Why Daniels’ size remains a ‘worry’
Mike Florio and Chris Simms discuss why the Commanders remain in the middle tier of NFL teams while discussing why Jayden Daniels' size remains a "worry."
Video Transcript
Hey, who knows?
Washington falls squarely into my middle category of teams.
I have a sense as to which teams are gonna be really good, I have a sense as to which teams are gonna be really bad, and there's a swath in the middle of, "I don't know what they're gonna do."
Yeah.
And the Commanders, to me, are probably smack dab in the middle of that middle cut of, "I don't know which way it's gonna go for them this year."
I think that's fair.
I don't really know either.
You know, I, I definitely You know, they're, they're not in the Super Bowl window to me.
It's a borderline maybe playoffs.
I do think people have forgotten how awesome Jayden Daniels is with, with him being out of the lineup for so much last year.
But yeah, there's some things you question on their offense.
One, you know, we, we talked about the receiver thing.
You know, the, t- the O-line made progress there last year.
They did run the ball pretty damn well, so that's a positive thing.
But there's no Kliff Kingsbury, which is one of the more weird, odd off-season moves altogether.
Wait, the guy who runs a creative offense that seems like he's getting better and better at play calling, and he's the quarterback whisperer, and Jayden Daniels likes him, and he's not there anymore?
I That, that was peculiar to me.
And then the defense, like you said, you know, overall they made some adjustments.
They got a whole lot of new players there.
They're, they're gonna run a different scheme on the defensive side of the ball, so there's a lot of newness to kind of digest.
It doesn't seem like they're gonna run the Dan Quinn defense.
They're gonna change things up here a little bit, run more of a multiple defense, a Minnesota type of defense there with Durante Jones.
So that's, that's why I think you've had that feeling, and I'm with you in having that feeling too.
It's a little bit like I gotta see them play a little bit before I, you know, make some grandiose comment about them and, and how great they are.
Kiss of death of having that great season that resulted in an NFC championship game appearance.
It raises the bar, and it makes a 5 and 12 season look like a disaster.
Yeah.
And relative to what the expectations were created by their playoff one, that, that blowout win over the Lions in the divisional round on the Saturday night, people expected more.
Definitely.
It had restored faith in the franchise.
Josh Harris, Dan Quinn, Adam Peters bringing them back.
Jayden Daniels on track to becoming a shortlist franchise quarterback, who we saw what the injuries did.
And Chris, I don't know if you've seen the quarterback series.
We all know that Jayden Daniels- as quarterbacks go, is on kind of the thin side.
Yeah.
There were shots, like field level shots, game action, that really crystallized how small he is.
Not height-wise.
Yes.
How s- Narrow and- slight he is of frame- Yes.
Yeah when he's got these guys chasing him around.
And you either gotta add some natural armor or you gotta avoid contact if you're gonna be that size.
Yeah.
No, it, it, it's a worry.
It, it worried people coming out in the draft.
It worried me.
I m- it's one of those things where, you know, I m- I remember watching him at Arizona State, l- turning the TV on on a Saturday night, going, "Oh, let's watch some old Pac-12 football here," and going, "Damn, he's got some talent, but damn, he's like He's more than skinny for football."
Like, that, that, that's not It's almost not a football body altogether.
It's the kind of body you really see with a basketball player, right?
Basketball players are 6'6", 195.
You know, things like that.
Think ab- think about that.
Michael Jordan in his prime was 6'6", 195.
I'm 6'5", 235.
I mean, I look like the Incredible Hulk next to So yeah, it's a different type of body that way, and that's one of the things you do worry about.
And you're right, he's gotta be careful and he's gonna have to maybe adjust his game a little bit.
And it's not big legs, it's not a big butt, it's not broad shoulders, but he is an incredible athlete and he's gonna have to use that to stay out of harm's way.
Then you got my guy Wemby, who's 7'6" and a buck 50.
Well, that's what I- And he's extremely- You know, that People don't realize how sometimes dense I, I talk about this a lot with l- people I meet out in the gym or whatever else out in public and go, "You know, football players are just dense."
They might not have these big broad shoulders, but there's a thickness front to back and a density of their body that, you know, you don't really realize maybe sometimes until you see them in person or you put your hands on them and you go, "Damn, his shoulder, holy crap is that thing Holy, what's he got in there?"
And then you'll see a basketball player, to your point, and yeah, I don't think people realize that, yeah, they're tall as hell.
They might be broad, but there's not a lot of substance or thickness there to it, and that's the difference of the, you know, the football and basketball animal as far as what they are as, as, you know, prospects.
