Jayden Daniels has spent his career as a quarterback learning when to run with the ball.
“You don’t want to get hit by 300-pound-plus people,” he said on Wednesday. “It’s like just an instinct. That clock in your head is like, ‘All right, it’s time to go.’”
In his NFL debut, Daniels ran the ball 16 times, gaining 88 yards and scoring two touchdowns in the Washington Commanders’ season-opening loss to Tampa Bay.
The coaching staff would like to see their rookie quarterback, who is now a key part of the team, reduce the number of runs going forward.
“We’d love to see him stay focused on passing first, and I think that will come with more experience,” coach Dan Quinn said. “(Sixteen) carries is not the model that we’re looking for. … I do think we’ll continue to grow in that area, but (it is) certainly not by design to have that many.”
Daniels, picked No. 2 from LSU after winning the Heisman Trophy last season, is a top prospect partly because of his running ability as well as his passing skills.
However, his 16 carries matched the most by any quarterback in Week 1, equal to Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, and were more than Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts or Pittsburgh’s Justin Fields, who have more experience in the NFL.
Retired quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who ran 574 times during his career, advised caution and compared Daniels’ situation to that of Anthony Richardson, who injured his right shoulder last year as a rookie with Indianapolis and needed season-ending surgery.
“As we saw with Anthony Richardson last year, it’s exciting until it’s not, until there is an injury and these are big guys out there in the NFL, so he’s going to have to learn how to manage that a little bit,” Fitzpatrick said during a video call previewing Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” broadcasts.
“They’re going to have to find the right balance because he is already showing he’s one of the top, probably, three or four runners at the quarterback position in the NFL, and it’s a big advantage and it creates a lot of issues for defenses.”
Quinn, as a defensive coach, said that having a quarterback who can do both passing and running “creates a headache — one that I am more than happy to be a part of creating.”
He wants Daniels — who completed 17 of 24 passes for 184 yards — to keep defenses uncertain.
“Let a route develop or consider checking it down to someone else,” Quinn said.
“The great thing about him is it’s our first game, and he’s going to be an exceptional player. Are there choices about when to run and when to pass? He does need to grow and learn those, and I am 100% confident that he will.”
Rookie Luke McCaffrey, now a wide receiver after moving from quarterback in college, trusts Daniels to make the right decisions about passing and running.
“At the end of the day, the quarterback is the one who sees the field and understands it,” McCaffrey said. “There’s always a fine balance. I think it’s a valuable tool when you have a quarterback who can help get an offense started and make it more effective.”
Fitzgerald used Jackson as an example of a quarterback who has learned to run often but avoid major hits and injuries.
Two-time All-Pro left tackle Andrew Whitworth, now an Amazon analyst, praised Daniels’ “special ability,” but also expressed concern about keeping him healthy, unlike Richardson, who was injured.
