Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley to USC.

The numbers in the Heisman-winning seasons for Williams and Daniels are shockingly similar.

In Williams’ Heisman season in 2022, he had 4,669 yards of total offense and 52 total touchdowns — 42 passing and 10 rushing.

In Daniels’ Heisman season in 2023, he had 4,946 yards of total offense and 50 total touchdowns — 40 passing and 10 rushing.

Bears, Commanders Looking to Change Fortunes

The Bears went 7-10 in 2023 but had the No. 1 overall pick thanks to a trade with the Carolina Panthers in 2022 in which the Panthers traded up to obtain Alabama quarterback Bryce Young with the No. 1 overall pick.

The Commanders went 4-13 in 2023 — the second-worst record in the NFL behind the Panthers — to get the No. 2 overall pick.

Williams has already been named the starting quarterback for the Bears. It seems like a formality that Daniels will eventually be named the starter for the Commanders — veteran Marcus Mariota, the No. 2 overall pick in 2015, is signed to a one-year contract, ostensibly to serve as the backup.

“(Daniels) is great,” Washington wide receiver Jahan Dotson told reporters on May 15. “I don’t know if I can say this, but that’s the quarterback that I wanted. But yeah, I was happy when we drafted him, I’m really looking forward to building a relationship with him, furthering our relationship, as I’ve known him in the past, but he’s been good so far. He’s only been here a couple days now, but he has big things coming for him.”