Hogs Haven
A collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East, the NFL and sports in general, and a sprinkling of other stuff
Ekeler believes Daniels will be an improved version during his sophomore NFL campaign.
“He definitely exceeded expectations,” Ekeler said in a recent Sirius XM NFL Radio interview. “I think that’s a good thing, not that I have low expectations for him, but you really don’t know.
“So, I think with quarterbacks that come in, and I’ve been around long enough to know how much they have on their plate, there’s a lot that they have to acclimate to. There’s a lot, especially learning a new playbook and getting into a new organization and you were the second-overall pick and a lot of high expectations. It was like, ‘Yeah, I’m expecting you to play well.’ Now, go out and kind of have an MVP-caliber type season and where you are competing in those conversations, typically you don’t get that from players.”
Washington got that from Daniels, though, as he sparkled to the tune of 3,568 passing yards and 891 rushing yards, becoming the first rookie to ever cross the 3,500 passing and 800 rushing thresholds. His rushing total was a rookie QB record, as was his 69.0 completion percentage. Daniels had 31 touchdowns (25 passing, six rushing) in the regular season, one in which he quarterbacked Washington to a 12-5 record for its first winning season since 2015. That all preceded Daniels piloting Washington to the franchise’s first NFC Championship Game appearance since 1991.
“I think there’s even going to be more growth this year, which is awesome because of where we are at with our team and have a lot of players back,” Ekeler said.
He was brought to the DMV by Adam Peters, who was part of the San Francisco 49ers front office that drafted him, and reunited with defensive line coach Darryl Tapp — a former member of the 49ers’ coaching staff that has deep knowledge of his skill set and how to get the most out of him.
The Commanders and Kinlaw believe that relationship will help elevate both his game and the entire defense.
“Coming from a guy who actually knows me pretty well, even outside of the game of football, it’s always a beautiful thing,” Kinlaw said. “He knows what he’s getting when it comes to me. I’m excited, for sure, because he brings a lot of energy.”
Tapp, who was hired by the 49ers as an assistant defensive line coach in 2021, finally got to work with a fully healthy version of Kinlaw ahead of the 2023 season. Although the 49ers chose not to re-sign Kinlaw, he did have his best performance with...
