Washington’s dynamic duo: Why Jayden Daniels & Kliff Kingsbury are a perfect match

Ralph Vacchiano

NFL Reporter

Dan Quinn arrives before dawn most days at the Washington Commanders facility in Ashburn, Va., and no matter how early he shows up, he knows Kliff Kingsbury’s car will already be there. And his offensive coordinator isn’t usually alone, either. Later in the week, Jayden Daniels’ car will be there too.

And on practice days, long before the rest of the team arrives, Daniels and Kingsbury will be out together and alone on the practice field, walking through the next game plan so they can soak it all in and visualize it all. Together they can see just how everything will work. And they can imagine who it might not work, too.

“Like I said, the best lesson in life is failure,” Daniels said recently. “So I get to fail in those type of situations and move forward. So by the time game time comes, I’m not thinking about (it). (I’m) just going out there and playing.”

That is the whole plan devised by Kingsbury, the wizard behind this year’s magical Commanders offense, and Daniels, the rookie quarterback who has proven so far that he can handle it all. They have been relentless in their preparation together since their first minicamp in May, bonding over both their football brains, laser-like focus, and tireless approach to getting ready for each game.

And the results, of course, have been amazing. Daniels, just 24 years old, is suddenly one of the most exciting young quarterbacks in the game. He is the likely NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year after throwing for 3,568 yards and 25 touchdowns with just nine interceptions this season while running 891 yards and six touchdowns, too. He has led the Commanders to their first NFC Championship Game in 33 years, against the Eagles in Philadelphia on Sunday.

And Daniels is now just one win away from becoming the first rookie quarterback in history to take his team to the Super Bowl, too.

He has been the rare rookie quarterback who has needed no learning curve, who has played like a veteran from his very first NFL moment. And no one has been more responsible for that development than Kingsbury, the former Arizona Cardinals head coach.

Though from his perspective, it’s really all about Daniels, and has been from the start.

“Early on he was doing stuff in the rookie minicamp that I was like ‘This is different than what I’m used to seeing — ever.'” Kingsbury said. “I think some of the checks and the reads and the progressions and the ball not touching the ground early and just the ability to see it once and go out there and execute at a high level was unique.”

There are a lot of players in the NFL capable of unique things, but it often takes a special coach to get them to realize it consistently. And that’s particularly true for quarterbacks, who have the most complicated job on the field. There have been many over the years who have wilted under bad coaching, especially as rookies. Teams are always looking for the perfect match.

And it sure looks like the Commanders found that with the 45-year-old Kingsbury, a former NFL backup quarterback (2003-06) who became known as a quarterback guru during his time as the head coach at Texas Tech (2013-18). He used his wide-open, spread-style passing attack to help develop Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield there. And he even found success with quarterbacks like Johnny Manziel and Davis Webb.

When he moved on to the NFL to take over the Arizona Cardinals in 2019, he helped quarterback Kyler Murray win the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Last year, after he was fired by the Cardinals, he joined the staff at USC, where he helped Caleb Williams cement his status as the No. 1 pick in the draft.

So he was a natural to be the choice of the Commanders to work with the quarterback picked No. 2 in the NFL Draft. And they bonded almost immediately when they began their work together last spring, becoming almost inseparable during their long work days. Kingsbury has incorporated the things Daniels likes to do to prepare — everything from the virtual reality simulations he became doing at LSU, to letting Daniels, as well as his offensive teammates, suggest plays for their game plan during their weekly private walkthroughs.

It didn’t always work perfectly, especially at the start, but they have shown a remarkable ability to adjust together. Daniels struggled to connect with veteran receiver Terry McLaurin early in the season, for example, when he was targeted just four times in the opener and caught just eight passes for 39 yards in the first two games. Daniels wanted to get him more involved, and Kingsbury knew Daniels would need someone to rely on him as a No. 1 receiver. So he changed McLaurin’s role, began moving him around in the offense, and he ended up with 82 catches and topping 1,000 yards (1,096) for the fifth straight year.

