Hogs Haven
Washington Post (paywall)
A dispiriting season for the team and its franchise quarterback may bring significant changes: “You don’t want to have locker room clean-out this early.”
“You don’t want to have locker room clean-out this early,” Daniels said Monday. “You want to be in the dance. It’s most definitely motivation for next year.”
Daniels already has seen both ends of the public perception spectrum in his young career. When he burst into stardom as a rookie sensation, he was voted the NFL’s offensive rookie of the year and crowned the jewel of his draft class. But he took a step back in Year 2, spending most of this season sidelined while fellow second-year quarterbacks Drake Maye, Bo Nix and Caleb Williams guided their teams to the playoffs.
Entering this offseason, he’s confident in his ability to bounce back.
The most immediate question for Daniels is whether he wil be working with a new offensive coordinator. Kliff Kingsbury is under contract for next season, but he’s expected to receive interest from teams with head coaching vacancies. Despite a disappointing season, Daniels remains an ardent supporter of Kingsbury and hopes to have him back.
“I love working with Kliff. Me and him have a special relationship,” Daniels said. “I kind of just wish I was out there more to play for him this past year.”
The Athletic (paywall)
In their usual end-of-season news conference with reporters, Quinn and general manager Adam Peters acknowledged the obvious — changes will be and need to be made to the roster and coaching staff — while conceding little about their plan for improving the Commanders, including potential changes to the coaching staff.
“Everything needs to be and is being thoroughly examined and discussed,” Quinn said. “And really our work is answering the question of what went wrong and what do we need to do to fix it to make sure we never go through this again.”
It’s plausible the Commanders could return for 2026 with a mostly new coaching staff, outside of Quinn. Joe Whitt Jr. was stripped of defensive play-calling duties, putting his long-term future with the franchise in jeopardy. And Kliff Kingsbury, whose offense was lauded for its creativity and fit for quarterback Jayden Daniels in 2024, could be a candidate for a head-coaching job elsewhere, although the team may opt for a complete change anyway.
[O]ne priority is getting a deal done with left tackle Laremy Tunsil “sooner rather than later,” Peters said.
Peters acknowledged…the general identity of the roster needs a full reset, too.
“I think you’re always trying to get younger and faster,” he said. “And that will be a big emphasis for us this offseason.”
Quinn took over the play calling in Week 11 and initially left the door open for him to continue in that role...