Kingsbury has also realized there’s no limit to what he can add to the offense, since Daniels appears capable of handling it all.

“The first game we didn’t know what we were or who we were, what he was,” Kingsbury recalled. “And so even me calling plays and understanding how to put him in better situations to be successful (has evolved). 

“But I think you just watch his game and the way he played that first game. I mean, the very first pass he threw for like minus-20, like a backwards pass (that was officially ruled a fumbled pitch that lost 15 yards). And he’s just come a long way.”

The long way has included a string of remarkable moments that have included five fourth-quarter comebacks which says a lot about his calm demeanor and his Kingsbury-aided preparation. Some were miraculous, like his 52-yard Hail Mary to Noah Brown against the Bears on Oct. 27. But the others were just a product of him playing like a veteran, knowing exactly what to do in high-stress times.

“The poise, the work ethic throughout the week, the mentality doesn’t waver,” Kingsbury said. “I mean, he showed up the same time this week, every morning early and put in the same work he did the week before, in the previous 16 weeks. He’s very consistent in his approach and has been since he got here.”

And it all showed up early in the season. The first real sign, Kingsbury said, was during the Commanders’ 38-33 win in Cincinnati in Week 3 in a high-profile, Monday Night Football showdown with Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. Daniels was near perfect, completing 21 of 23 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns. He led the Commanders to touchdowns on each of their first four drives and five of their six overall, with one resulting in a field goal.

“Some of the stuff he did there, I was like, ‘OK, this is like a real thing,'” Kingsbury said. “And (since) then it’s just gotten better.”

Kingsbury has gotten better too, adding more and more to Daniels’ considerable plate each week in an effort to keep the Commanders’ offense one step ahead of everyone else. His players have, at times, marveled at the constant new wrinkles he puts into his schemes, and scouts on the outside have been impressed with his overall creativity. To those on the inside, he can be like a mad scientist — with an emphasis on “mad” when things don’t go as well as he’d like.

“I think I fully found out what a competitor he is like, and I think that is at the core of who he really is,”  Quinn said earlier this season. “He comes across in a quiet demeanor externally, but this is a really driven person and so that part of the competitive nature. You see it sometimes in his playcalling. There’s some a good anger to it at times.”

And that has made the teacher a perfect match for his pupil. They are both impressively calm on the outside and intensely driven below the surface. They have set a standard together where they will not be outworked by anyone, even inside their own building. And they’ve put no ceiling on what they can accomplish, even in their first year together.

For Kingsbury, it’s like he’s found the perfect student to absorb all he has to offer.

“He wants to be perfect,” Kingsbury said. “He wants to play great. He wants to win every rep. But once the play is over, he’s onto the next one really quickly. And that’s not easy to do as a young player or an established player even in this league. 

“He can process it, move on. He can take hard coaching and nobody’s harder on themselves than him immediately after. And he’s one of those guys that will give you the proper feedback as soon as you get to him, (saying) ‘Hey, I should have done this, should have done that.’ And so it really makes my job a lot easier when he’s already kind of self-diagnosed what’s gone on, on the play.”

Maybe it does, but even Daniels knows it’s not really all about him. He may be having one of the finest seasons ever for a rookie quarterback, but he’s been clear that he didn’t do it all alone. He needed someone to direct him through his first NFL season. And Kingsbury turned out to be the perfect guide.

“He meant a lot, obviously just for my development and my growth from the day I stepped foot here to this point now,” Daniels said of his coach. “So to just be able to see and get to learn the type of person Kliff is on and off the field. I mean, it’s only helped our relationship grow even more from there.”

His coach concurs.

“Our relationship has been phenomenal,” Kingsbury added. “He’s as good a person as I’ve ever been around. And (he’s) the type of young man that when you show up at work, you want to be better because of the way he acts and carries himself.”

Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.

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